Minimizing State Preparations in Variational Quantum Eigensolver by Partitioning into Commuting Families

Variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is a promising algorithm suitable for near-term quantum machines. VQE aims to approximate the lowest eigenvalue of an exponentially sized matrix in polynomial time. It minimizes quantum resource requirements both by co-processing with a classical processor and by structuring computation into many subproblems. Each quantum subproblem involves a separate state preparation terminated by the measurement of one Pauli string. However, the number of such Pauli strings scales as $N^4$ for typical problems of interest--a daunting growth rate that poses a serious limitation for emerging applications such as quantum computational chemistry. We introduce a systematic technique for minimizing requisite state preparations by exploiting the simultaneous measurability of partitions of commuting Pauli strings. Our work encompasses algorithms for efficiently approximating a MIN-COMMUTING-PARTITION, as well as a synthesis tool for compiling simultaneous measurement circuits. For representative problems, we achieve 8-30x reductions in state preparations, with minimal overhead in measurement circuit cost. We demonstrate experimental validation of our techniques by estimating the ground state energy of deuteron on an IBM Q 20-qubit machine. We also investigate the underlying statistics of simultaneous measurement and devise an adaptive strategy for mitigating harmful covariance terms.