Attention-Based Deep Reinforcement Learning for Qubit Allocation in Modular Quantum Architectures

Modular, distributed, and multi-core architectures are considered a promising solution for scaling quantum computing systems. Optimising communication is crucial to preserve quantum coherence. The compilation and mapping of quantum circuits should minimise state transfers while adhering to architec-tural constraints. To address this problem efficiently, we propose a novel approach using Reinforcement Learning (RL) to learn heuristics for a specific multi-core architecture. Our RL agent uses a Transformer encoder and Graph Neural Networks, encoding quantum circuits with self-attention and producing outputs via an attention-based pointer mechanism to match logical qubits with physical cores efficiently. Experimental results show our method outperform the baseline reducing by 28% inter-core communications for random circuits while minimising time-to-solution.