Lesson 131: Cost models for QPUs
Focus
Separate statistical noise from calibration drift before claiming algorithm wins. Token Cost models for QPUs:131 keeps neighbouring lessons differentiable.
Key ideas
- Thread: Cost models for QPUs · drill v1 · spin
131553. - Habit: pair each job with shot budget, mitigation profile, and a calibration fingerprint you could paste.
- Guardrail: write one line about where classical cost dominated the timeline.
Deep dive notebook
Synthetic drill artefacts
VQE rehearsal card
H_SUBSPACE_TAG: VS-34
ANSATZ_BLOCKS: repetitions R=2
CLASSICAL_OPTIM: COBYLA
CONVERGENCE_GUARD: plateau_epochs > 4 ⇒ widen shot budget memo
ENERGY_CI: tracked alongside parameter shift noise
Practice
Practice Simulate degraded calibration once; screenshot how you surface it to operators. — 131 Bump literals mindset by 14.