arXiv subjects

Gorjan Alagic

Publications and source records attributed to Gorjan Alagic.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Realizing Exactly Solvable SU(N) Magnets with Thermal Atoms

We show that $n$ thermal fermionic alkaline-earth atoms in a flat-bottom trap allow one to robustly implement a spin model displaying two symmetries: the $S_n$ symmetry that permutes atoms occupying different vibrational levels of the trap and the SU($N$) symmetry associated with $N$ nuclear spin states. The high symmetry makes the model exactly solvable, which, in turn, enables the analytic study of dynamical processes such as spin diffusion in this SU($N$) system. We also show how to use this system to generate entangled states that allow for Heisenberg-limited metrology. This highly symmetric spin model should be experimentally realizable even when the vibrational levels are occupied according to a high-temperature thermal or an arbitrary non-thermal distribution.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

On Quantum Obfuscation

Encryption of data is fundamental to secure communication in the modern world. Beyond encryption of data lies obfuscation, i.e., encryption of functionality. It is well-known that the most powerful means of obfuscating classical programs, so-called ``black-box obfuscation',' is provably impossible [Barak et al '12]. However, several recent results have yielded candidate schemes that satisfy a definition weaker than black-box, and yet still have numerous applications. In this work, we initialize the rigorous study of obfuscating programs via quantum-mechanical means. We define notions of quantum obfuscation which encompass several natural variants. The input to the obfuscator can describe classical or quantum functionality, and the output can be a circuit description or a quantum state. The obfuscator can also satisfy one of a number of obfuscation conditions: black-box, information-theoretic black-box, indistinguishability, and best possible; the last two conditions come in three variants: perfect, statistical, and computational. We discuss many applications, including CPA-secure quantum encryption, quantum fully-homomorphic encryption, and public-key quantum money. We then prove several impossibility results, extending a number of foundational papers on classical obfuscation to the quantum setting. We prove that quantum black-box obfuscation is impossible in a setting where adversaries can possess more than one output of the obfuscator. In particular, generic transformation of quantum circuits into black-box-obfuscated quantum circuits is impossible. We also show that statistical indistinguishability obfuscation is impossible, up to an unlikely complexity-theoretic collapse. Our proofs involve a new tool: chosen-ciphertext-secure encryption of quantum data, which was recently shown to be possible assuming quantum-secure one-way functions exist [Alagic et al '16].

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Computational Security of Quantum Encryption

Quantum-mechanical devices have the potential to transform cryptography. Most research in this area has focused either on the information-theoretic advantages of quantum protocols or on the security of classical cryptographic schemes against quantum attacks. In this work, we initiate the study of another relevant topic: the encryption of quantum data in the computational setting. In this direction, we establish quantum versions of several fundamental classical results. First, we develop natural definitions for private-key and public-key encryption schemes for quantum data. We then define notions of semantic security and indistinguishability, and, in analogy with the classical work of Goldwasser and Micali, show that these notions are equivalent. Finally, we construct secure quantum encryption schemes from basic primitives. In particular, we show that quantum-secure one-way functions imply IND-CCA1-secure symmetric-key quantum encryption, and that quantum-secure trapdoor one-way permutations imply semantically-secure public-key quantum encryption.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Classical simulation of Yang-Baxter gates

A unitary operator that satisfies the constant Yang-Baxter equation immediately yields a unitary representation of the braid group B n for every $n \ge 2$. If we view such an operator as a quantum-computational gate, then topological braiding corresponds to a quantum circuit. A basic question is when such a representation affords universal quantum computation. In this work, we show how to classically simulate these circuits when the gate in question belongs to certain families of solutions to the Yang-Baxter equation. These include all of the qubit (i.e., $d = 2$) solutions, and some simple families that include solutions for arbitrary $d \ge 2$. Our main tool is a probabilistic classical algorithm for efficient simulation of a more general class of quantum circuits. This algorithm may be of use outside the present setting.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Yang-Baxter operators need quantum entanglement to distinguish knots

Any solution to the Yang-Baxter equation yields a family of representations of braid groups. Under certain conditions, identified by Turaev, the appropriately normalized trace of these representations yields a link invariant. Any Yang-Baxter solution can be interpreted as a two-qudit quantum gate. Here we show that if this gate is non-entangling, then the resulting invariant of knots is trivial. We thus obtain a general connection between topological entanglement and quantum entanglement, as suggested by Kauffman et al.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Partial-indistinguishability obfuscation using braids

An obfuscator is an algorithm that translates circuits into functionally-equivalent similarly-sized circuits that are hard to understand. Efficient obfuscators would have many applications in cryptography. Until recently, theoretical progress has mainly been limited to no-go results. Recent works have proposed the first efficient obfuscation algorithms for classical logic circuits, based on a notion of indistinguishability against polynomial-time adversaries. In this work, we propose a new notion of obfuscation, which we call partial-indistinguishability. This notion is based on computationally universal groups with efficiently computable normal forms, and appears to be incomparable with existing definitions. We describe universal gate sets for both classical and quantum computation, in which our definition of obfuscation can be met by polynomial-time algorithms. We also discuss some potential applications to testing quantum computers. We stress that the cryptographic security of these obfuscators, especially when composed with translation from other gate sets, remains an open question.

cs.CR↗

arXiv2011

Quantum Algorithms for Invariants of Triangulated Manifolds

One of the apparent advantages of quantum computers over their classical counterparts is their ability to efficiently contract tensor networks. In this article, we study some implications of this fact in the case of topological tensor networks. The graph underlying these networks is given by the triangulation of a manifold, and the structure of the tensors ensures that the overall tensor is independent of the choice of internal triangulation. This leads to quantum algorithms for additively approximating certain invariants of triangulated manifolds. We discuss the details of this construction in two specific cases. In the first case, we consider triangulated surfaces, where the triangle tensor is defined by the multiplication operator of a finite group; the resulting invariant has a simple closed-form expression involving the dimensions of the irreducible representations of the group and the Euler characteristic of the surface. In the second case, we consider triangulated 3-manifolds, where the tetrahedral tensor is defined by the so-called Fibonacci anyon model; the resulting invariant is the well-known Turaev-Viro invariant of 3-manifolds.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Approximating the Turaev-Viro Invariant of Mapping Tori is Complete for One Clean Qubit

The Turaev-Viro invariants are scalar topological invariants of three-dimensional manifolds. Here we show that the problem of estimating the Fibonacci version of the Turaev-Viro invariant of a mapping torus is a complete problem for the one clean qubit complexity class (DQC1). This complements a previous result showing that estimating the Turaev-Viro invariant for arbitrary manifolds presented as Heegaard splittings is a complete problem for the standard quantum computation model (BQP). We also discuss a beautiful analogy between these results and previously known results on the computational complexity of approximating the Jones polynomial.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Approximating Turaev-Viro 3-manifold invariants is universal for quantum computation

The Turaev-Viro invariants are scalar topological invariants of compact, orientable 3-manifolds. We give a quantum algorithm for additively approximating Turaev-Viro invariants of a manifold presented by a Heegaard splitting. The algorithm is motivated by the relationship between topological quantum computers and (2+1)-D topological quantum field theories. Its accuracy is shown to be nontrivial, as the same algorithm, after efficient classical preprocessing, can solve any problem efficiently decidable by a quantum computer. Thus approximating certain Turaev-Viro invariants of manifolds presented by Heegaard splittings is a universal problem for quantum computation. This establishes a novel relation between the task of distinguishing non-homeomorphic 3-manifolds and the power of a general quantum computer.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Uncertainty Principles for Compact Groups

We establish an operator-theoretic uncertainty principle over arbitrary compact groups, generalizing several previous results. As a consequence, we show that if f is in L^2(G), then the product of the measures of the supports of f and its Fourier transform ^f is at least 1; here, the dual measure is given by the sum, over all irreducible representations V, of d_V rank(^f(V)). For finite groups, our principle implies the following: if P and R are projection operators on the group algebra C[G] such that P commutes with projection onto each group element, and R commutes with left multiplication, then the squared operator norm of PR is at most rank(P)rank(R)/|G|.

math.RT↗

arXiv2007

Quantum Algorithms for Simon's Problem Over General Groups

Daniel Simon's 1994 discovery of an efficient quantum algorithm for solving the hidden subgroup problem (HSP) over Z_2^n provided one of the first algebraic problems for which quantum computers are exponentially faster than their classical counterparts. In this paper, we study the generalization of Simon's problem to arbitrary groups. Fixing a finite group G, this is the problem of recovering an involution m = (m_1, ..., m_n) in G^n from an oracle f with the property that f(x) = f(xy) iff y equals m or the identity. In the current parlance, this is the hidden subgroup problem (HSP) over groups of the form G^n, where G is a nonabelian group of constant size, and where the hidden subgroup is either trivial or has order two. Although groups of the form G^n have a simple product structure, they share important representation-theoretic properties with the symmetric groups S_n, where a solution to the HSP would yield a quantum algorithm for Graph Isomorphism. In particular, solving their HSP with the so-called ``standard method'' requires highly entangled measurements on the tensor product of many coset states. Here we give quantum algorithms with time complexity 2^O(sqrt(n log n)) that recover hidden involutions m = (m_1, ..., m_n) in G^n where, as in Simon's problem, each m_i is either the identity or the conjugate of a known element k, and there is a character X of G for which X(k) = -X(1)$. Our approach combines the general idea behind Kuperberg's sieve for dihedral groups with the ``missing harmonic'' approach of Moore and Russell. These are the first nontrivial hidden subgroup algorithms for group families that require highly entangled multiregister Fourier sampling.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2006

Decoherence in Quantum Walks on the Hypercube

We study a natural notion of decoherence on quantum random walks over the hypercube. We prove that in this model there is a decoherence threshold beneath which the essential properties of the hypercubic quantum walk, such as linear mixing times, are preserved. Beyond the threshold, we prove that the walks behave like their classical counterparts.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Strong Fourier Sampling Fails over $G^n$

We present a negative result regarding the hidden subgroup problem on the powers $G^n$ of a fixed group $G$. Under a condition on the base group $G$, we prove that strong Fourier sampling cannot distinguish some subgroups of $G^n$. Since strong sampling is in fact the optimal measurement on a coset state, this shows that we have no hope of efficiently solving the hidden subgroup problem over these groups with separable measurements on coset states (that is, using any polynomial number of single-register coset state experiments). Base groups satisfying our condition include all nonabelian simple groups. We apply our results to show that there exist uniform families of nilpotent groups whose normal series factors have constant size and yet are immune to strong Fourier sampling.

quant-ph↗