arXiv subjects

Andrei E. Ruckenstein

Publications and source records attributed to Andrei E. Ruckenstein.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Unifying Variational and Dynamical Quantum Embedding: From Ghost Gutzwiller Approximation to Dynamical Mean-Field Theory

Dynamical and variational frameworks have long been viewed as distinct paradigms. In particular, in quantum embedding (QE) frameworks, dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) captures nonperturbative dynamical correlations through a frequency-dependent self-energy, while the Gutzwiller approximation (GA) is formulated in terms of a variationally optimized ground-state wavefunction. Here we bridge these perspectives, proving that the ghost-Gutzwiller approximation (ghost-GA), which also admits a density-matrix-matching QE formulation known as ghost density matrix embedding theory (ghost-DMET), becomes strictly equivalent to DMFT in the limit of infinitely many auxiliary bath modes. This formal unification has immediate consequences. In particular, it yields a rigorous finite-temperature extension of ghost-GA and shows that the physical Green's function can be determined from static expectation values of the embedding Hamiltonians, providing a route to computational studies of competing phases in strongly correlated matter with DMFT-level accuracy, while bypassing the need to calculate dynamical spectra with conventional impurity solvers. More broadly, it shows that the variational ghost-GA, the density-matrix-matching ghost-DMET formulation, and the dynamical DMFT description are not separate constructions, but complementary formulations of the same QE structure, thereby providing a concrete formal basis for future controlled extensions beyond DMFT.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Circuit complexity and functionality: a thermodynamic perspective

Circuit complexity, defined as the minimum circuit size required for implementing a particular Boolean computation, is a foundational concept in computer science. Determining circuit complexity is believed to be a hard computational problem [1,2,3]. Recently, in the context of black holes, circuit complexity has been promoted to a physical property, wherein the growth of complexity is reflected in the time evolution of the Einstein-Rosen bridge (``wormhole'') connecting the two sides of an AdS ``eternal'' black hole [4]. Here we are motivated by an independent set of considerations and explore links between complexity and thermodynamics for functionally-equivalent circuits, making the physics-inspired approach relevant to real computational problems, for which functionality is the key element of interest. In particular, our thermodynamic framework provides a new perspective on the obfuscation of programs of arbitrary length -- an important problem in cryptography -- as thermalization through recursive mixing of neighboring sections of a circuit, which can be viewed as the mixing of two containers with ``gases of gates''. This recursive process equilibrates the average complexity and leads to the saturation of the circuit entropy, while preserving functionality of the overall circuit. The thermodynamic arguments hinge on ergodicity in the space of circuits which we conjecture is limited to disconnected ergodic sectors due to fragmentation. The notion of fragmentation has important implications for the problem of circuit obfuscation as it implies that there are circuits of same size and functionality that cannot be connected via a polynomial number of local moves. Furthermore, we argue that fragmentation is unavoidable unless the complexity classes NP and coNP coincide.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2025

A Matrix Product State Representation of Boolean Functions

We introduce a novel normal form representation of Boolean functions in terms of products of binary matrices, hereafter referred to as the Binary Matrix Product (BMP) representation. BMPs are analogous to the Tensor-Trains (TT) and Matrix Product States (MPS) used, respectively, in applied mathematics and in quantum many-body physics to accelerate computations that are usually inaccessible by more traditional approaches. BMPs turn out to be closely related to Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs), a powerful compressed representation of Boolean functions invented in the late 80s by Bryant that has found a broad range of applications in many areas of computer science and engineering. We present a direct and natural translation of BMPs into Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs), and derive an elementary set of operations used to manipulate and combine BMPs that are analogous to those introduced by Bryant for BDDs. Both BDDs and BMPs are practical tools when the complexity of these representations, as measured by the maximum bond dimension of a BMP (or the accumulated bond dimension across the BMP matrix train) and the number of nodes of a BDD, remains polynomial in the number of bits, $n$. In both cases, controlling the complexity hinges on optimizing the order of the Boolean variables. BMPs offer the advantage that their construction and manipulation rely on simple linear algebra -- a compelling feature that can facilitate the development of open-source libraries that are both more flexible and easier to use than those currently available for BDDs. An initial implementation of a BMP library is available on GitHub, with the expectation that the close conceptual connection to TT and MPS techniques will motivate further development of BMP methods by researchers in these fields, potentially enabling novel applications to classical and quantum computing.

cs.DS↗

arXiv2024

Fast pseudorandom quantum state generators via inflationary quantum gates

We propose a mechanism for reaching pseudorandom quantum states, computationally indistinguishable from Haar random, with shallow log-n depth quantum circuits, where n is the number of qudits. We argue that $\log n$ depth 2-qubit-gate-based generic random quantum circuits that are claimed to provide a lower bound on the speed of information scrambling, cannot produce computationally pseudorandom quantum states. This conclusion is connected with the presence of polynomial (in $n$) tails in the stay probability of short Pauli strings that survive evolution through such shallow circuits. We show, however, that stay-probability-tails can be eliminated and pseudorandom quantum states can be accomplished with shallow $\log n$ depth circuits built from a special universal family of `inflationary' quantum (IQ) gates. We prove that IQ-gates cannot be implemented with 2-qubit gates, but can be realized either as a subset of 2-qudit-gates in $U(d^2)$ with $d\ge 3$ and $d$ prime, or as special 3-qubit gates.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Abelian combinatorial gauge symmetry

Combinatorial gauge symmetry is a principle that allows us to construct lattice gauge theories with two key and distinguishing properties: a) only one- and two-body interactions are needed; and b) the symmetry is exact rather than emergent in an effective or perturbative limit. The ground state exhibits topological order for a range of parameters. This paper is a generalization of the construction to any finite Abelian group. In addition to the general mathematical construction, we present a physical implementation in superconducting wire arrays, which offers a route to the experimental realization of lattice gauge theories with static Hamiltonians.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2023

Deterministic Entanglement Distribution on Series-Parallel Quantum Networks

The performance of distributing entanglement between two distant nodes in a large-scale quantum network (QN) of partially entangled bipartite pure states is generally benchmarked against the classical entanglement percolation (CEP) scheme. Improvements beyond CEP were only achieved by nonscalable strategies for restricted QN topologies. This paper explores and amplifies a new and more effective mapping of a QN, referred to as concurrence percolation theory (ConPT), that suggests using deterministic rather than probabilistic protocols for scalably improving on CEP across arbitrary QN topologies. More precisely, we implement ConPT via a deterministic entanglement transmission (DET) scheme that is fully analogous to resistor network analysis, with the corresponding series and parallel rules represented by deterministic entanglement swapping and concentration protocols, respectively. The main contribution of this paper is to establish a powerful mathematical framework, which is applicable to arbitrary d-dimensional information carriers (qudits), that provides different natural optimality metrics in terms of generalized k-concurrences (a family of fundamental entanglement measures) for different QN topology. In particular, we conclude that the introduced DET scheme (a) is optimal over the well-known nested repeater protocol for distilling entanglement from partially entangled qubits and (b) leads to higher success probabilities of obtaining a maximally entangled state than using CEP. The implementation of the DET scheme is experimentally feasible as tested on IBM's quantum computation platform.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Encrypted Operator Computing: a novel scheme for computation on encrypted data

We introduce a new approach to computation on encrypted data -- Encrypted Operator Computing (EOC) -- as an alternative to Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE). Given a plaintext vector $|{x}\rangle$, $x\in \{0,1\}^n$, and a function $F(x)$ represented as an operator $\hat F$, $\hat F\;|{x}\rangle = |{F(x)}\rangle$, the EOC scheme is based on obfuscating the conjugated operator (circuit) $\hat{F}^E = \hat E\;\hat F\;\hat{E}^{-1}$ that implements computation on encrypted data, $\hat E |{x}\rangle$. The construction of EOC hinges on the existence of a two-stage NC$^1$ reversible-circuit-based IND-CCA2 cipher $\hat{E} = \hat{N} \hat{L}$, where $\hat{L}$ and $\hat{N}$ represent, respectively, linear and non-linear NC$^1$ tree-structured circuits of 3-bit reversible gates. We make and motivate security assumptions about such a NC$^1$ cipher. Furthermore, we establish the polynomial complexity of the obfuscated circuit, the evaluator $O(\hat{F}^E)$, by proving that: (a) conjugation of each gate of $F$ with $\hat{L}$ yields a polynomial number of gates; and (b) the subsequent conjugation with $\hat{N}$ yields a polynomial number of ``chips,'' $n$-input/$n$-output reversible functions, with outputs expressed as polynomial-sized ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (OBDDs). The security of individual chips is connected to the notion of Best Possible Obfuscators which relies on poly-size OBDDs and the fact that OBDDs are normal forms that expose the functionality but hide the gate implementation of the chip. We conjecture that the addition of random pairs of NOTs between layers of $\hat{N}$ during the construction of $F^E$, a device analogous to the AddRoundKey rounds of AES, ensures the security of the the evaluator. We also present a generalization to asymmetric encryption.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2022

Quantum statistical mechanics of encryption: reaching the speed limit of classical block ciphers

We cast encryption via classical block ciphers in terms of operator spreading in a dual space of Pauli strings, a formulation which allows us to characterize classical ciphers by using tools well known in the analysis of quantum many-body systems. We connect plaintext and ciphertext attacks to out-of-time order correlators (OTOCs) and quantify the quality of ciphers using measures of delocalization in string space such as participation ratios and corresponding entropies obtained from the wave function amplitudes in string space. The saturation of the string-space information entropy is accompanied by the vanishing of OTOCs. Together these signal irreversibility and chaos, which we take to be the defining properties of good classical ciphers. More precisely, we define a good cipher by requiring that the OTOCs vanish to exponential precision and that the string entropies saturate to the values associated with a random permutation, which are computed explicitly in the paper. We argue that these conditions can be satisfied by $n$-bit block ciphers implemented via random reversible circuits with ${\cal O}(n \log n)$ gates arranged on a tree structure, with layers of $n/3$ 3-bit gates, for which a "key" specifies uniquely the sequence of gates that comprise the circuit. We show that in order to reach this "speed limit" one must employ a three-stage circuit consisting of a stage implemented by layers of nonlinear gates that proliferate the number of strings, flanked by two other stages, each deploying layers of a special set of linear "inflationary" gates that accelerate the growth of small individual strings. A shallow, ${\cal O}(\log n)$-depth cipher of the type described here can be used in constructing a polynomial-overhead scheme for computation on encrypted data proposed in another publication as an alternative to Homomorphic Encryption.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2020

Nonuniversal Entanglement Level Statistics in Projection-driven Quantum Circuits

We study the level-spacing statistics in the entanglement spectrum of output states of random universal quantum circuits where qubits are subject to a finite probability of projection to the computational basis at each time step. We encounter two phase transitions with increasing projection rate: The first is the volume-to-area law transition observed in quantum circuits with projective measurements; The second separates the pure Poisson level statistics phase at large projective measurement rates from a regime of residual level repulsion in the entanglement spectrum within the area-law phase, characterized by non-universal level spacing statistics that interpolates between the Wigner-Dyson and Poisson distributions. By applying a tensor network contraction algorithm introduced in Ref. [1] to the circuit spacetime, we identify this second projective-measurement-driven transition as a percolation transition of entangled bonds. The same behavior is observed in both circuits of random two-qubit unitaries and circuits of universal gate sets, including the set implemented by Google in its Sycamore circuits.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

Fast counting with tensor networks

We introduce tensor network contraction algorithms for counting satisfying assignments of constraint satisfaction problems (#CSPs). We represent each arbitrary #CSP formula as a tensor network, whose full contraction yields the number of satisfying assignments of that formula, and use graph theoretical methods to determine favorable orders of contraction. We employ our heuristics for the solution of #P-hard counting boolean satisfiability (#SAT) problems, namely monotone #1-in-3SAT and #Cubic-Vertex-Cover, and find that they outperform state-of-the-art solvers by a significant margin.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2019

Obstacles to quantum annealing in a planar embedding of XORSAT

We introduce a planar embedding of the k-regular k-XORSAT problem, in which solutions are encoded in the ground state of a classical statistical mechanics model of reversible logic gates arranged on a square grid and acting on bits that represent the Boolean variables of the problem. The special feature of this embedding is that the resulting model lacks a finite-temperature phase transition, thus bypassing the first-order thermodynamic transition known to occur in the random graph representation of XORSAT. In spite of this attractive feature, the thermal relaxation into the ground state displays remarkably slow glassy behavior. The question addressed in this paper is whether this planar embedding can afford an efficient path to solution of k-regular k-XORSAT via quantum adiabatic annealing. We first show that our model bypasses an avoided level crossing and consequent exponentially small gap in the limit of small transverse fields. We then present quantum Monte Carlo results for our embedding of the k-regular k-XORSAT that strongly support a picture in which second-order and first-order transitions develop at a finite transverse field for k = 2 and k = 3, respectively. This translates into power-law and exponential dependences in the scaling of energy gaps with system size, corresponding to times-to-solution which are, respectively, polynomial and exponential in the number of variables. We conclude that neither classical nor quantum annealing can efficiently solve our reformulation of XORSAT, even though the original problem can be solved in polynomial time by Gaussian elimination.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Ultra-slow dynamics in a translationally invariant spin model for multiplication and factorization

We construct a model of short-range interacting Ising spins on a translationally invariant two-dimensional lattice that mimics a reversible circuit that multiplies or factorizes integers, depending on the choice of boundary conditions. We prove that, for open boundary conditions, the model exhibits no finite-temperature phase transition. Yet we find that it displays glassy dynamics with astronomically slow relaxation times, numerically consistent with a double exponential dependence on the inverse temperature. The slowness of the dynamics arises due to errors that occur during thermal annealing that cost little energy but flip an extensive number of spins. We argue that the energy barrier that needs to be overcome in order to heal such defects scales linearly with the correlation length, which diverges exponentially with inverse temperature, thus yielding the double exponential behavior of the relaxation time.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Tensor network method for reversible classical computation

We develop a tensor network technique that can solve universal reversible classical computational problems, formulated as vertex models on a square lattice [Nat. Commun. 8, 15303 (2017)]. By encoding the truth table of each vertex constraint in a tensor, the total number of solutions compatible with partial inputs/outputs at the boundary can be represented as the full contraction of a tensor network. We introduce an iterative compression-decimation (ICD) scheme that performs this contraction efficiently. The ICD algorithm first propagates local constraints to longer ranges via repeated contraction-decomposition sweeps over all lattice bonds, thus achieving compression on a given length scale. It then decimates the lattice via coarse-graining tensor contractions. Repeated iterations of these two steps gradually collapse the tensor network and ultimately yield the exact tensor trace for large systems, without the need for manual control of tensor dimensions. Our protocol allows us to obtain the exact number of solutions for computations where a naive enumeration would take astronomically long times.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2006

Squeezing in the weakly interacting uniform Bose condensate

We investigate the presence of squeezing in the weakly repulsive uniform Bose gas, in both the condensate mode and in the nonzero opposite-momenta mode pairs, using two different variational formulations. We explore the U(1) symmetry breaking and Goldstone's theorem in the context of a squeezed coherent variational wavefunction, and present the associated Ward identity. We show that squeezing of the condensate mode is absent at the mean field Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov level and emerges as a result of fluctuations about mean field as a finite volume effect, which vanishes in the thermodynamic limit. On the other hand, the squeezing of the excitations about the condensate survives the thermodynamic limit and is interpreted in terms of density-phase variables using a number-conserving formulation of the interacting Bose gas.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2004

Optimal Path to Epigenetic Switching

We use large deviation methods to calculate rates of noise-induced transitions between states in multistable genetic networks. We analyze a synthetic biochemical circuit, the toggle switch, and compare the results to those obtained from a numerical solution of the master equation.

q-bio.MN↗

arXiv2002

Transition Temperature of Dilute, Weakly Repulsive Bose Gas

Within a quasiparticle framework, we reconsider the issue of computing the Bose-Einstein condensation temperature ($T_c$) in a weakly non-ideal Bose gas. The main result of this and previous investigations is that $T_c$ increases with the scattering length $a$, with the leading dependence being either linear or log-linear in $a$. The calculation of $T_c$ reduces to that of computing the excitation spectrum near the transition. We report two approaches to regularizing the infrared divergence at the transition point. One leads to a $a\sqrt{|\ln{a}|}$-like shift in $T_c$, and the other allows numerical calculations for the shift.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2001

Bose Condensation Without Broken Symmetries

This paper considers the issue of Bose-Einstein condensation in a weakly interacting Bose gas with a fixed total number of particles. We use an old current algebra formulation of non-relativistic many body systems due to Dashen and Sharp to show that, at sufficiently low temperatures, a gas of weakly interacting Bosons displays Off-diagonal Long Range Order in the sense introduced by Penrose and Onsager. Even though this formulation is somewhat cumbersome it may demystify many of the standard results in the field for those uncomfortable with the conventional broken symmetry based approaches. All the physics presented here is well understood but as far as we know this perspective, although dating from the 60's and 70's, has not appeared in the literature. We have attempted to make the presentation as self-contained as possible in the hope that it will be accessible to the many students interested in the field.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1998

Transverse Spin Diffusion in a Dilute Spin-Polarized Degenerate Fermi Gas

We re-examine the calculation of the transverse spin-diffusion coefficient in a dilute degenerate spin-polarized Fermi gas, for the case of s-wave scattering. The special feature of this limit is that the dependence of the spin diffusion coefficient on temperature and field can be calculated explicitly with no further approximations. This exact solution uncovers a novel intermediate behavior between the high field spin-rotation dominated regime in which $D_{\bot} \propto H^{-2}$, $D_{\parallel} \propto T^{-2}$, and the low-field isotropic, collision dominated regime with $D_{\bot} = D_{\parallel} \propto T^{-2}$. In this intermediate regime, $D_{\bot ,\parallel} \propto T^{-2}$ but $D_{\bot} \neq D_{\parallel}$. We also present an analytical calculation of the self-energy in the s-wave approximation for a dilute spin-polarized Fermi gas, at zero temperature. This emphasizes the failure of the conventional Fermi-liquid phase space arguments for processes involving spin flips. We close by reviewing the evidence for the existence of the intermediate regime in experiments on weakly spin-polarized $^3{\rm He}$ and $^3{\rm He} - ^4{\rm He}$ mixtures.

cond-mat↗