Inductive Graph Representation Learning with Quantum Graph Neural Networks

Abstract

Graph Neural Networks (QGNNs) offer a promising approach to combining quantum computing with graph-structured data processing. While classical Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are scalable and robust, existing QGNNs often lack flexibility due to graph-specific quantum circuit designs, limiting their applicability to diverse real-world problems. To address this, we propose a versatile QGNN framework inspired by GraphSAGE, using quantum models as aggregators to generate quantum-native node embeddings. We integrate inductive representation learning techniques with parameterized quantum convolutional and pooling layers, bridging classical and quantum paradigms. The convolutional layer is flexible, allowing tailored designs for specific tasks. Benchmarked on a node regression task with the QM9 dataset, our framework, using a single minimal circuit for all aggregation steps, handles molecules with varying numbers of atoms without changing qubits or circuit architecture. While classical GNNs achieve higher training performance, our quantum approach remains competitive and often shows enhanced generalization as molecular complexity increases. We also observe faster learning in early training epochs. To mitigate trainability limitations of a single-circuit setup, we extend the framework with multiple quantum aggregators on QM9. Assigning distinct circuits to each hop substantially improves training performance across all cases. Additionally, we numerically demonstrate the absence of barren plateaus as qubit numbers increase, suggesting that the proposed model remains trainable to larger, more complex graph-based problems.