Robustness Evaluation of Hybrid Quantum Neural Networks under Noise Models via System-Level Error Mitigation
Pith reviewed 2026-05-10 05:29 UTC · model grok-4.3
The pith
The effectiveness of error mitigation in hybrid quantum neural networks varies significantly depending on the type and intensity of noise present.
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
Experiments on a classification task reveal that hybrid quantum neural networks maintain comparatively strong performance under phase-flip and phase-damping noise, while showing substantial degradation under high depolarizing and amplitude-damping noise. The benefits of mitigation strategies such as zero-noise extrapolation, dynamical decoupling, and layerwise extrapolation generally follow the same degradation patterns as the baseline, with probabilistic error cancellation offering limited gains only in low-noise depolarizing regimes. This indicates that noise impact and mitigation success are highly dependent on the noise model and its strength.
What carries the argument
The system-level integration of error mitigation techniques into the end-to-end training of hybrid quantum neural networks, tested across five representative noise channels.
Load-bearing premise
The simulations of noise effects and mitigation techniques accurately reflect the dominant errors and overheads that would occur on actual noisy quantum hardware.
What would settle it
Running the same hybrid quantum neural network circuits on physical quantum processors and observing performance levels under amplitude-damping noise that match the mitigated simulations rather than the degraded baseline.
Figures
read the original abstract
Quantum Neural Networks (QNNs) represent a promising direction within Quantum Machine Learning (QML), yet their realization on noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices remains constrained by decoherence, gate imperfections, crosstalk, and readout errors. This study provides a systematic evaluation of noise effects and mitigation strategies in hybrid quantum neural networks (HQNNs). Zero-Noise Extrapolation (ZNE), Digital Dynamical Decoupling (DDD), and Layerwise Richardson Extrapolation (LRE) are integrated into end-to-end QNN training pipelines developed with PennyLane, simulated under Qiskit Aer noise models, and integrated with the Mitiq framework, while Probabilistic Error Cancellation (PEC) is evaluated separately under depolarizing noise due to its computational cost. Experiments conducted on the Iris dataset with five representative noise channels show that the impact of noise and the effect of mitigation are strongly dependent on the noise model and its strength. The model maintains comparatively strong performance under phase-flip and phase-damping noise, while substantial degradation is observed under high depolarizing and amplitude-damping noise. Across the evaluated mitigation methods, the observed benefits remain limited and noise-dependent: ZNE, DDD, and LRE generally follow the same degradation trends as the unmitigated baseline, while PEC shows limited gains only in the low-noise depolarizing regime. These findings highlight the need for context-specific mitigation strategies to improve the robustness of QNNs in practical NISQ settings.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The paper conducts a simulation study of hybrid quantum neural networks (HQNNs) on the Iris dataset using PennyLane and Qiskit Aer. It evaluates performance degradation under five noise channels (phase-flip, phase-damping, depolarizing, amplitude-damping, and others) at varying strengths, and tests the efficacy of system-level error mitigation via Zero-Noise Extrapolation (ZNE), Digital Dynamical Decoupling (DDD), Layerwise Richardson Extrapolation (LRE) integrated in the training loop, and Probabilistic Error Cancellation (PEC) evaluated separately under depolarizing noise using Mitiq. The central empirical claim is that both the severity of noise impact and the (limited) benefits of mitigation are strongly dependent on the noise model and its strength, with comparatively robust accuracy retained under phase-flip and phase-damping but substantial drops under high depolarizing and amplitude-damping noise; mitigation gains are described as small and context-specific.
Significance. If the reported simulation trends hold under more realistic conditions, the work would supply useful empirical evidence that current mitigation techniques offer only modest, noise-model-dependent improvements for QNNs, thereby supporting calls for hardware-specific mitigation design rather than generic application. The reliance on open-source frameworks (PennyLane, Qiskit Aer, Mitiq) is a positive for reproducibility. However, the simulation-only scope and use of independent-channel noise models reduce the immediate practical impact, as the ordering of noise robustness and the small mitigation gains may not generalize to real NISQ devices.
major comments (2)
- [Abstract and §5] Abstract (final sentence) and §5 (Conclusions): The statement that the results 'highlight the need for context-specific mitigation strategies to improve the robustness of QNNs in practical NISQ settings' is not supported by the evidence presented. All experiments use idealized, independent error channels from Qiskit Aer; no analysis, additional simulations, or discussion addresses how crosstalk, spectator errors, or non-Markovian dynamics (absent from the chosen models) would affect the observed performance ordering across noise types or the limited mitigation gains. This extrapolation is load-bearing for the paper's applied claim.
- [§4] §4 (Numerical Experiments) and associated figures/tables: No error bars, standard deviations across random seeds, or statistical tests (e.g., t-tests or ANOVA on accuracy differences) are reported for the performance trends under each noise model and mitigation method. Without these, it is impossible to determine whether the claimed 'strong dependence' on noise model is statistically distinguishable from run-to-run variation, weakening the central empirical result.
minor comments (2)
- [§3] §3 (Methodology): The description of how ZNE, DDD, and LRE are inserted into the end-to-end PennyLane training pipeline lacks explicit pseudocode or a diagram showing the modified forward/backward pass; this would improve clarity for readers attempting to reproduce the integration.
- [Abstract and §4] The abstract states that 'five representative noise channels' are used, but the main text should explicitly list them with the precise Qiskit Aer channel parameters (e.g., error probabilities) in a table for each strength level.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for the constructive and detailed feedback. We address each major comment below and have revised the manuscript to improve its rigor and precision.
read point-by-point responses
-
Referee: [Abstract and §5] Abstract (final sentence) and §5 (Conclusions): The statement that the results 'highlight the need for context-specific mitigation strategies to improve the robustness of QNNs in practical NISQ settings' is not supported by the evidence presented. All experiments use idealized, independent error channels from Qiskit Aer; no analysis, additional simulations, or discussion addresses how crosstalk, spectator errors, or non-Markovian dynamics (absent from the chosen models) would affect the observed performance ordering across noise types or the limited mitigation gains. This extrapolation is load-bearing for the paper's applied claim.
Authors: We agree that the experiments rely on idealized independent noise channels in simulation and do not model crosstalk, spectator errors, or non-Markovian dynamics. The observed variation in noise impact and mitigation efficacy is demonstrated strictly within these standard models. We will revise the abstract and §5 to state that the results highlight the need for context-specific mitigation strategies based on the simulated noise models, while explicitly noting the limitations of the idealized channels and the value of future real-device validation. This removes the unsupported extrapolation to practical NISQ settings. revision: yes
-
Referee: [§4] §4 (Numerical Experiments) and associated figures/tables: No error bars, standard deviations across random seeds, or statistical tests (e.g., t-tests or ANOVA on accuracy differences) are reported for the performance trends under each noise model and mitigation method. Without these, it is impossible to determine whether the claimed 'strong dependence' on noise model is statistically distinguishable from run-to-run variation, weakening the central empirical result.
Authors: We acknowledge that statistical variability measures are essential for assessing the reliability of the trends. The reported simulations used fixed seeds for exact reproducibility, but we will re-execute the experiments across multiple random seeds, add standard deviation error bars to all relevant figures and tables, and include a short discussion confirming that the noise-model dependence remains consistent across runs. revision: yes
Circularity Check
No circularity: empirical simulation results independent of inputs
full rationale
The paper conducts numerical experiments on hybrid QNNs using Qiskit Aer noise models, PennyLane training, and Mitiq mitigation on the Iris dataset. No closed-form derivations, fitted parameters renamed as predictions, or self-citation chains are present in the reported claims. Performance metrics under different noise channels (phase-flip, depolarizing, etc.) are direct simulation outputs, not quantities defined by the authors' own choices or equations that reduce to inputs by construction. The study is self-contained against external benchmarks like standard noise models.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
Forward citations
Cited by 1 Pith paper
-
Towards Fair Benchmarking of Quantum Transfer Learning for Visual Classification
Introduces a unified benchmarking methodology for quantum transfer learning in visual classification tasks, finding that no single method dominates and performance varies with dataset, encoding, and circuit design.
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[1]
A survey on quantum machine learning: Current trends, challenges, opportunities, and the road ahead,
K. Zaman, A. Marchisio, M. A. Hanif, and M. Shafique, “A survey on quantum machine learning: Current trends, challenges, opportunities, and the road ahead,”arXiv preprint arXiv:2310.10315, 2023
-
[2]
Quantum machine learning: a classical perspective,
C. Ciliberto, M. Herbster, A. D. Ialongo, M. Pontil, A. Rocchetto, S. Severini, and L. Wossnig, “Quantum machine learning: a classical perspective,”Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, vol. 474, no. 2209, p. 20170551, 2018
2018
-
[3]
A review of quantum neural networks: Methods, models, dilemmas,
R. Zhao and S. Wang, “A review of quantum neural networks: Methods, models, dilemmas,”Engineering Reports, 2021
2021
-
[4]
Demonstrating quantum advantage in hybrid quantum neural networks for model capacity,
M. Kashif and S. Al-Kuwari, “Demonstrating quantum advantage in hybrid quantum neural networks for model capacity,” in2022 IEEE International Conference on Rebooting Computing (ICRC), 2022, pp. 36–44
2022
-
[5]
A primer on quantum machine learning,
S. Y . Chang and M. Cerezo, “A primer on quantum machine learning,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.15969, 2025
-
[6]
Computational advantage in hybrid quantum neural networks: Myth or reality?
M. Kashif, A. Marchisio, and M. Shafique, “Computational advantage in hybrid quantum neural networks: Myth or reality?” in2025 62nd ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (DAC). IEEE, 2025, pp. 1–7
2025
-
[7]
Next- generation quantum neural networks: Enhancing efficiency, security, and privacy,
N. Innan, M. Kashif, A. Marchisio, M. Bennai, and M. Shafique, “Next- generation quantum neural networks: Enhancing efficiency, security, and privacy,” in2025 IEEE 31st International Symposium on On-Line Testing and Robust System Design (IOLTS). IEEE, 2025, pp. 1–4
2025
-
[8]
A survey and tutorial on security and resilience of quantum computing,
A. A. Saki, M. Alam, K. Phalak, A. Suresh, R. O. Topaloglu, and S. Ghosh, “A survey and tutorial on security and resilience of quantum computing,” in2021 IEEE European Test Symposium (ETS). IEEE, 2021, pp. 1–10
2021
-
[9]
Benchmarking quantum computers and the impact of quantum noise,
S. Resch and U. R. Karpuzcu, “Benchmarking quantum computers and the impact of quantum noise,”ACM Computing Surveys, 2021
2021
-
[10]
A comparative analysis and noise robustness evaluation in quantum neural networks,
T. Ahmed, M. Kashif, A. Marchisio, and M. Shafique, “A comparative analysis and noise robustness evaluation in quantum neural networks,” Scientific Reports, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 33654, 2025
2025
-
[11]
Investigating the effect of noise on the training performance of hybrid quantum neural networks,
M. Kashif, E. Sychiuco, and M. Shafique, “Investigating the effect of noise on the training performance of hybrid quantum neural networks,” in2024 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN). IEEE, 2024, pp. 1–10
2024
-
[12]
Noisy hqnns: A comprehensive analysis of noise robustness in hybrid quantum neural networks,
T. Ahmed, A. Marchisio, M. Kashif, and M. Shafique, “Noisy hqnns: A comprehensive analysis of noise robustness in hybrid quantum neural networks,” in2025 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN). IEEE, 2025, pp. 1–10
2025
-
[13]
Quantum error mitigation,
Z. Caiet al., “Quantum error mitigation,”Reviews of Modern Physics, vol. 95, no. 4, p. 045005, 2023
2023
-
[14]
Benchmarking noisy intermediate scale quantum error mitigation strate- gies for ground state preparation of the hcl molecule,
T. Weaving, A. Ralli, W. M. Kirby, P. J. Love, S. Succi, and P. V . Coveney, “Benchmarking noisy intermediate scale quantum error mitigation strate- gies for ground state preparation of the hcl molecule,”Physical Review Research, vol. 5, no. 4, p. 043054, 2023
2023
-
[15]
Design space exploration of hybrid quantum–classical neural networks,
M. Kashif and S. Al-Kuwari, “Design space exploration of hybrid quantum–classical neural networks,”Electronics, vol. 10, no. 23, p. 2980, 2021
2021
-
[16]
Comparative performance analysis of quantum machine learning architectures for credit card fraud detection,
M. El Alami, N. Innan, M. Shafique, and M. Bennai, “Comparative performance analysis of quantum machine learning architectures for credit card fraud detection,”Applied Intelligence, vol. 56, no. 3, p. 83, 2026
2026
-
[17]
The power of quantum neural networks,
A. Abbas, D. Sutter, C. Zoufal, A. Lucchi, A. Figalli, and S. Woerner, “The power of quantum neural networks,”Nature computational science, vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 403–409, 2021
2021
-
[18]
Quantum machine learning,
J. Biamonte, P. Wittek, N. Pancotti, P. Rebentrost, N. Wiebe, and S. Lloyd, “Quantum machine learning,”Nature, vol. 549, no. 7671, pp. 195–202, 2017
2017
-
[19]
Resource allocation optimization in 5g networks using variational quantum regressor,
P. Pathak, V . Oad, A. Prajapati, and N. Innan, “Resource allocation optimization in 5g networks using variational quantum regressor,” in 2024 International Conference on Quantum Communications, Networking, and Computing (QCNC). IEEE, 2024, pp. 101–105
2024
-
[20]
Qnn-vrcs: A quantum neural network for vehicle road cooperation systems,
N. Innan, B. K. Behera, S. Al-Kuwari, and A. Farouk, “Qnn-vrcs: A quantum neural network for vehicle road cooperation systems,”IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2025
2025
-
[21]
Sentiqnf: A novel approach to sentiment analysis using quantum algorithms and neuro-fuzzy systems,
K. Dave, N. Innan, B. K. Behera, Z. Mumtaz, S. Al-Kuwari, and A. Farouk, “Sentiqnf: A novel approach to sentiment analysis using quantum algorithms and neuro-fuzzy systems,”IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems, 2025
2025
-
[22]
Quantum bayesian networks for machine learning in oil-spill detection,
O. I. Siddiqui, N. Innan, A. Marchisio, M. Bennai, and M. Shafique, “Quantum bayesian networks for machine learning in oil-spill detection,” in2025 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), 2025, pp. 1–8
2025
-
[23]
Fedqnn: Federated learning using quantum neural networks,
N. Innan, M. A.-Z. Khan, A. Marchisio, M. Shafique, and M. Bennai, “Fedqnn: Federated learning using quantum neural networks,” in2024 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), 2024, pp. 1–9
2024
-
[24]
Financial fraud detection using quantum graph neural networks,
N. Innan, A. Sawaika, A. Dhor, S. Dutta, S. Thota, H. Gokal, N. Patel, M. A.-Z. Khan, I. Theodonis, and M. Bennai, “Financial fraud detection using quantum graph neural networks,”Quantum Machine Intelligence, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 7, 2024
2024
-
[25]
Quantum state tomography using quantum machine learning,
N. Innan, O. I. Siddiqui, S. Arora, T. Ghosh, Y . P. Ko c ¸ak, D. Paragas, A. A. O. Galib, M. A.-Z. Khan, and M. Bennai, “Quantum state tomography using quantum machine learning,”Quantum Machine Intelligence, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 28, 2024
2024
-
[26]
P. K. Choudhary, N. Innan, M. Shafique, and R. Singh, “HQNN-FSP: A hybrid classical-quantum neural network for regression-based financial stock market prediction,”arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.15403, 2025
-
[27]
Optimizing low-energy carbon iiot systems with quantum algorithms: Performance evaluation and noise robustness,
K. Dave, N. Innan, B. K. Behera, S. Mumtaz, S. Al-Kuwari, and A. Farouk, “Optimizing low-energy carbon iiot systems with quantum algorithms: Performance evaluation and noise robustness,”IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 12, no. 17, pp. 34 653–34 662, 2025
2025
-
[28]
Quiet-sr: Quantum image enhancement transformer for single image super-resolution,
S. Dutta, N. Innan, K. Najafi, S. B. Yahia, and M. Shafique, “Quiet- sr: Quantum image enhancement transformer for single image super- resolution,”arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.08759, 2025
-
[29]
Qfnn-ffd: Quantum federated neural network for financial fraud detection,
N. Innan, A. Marchisio, M. Bennai, and M. Shafique, “Qfnn-ffd: Quantum federated neural network for financial fraud detection,” in2025 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Software (QSW). IEEE, 2025, pp. 41–47
2025
-
[30]
Lep-qnn: Loan eligibility prediction using quantum neural networks,
N. Innan, A. Marchisio, M. Bennai, and M. Shafique, “Lep-qnn: Loan eligibility prediction using quantum neural networks,” in2025 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE), vol. 1. IEEE, 2025, pp. 1864–1872
2025
-
[31]
Quantum vs. classical machine learning: A benchmark study for financial prediction,
R. Ahmad, M. Kashif, N. Innan, and M. Shafique, “Quantum vs. classical machine learning: A benchmark study for financial prediction,”arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.03802, 2026
-
[32]
Recent developments and applications in quantum neural network: A review,
S. K. Jeswal and S. Chakraverty, “Recent developments and applications in quantum neural network: A review,”Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering, 2018
2018
-
[33]
The disparate impact of noise on quantum learning algorithms,
A. Angrisani, “The disparate impact of noise on quantum learning algorithms,” Ph.D. dissertation, Sorbonne Universit ´e, 2023, doctoral dis- sertation. [Online]. Available: https://theses.hal.science/tel-04511706v1
2023
-
[34]
Resqnets: a residual approach for mitigating barren plateaus in quantum neural networks,
M. Kashif and S. Al-Kuwari, “Resqnets: a residual approach for mitigating barren plateaus in quantum neural networks,”EPJ Quantum Technology, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1–28, 2024
2024
-
[35]
The impact of cost function globality and locality in hybrid quantum neural networks on nisq devices,
M. Kashif and S. Al-Kuwari, “The impact of cost function globality and locality in hybrid quantum neural networks on nisq devices,”Machine Learning: Science and Technology, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 015004, 2023
2023
-
[36]
Deep quanvolutional neural networks with enhanced trainability and gradient propagation,
M. Kashif and M. Shafique, “Deep quanvolutional neural networks with enhanced trainability and gradient propagation,”Scientific Reports, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 21764, 2025
2025
-
[37]
Investigating different barren plateaus mitigation strategies in variational quantum eigensolver,
M. Atallah, N. Innan, M. Kashif, and M. Shafique, “Investigating different barren plateaus mitigation strategies in variational quantum eigensolver,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.11171, 2025
-
[38]
Hqnet: Harnessing quantum noise for effective training of quantum neural networks in nisq era,
M. Kashif and M. Shafique, “Hqnet: Harnessing quantum noise for effective training of quantum neural networks in nisq era,” in2025 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Artificial Intelligence (QAI). IEEE, 2025, pp. 387–394
2025
-
[39]
Nrqnn: The role of observable selection in noise-resilient quantum neural networks,
M. Kashif and M. Shafique, “Nrqnn: The role of observable selection in noise-resilient quantum neural networks,” inWorld Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering & Applied Computing. Springer, 2024, pp. 116–131
2024
-
[40]
Quantum error mitigation by layerwise richardson extrapolation,
R. Vincent and M. Andrea, “Quantum error mitigation by layerwise richardson extrapolation,”Physical Review A, vol. 110, no. 6, p. 062420, 2024
2024
-
[41]
Optimization of richardson extrapolation for quantum error mitigation,
K. Michael, T. Bj ¨orn, and C. Alessio, “Optimization of richardson extrapolation for quantum error mitigation,”Physical Review A, vol. 106, p. 062436, 2022
2022
-
[42]
Quantum computing and its implications for cybersecurity: A comprehensive review of emerging threats and defenses,
S. Khan, K. Palani, M. Goswami, and M. S. Arafath, “Quantum computing and its implications for cybersecurity: A comprehensive review of emerging threats and defenses,”Nanotechnology Perceptions, 2024
2024
-
[43]
G.-T. Tudor, H. Yousef, L. Ryan, M. Andrea, and Z. W. J., “Digital zero noise extrapolation for quantum error mitigation,”arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.10921, 2021
-
[44]
Probabilistic error cancellation with sparse pauli–lindblad models on noisy quantum processors,
E. Van Den Berg, Z. K. Minev, A. Kandala, and K. Temme, “Probabilistic error cancellation with sparse pauli–lindblad models on noisy quantum processors,”Nature physics, vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 1116–1121, 2023
2023
-
[45]
Dynamical decoupling for superconducting qubits: A performance survey,
N. Ezzell, B. Pokharel, L. Tewala, G. Quiroz, and D. A. Lidar, “Dynamical decoupling for superconducting qubits: A performance survey,”Physical Review Applied, vol. 20, no. 6, p. 064027, 2023
2023
-
[46]
Synergistic dynamical decoupling and circuit design for enhanced algorithm performance on near-term quantum devices,
Y . Ji and I. Polian, “Synergistic dynamical decoupling and circuit design for enhanced algorithm performance on near-term quantum devices,” Entropy, vol. 26, no. 7, p. 586, 2024
2024
-
[47]
UCI machine learning repository,
D. Dua and C. Graff, “UCI machine learning repository,” 2019. [Online]. Available: http://archive.ics.uci.edu/ml
2019
-
[48]
Mitiq documentation: A python toolkit for quantum error mitigation,
U. Fund and Contributors, “Mitiq documentation: A python toolkit for quantum error mitigation,” https://mitiq.readthedocs.io/en/stable/, 2025, accessed: 2025-07-03
2025
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.