arXiv subjects

Angus Southwell

Publications and source records attributed to Angus Southwell.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Efficient Quantum Algorithms for Higher-Order Coupled Oscillators

Higher-order networks with multiway interactions can exhibit collective dynamical phenomena that are absent in traditional pairwise network models. However, analyzing such dynamics becomes computationally prohibitive as their state space grows combinatorially in the multiway interaction order. Here we develop quantum algorithms for two central tasks -- synchronization estimation and certification of the no-phase-locking regime -- in the simplicial Kuramoto model. This model is a higher-order generalization of the celebrated Kuramoto model for coupled oscillators on graph-based networks. Under explicit assumptions on data access and types, and simplicial structure, we derive end-to-end quantum gate complexities and identify regimes with polynomial quantum advantage for synchronization estimation and super-polynomial quantum advantage for no-phase-locking certification over classical methods. More broadly, these results extend quantum algorithms for higher-order networks from structural analysis to nonlinear dynamical diagnostics, easing a major computational bottleneck and opening a route to quantum methods for probing higher-order phenomena beyond the reach of direct classical approaches.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Spatiotemporal Pauli processes: Quantum combs for modeling correlated noise in quantum error correction

Correlated noise is a critical failure mode in quantum error correction (QEC), yet a gap remains between the stochastic Pauli models used for scalable QEC analyses and the microscopic, non-Markovian descriptions of noise in physical devices. We bridge this gap by introducing Spatiotemporal Pauli Processes (SPPs): the natural multi-time generalization of Pauli channels, joint probability distributions over Pauli faults across space and time, obtained exactly from any noise process, however non-Markovian, under standard Pauli-frame randomization. SPPs thereby provide a single language in which correlated noise can be recast, compared, and extended, compatible with both microscopic open systems modeling and the stabilizer workflow of QEC design and analysis. Our central result is constructive: the multi-time Pauli twirl acts by local contractions on a process tensor network, yielding an explicit classical tensor network whose virtual bonds encode memory, bounded by the environment's Liouville-space dimension. Transfer operator diagnostics link memory spectra to correlation decay, and hidden Markov representations enable efficient sampling of correlated Pauli fault trajectories, mapping microscopically derived noise directly into circuit-level QEC simulation. We demonstrate this with surface code memory and stability benchmarks up to distance $19$. A temporal "storm" model with tunable correlation time shows that memory alone, at strictly fixed marginal error rates, systematically erodes the exponential error suppression expected from code distance. A genuinely spatiotemporal quantum cellular automaton bath maps exactly, under system twirling, to a nonlinear probabilistic cellular automaton; tuning its coherent interactions drives the noise into a pseudo-critical regime with critical slowing down and macroscopic error avalanches that reverse surface code distance scaling.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

A graph-theoretic approach to chaos and complexity in quantum systems

There has recently been considerable interest in studying quantum systems via dynamical Lie algebras (DLAs) -- Lie algebras generated by the terms which appear in the Hamiltonian of the system. However, there are some important properties that are revealed only at a finer level of granularity than the DLA. In this work we explore, via the commutator graph, average notions of scrambling, chaos and complexity over ensembles of systems with DLAs that possess a basis consisting of Pauli strings. Unlike DLAs, commutator graphs are sensitive to short-time dynamics, and therefore constitute a finer probe to various characteristics of the corresponding ensemble. We link graph-theoretic properties of the commutator graph to the out-of-time-order correlator (OTOC), the frame potential, the frustration graph of the Hamiltonian of the system, and the Krylov complexity of operators evolving under the dynamics. For example, we reduce the calculation of average OTOCs to a counting problem on the graph; separately, we connect the Krylov complexity of an operator to the module structure of the adjoint action of the DLA on the space of operators in which it resides, and prove that its average over the ensemble is lower bounded by the average shortest path length between the initial operator and the other operators in the commutator graph.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Detrimental non-Markovian errors for surface code memory

The realization of fault-tolerant quantum computers hinges on effective quantum error correction protocols, whose performance significantly relies on the nature of the underlying noise. In this work, we directly study the structure of non-Markovian correlated errors and their impact on surface code memory performance. Specifically, we compare surface code performance under non-Markovian noise and independent circuit-level noise, while keeping marginal error rates constant. Our analysis shows that while not all temporally correlated structures are detrimental, certain structures, particularly multi-time "streaky" correlations affecting syndrome qubits and two-qubit gates, can severely degrade logical error rate scaling. Furthermore, we discuss our results in the context of recent quantum error correction experiments on physical devices. These findings underscore the importance of understanding and mitigating non-Markovian noise toward achieving practical, fault-tolerant quantum computing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Quantum HodgeRank: Topology-Based Rank Aggregation on Quantum Computers

HodgeRank generalizes ranking algorithms, e.g. Google PageRank, to rank alternatives based on real-world (often incomplete) data using graphs and discrete exterior calculus. It analyzes multipartite interactions on high-dimensional networks with a complexity that scales exponentially with dimension. We develop a quantum algorithm that approximates the HodgeRank solution with complexity independent of dimension. Our algorithm extracts relevant information from the state such as the ranking consistency, which achieves a superpolynomial speedup over similar classical methods.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Adversarial Robustness Guarantees for Quantum Classifiers

Despite their ever more widespread deployment throughout society, machine learning algorithms remain critically vulnerable to being spoofed by subtle adversarial tampering with their input data. The prospect of near-term quantum computers being capable of running {quantum machine learning} (QML) algorithms has therefore generated intense interest in their adversarial vulnerability. Here we show that quantum properties of QML algorithms can confer fundamental protections against such attacks, in certain scenarios guaranteeing robustness against classically-armed adversaries. We leverage tools from many-body physics to identify the quantum sources of this protection. Our results offer a theoretical underpinning of recent evidence which suggest quantum advantages in the search for adversarial robustness. In particular, we prove that quantum classifiers are: (i) protected against weak perturbations of data drawn from the trained distribution, (ii) protected against local attacks if they are insufficiently scrambling, and (iii) show evidence that they are protected against universal adversarial attacks if they are sufficiently chaotic. Our analytic results are supported by numerical evidence demonstrating the applicability of our theorems and the resulting robustness of a quantum classifier in practice. This line of inquiry constitutes a concrete pathway to advantage in QML, orthogonal to the usually sought improvements in model speed or accuracy.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Topological Signal Processing on Quantum Computers for Higher-Order Network Analysis

Predicting and analyzing global behaviour of complex systems is challenging due to the intricate nature of their component interactions. Recent work has started modelling complex systems using networks endowed with multiway interactions among nodes, known as higher-order networks. Simplicial complexes are a class of higher-order networks that have received significant attention due to their topological structure and connections to Hodge theory. Topological signal processing (TSP) utilizes these connections to analyze and manipulate signals defined on non-Euclidean domains such as simplicial complexes. In this work, we present a general quantum algorithm for implementing filtering processes in TSP and describe its application to extracting network data based on the Hodge decomposition. We leverage pre-existing tools introduced in recent quantum algorithms for topological data analysis and combine them with spectral filtering techniques using the quantum singular value transformation framework. While this paper serves as a proof-of-concept, we obtain a super-polynomial improvement over the best known classical algorithms for TSP filtering processes, modulo some important caveats about encoding and retrieving the data from a quantum state. The proposed algorithm generalizes the applicability of tools from quantum topological data analysis to novel applications in analyzing high-dimensional complex systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Sprinkling with random regular graphs

We conjecture that the distribution of the edge-disjoint union of two random regular graphs on the same vertex set is asymptotically equivalent to a random regular graph of the combined degree, provided it grows as the number of vertices tends to infinity. We verify this conjecture for the cases when the graphs are sufficiently dense or sparse. We also prove an asymptotic formula for the expected number of spanning regular subgraphs in a random regular graph.

math.CO↗

arXiv2023

Large induced subgraphs of random graphs with given degree sequences

We study a random graph $G$ with given degree sequence $\boldsymbol{d}$, with the aim of characterising the degree sequence of the subgraph induced on a given set $S$ of vertices. For suitable $\boldsymbol{d}$ and $S$, we show that the degree sequence of the subgraph induced on $S$ is essentially concentrated around a sequence that we can deterministically describe in terms of $\boldsymbol{d}$ and $S$. We then give an application of this result, determining a threshold for when this induced subgraph contains a giant component. We also apply a similar analysis to the case where $S$ is chosen by randomly sampling vertices with some probability $p$, i.e. site percolation, and determine a threshold for the existence of a giant component in this model. We consider the case where the density of the subgraph is either constant or slowly going to $0$ as $n$ goes to infinity, and the degree sequence $\boldsymbol{d}$ of the whole graph satisfies a certain maximum degree condition. Analogously, in the percolation model we consider the cases where either $p$ is a constant or where $p \to 0$ slowly. This is similar to work of Fountoulakis in 2007 and Janson in 2009, but we work directly in the random graph model to avoid the limitations of the configuration model that they used.

math.CO↗

arXiv2020

The threshold of symmetry in random graphs with specified degree sequences

We give sufficient conditions under which a random graph with a specified degree sequence is symmetric or asymmetric. In the case of bounded degree sequences, our characterisation captures the phase transition of the symmetry of the random graphs. This phase transition coincides with that of the graph connectivity. However, when the maximum degree is a growing function as the number of vertices tends to infinity, our results suggest that these two thresholds do not coincide any more

math.CO↗

arXiv2019

Distribution of tree parameters by martingale approach

For a uniform random labelled tree, we find the limiting distribution of tree parameters which are stable (in some sense) with respect to local perturbations of the tree structure. The proof is based on the martingale central limit theorem and the Aldous--Broder algorithm. In particular, our general result implies the asymptotic normality of the number of occurrences of any given small pattern and the asymptotic log-normality of the number of automorphisms.

math.CO↗

arXiv2018

Counting triangles in power-law uniform random graphs

We count the asymptotic number of triangles in uniform random graphs where the degree distribution follows a power law with degree exponent $τ\in(2,3)$. We also analyze the local clustering coefficient $c(k)$, the probability that two random neighbors of a vertex of degree $k$ are connected. We find that the number of triangles, as well as the local clustering coefficient, scale similarly as in the erased configuration model, where all self-loops and multiple edges of the configuration model are removed. Interestingly, uniform random graphs contain more triangles than erased configuration models with the same degree sequence. The number of triangles in uniform random graphs is closely related to that in a version of the rank-1 inhomogeneous random graph, where all vertices are equipped with weights, and the edge probabilities are moderated by asymptotically linear functions of the products of these vertex weights.

math.PR↗