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Quantum Lower Bound for the Collision Problem

Scott Aaronson
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Abstract

The collision problem is to decide whether a function X:{1,..,n}->{1,..,n} is one-to-one or two-to-one, given that one of these is the case. We show a lower bound of Theta(n^{1/5}) on the number of queries needed by a quantum computer to solve this problem with bounded error probability. The best known upper bound is O(n^{1/3}), but obtaining any lower bound better than Theta(1) was an open problem since 1997. Our proof uses the polynomial method augmented by some new ideas. We also give a lower bound of Theta(n^{1/7}) for the problem of deciding whether two sets are equal or disjoint on a constant fraction of elements. Finally we give implications of these results for quantum complexity theory.

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Scott Aaronson. 2001-11-20. Quantum Lower Bound for the Collision Problem. https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0111102

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