fix failing unit tests from core flavor

[dennisbader]

Checklist before merging this PR:

• Mentioned all issues that this PR fixes or addresses.
• Summarized the updates of this PR under Summary.
• Added an entry under Unreleased in the Changelog.

fixes failing unit tests for core flavor that lacks torch dependencies

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 96.66%. Comparing base (b0ccd3a) to head (558ec10).
⚠️ Report is 3 commits behind head on master.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master    #3135      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   96.55%   96.66%   +0.11%     
==========================================
  Files         160      163       +3     
  Lines       17285    17536     +251     
==========================================
+ Hits        16689    16952     +263     
+ Misses        596      584      -12     

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