  In recent years, variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) have gained
significant attention due to their adaptability and efficiency on near-term
quantum hardware. They have shown potential in a variety of tasks, including
linear algebra, search problems, Gibbs and ground state preparation.
Nevertheless, the presence of noise in current day quantum hardware, severely
limits their performance. In this work, we introduce dissipative variational
quantum algorithms (D-VQAs) by incorporating dissipative operations, such as
qubit RESET and stochastic gates, as an intrinsic part of a variational quantum
circuit. We argue that such dissipative variational algorithms posses some
natural resilience to dissipative noise. We demonstrate how such algorithms can
prepare Gibbs states over a wide range of quantum many-body Hamiltonians and
temperatures, while significantly reducing errors due to both coherent and
non-coherent noise. An additional advantage of our approach is that no ancilla
qubits are need. Our results highlight the potential of D-VQAs to enhance the
robustness and accuracy of variational quantum computations on NISQ devices.
