arXiv subjects

Joseph Cunningham

Publications and source records attributed to Joseph Cunningham.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Alternative adiabatic quantum dynamics with algorithmic applications

In adiabatic quantum computing the aim is to track an eigenstate as the Hamiltonian changes. In the usual setup this is achieved using the natural time-dependent Hamiltonian evolution of the system and the main technical tool is the adiabatic theorem. We propose several alternative processes that achieve the same goal, but can easily be implemented on a gate-based quantum computer without the overhead of simulating time-dependent Hamiltonian evolution. We give a general framework for deriving `adiabatic' theorems for these processes. As an application, we give various algorithms for solving the Quantum Linear Systems Problem (QLSP) with optimal scaling in the condition number. One of these algorithms was previously developed in [Cunningham, Roland 2024] and another can be seen as a randomised version of the discrete adiabatic algorithm of [Costa et al. 2022]. We also describe versions of Trotterisation in our framework, which allows several results from [An et al. 2025] to be reproduced in a randomised setting. In particular, bounds on the Trotter error in terms of the fidelity are obtained that are asymptotically better than the standard bounds.

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arXiv2024

New random compiler for Hamiltonians via Markov Chains

Many quantum algorithms, such as adiabatic algorithms (e.g. AQC) and phase randomisation, require simulating Hamiltonian evolution. In addition, the simulation of physical systems is an important objective in its own right. In many cases, the Hamiltonian is complex at first sight, but can be decomposed as a linear combination of simple ones; for instance, a sum of local Hamiltonians for Ising models or a sum of time-independent Hamiltonians with time-dependent coefficients (which is typically the case for adiabatic algorithms). In this paper we develop a new compiler, similar to the first order randomized Trotter, or qDRIFT, but with an arguably simpler framework. It is more versatile as it supports a large class of randomisation schemes and as well as time-dependent weights. We first present the model and derive its governing equations. We then define and analyze the simulation error for a sum of two Hamiltonians, and generalize it to a sum of $Q$ Hamiltonians. We prove that the number of gates necessary to simulate the weighted sum of $Q$ Hamiltonians of magnitude $C$ during a time $T$ with an error less than $\epsilon_0$ grows as $\tilde{\mathcal{O}}\left(C^2T^2\epsilon_0^{-1}\right)$.

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arXiv2024

Unstructured Adiabatic Quantum Optimization: Optimality with Limitations

In the circuit model of quantum computing, amplitude amplification techniques can be used to find solutions to NP-hard problems defined on $n$-bits in time $\text{poly}(n) 2^{n/2}$. In this work, we investigate whether such general statements can be made for adiabatic quantum optimization, as provable results regarding its performance are mostly unknown. Although a lower bound of $\Omega(2^{n/2})$ has existed in such a setting for over a decade, a purely adiabatic algorithm with this running time has been absent. We show that adiabatic quantum optimization using an unstructured search approach results in a running time that matches this lower bound (up to a polylogarithmic factor) for a broad class of classical local spin Hamiltonians. For this, it is necessary to bound the spectral gap throughout the adiabatic evolution and compute beforehand the position of the avoided crossing with sufficient precision so as to adapt the adiabatic schedule accordingly. However, we show that the position of the avoided crossing is approximately given by a quantity that depends on the degeneracies and inverse gaps of the problem Hamiltonian and is NP-hard to compute even within a low additive precision. Furthermore, computing it exactly (or nearly exactly) is \#P-hard. Our work indicates a possible limitation of adiabatic quantum optimization algorithms, leaving open the question of whether provable Grover-like speed-ups can be obtained for any optimization problem using this approach.

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arXiv2024

Eigenpath traversal by Poisson-distributed phase randomisation

We present a framework for quantum computation, similar to Adiabatic Quantum Computation (AQC), that is based on the quantum Zeno effect. By performing randomised dephasing operations at intervals determined by a Poisson process, we are able to track the eigenspace associated to a particular eigenvalue. We derive a simple differential equation for the fidelity, leading to general theorems bounding the time complexity of a whole class of algorithms. We also use eigenstate filtering to optimise the scaling of the complexity in the error tolerance $\epsilon$. In many cases the bounds given by our general theorems are optimal, giving a time complexity of $O(1/\Delta_m)$ with $\Delta_m$ the minimum of the gap. This allows us to prove optimal results using very general features of problems, minimising the problem-specific insight necessary. As two applications of our framework, we obtain optimal scaling for the Grover problem (i.e.\ $O(\sqrt{N})$ where $N$ is the database size) and the Quantum Linear System Problem (i.e.\ $O(\kappa\log(1/\epsilon))$ where $\kappa$ is the condition number and $\epsilon$ the error tolerance) by direct applications of our theorems.

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