Knowledge Distillation Inspired Variational Quantum Eigensolver with Virtual Annealing

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a Knowledge Distillation Inspired Variational Quantum Eigensolver (KD-VQE). Inspired by the virtual distillation process in knowledge distillation (KD), KD-VQE introduces a virtual annealing mechanism to the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) framework. In KD-VQE, measurement resources (shots) are dynamically allocated among multiple trial wavefunctions, each weighted according to a Boltzmann distribution with a virtual temperature. As the temperature decreases gradually, the algorithm progressively reallocates resources toward lower-energy candidates, effectively filtering out suboptimal states and steering the system toward the global minimum. Moreover, we demonstrate the effectiveness of KD-VQE by applying it to the two-site Fermi-Hubbard model. Compared to standard VQE framework, KD-VQE explores a broader region of the solution space, and offers improved convergence behavior and increased reliability.