arXiv subjects

Joseph F. Fitzsimons

Publications and source records attributed to Joseph F. Fitzsimons.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Causal limit on quantum communication

The capacity of a channel is known to be equivalent to the highest rate at which it can generate entanglement. Analogous to entanglement, the notion of a causality measure characterises the temporal aspect of quantum correlations. Despite holding an equally fundamental role in physics, temporal quantum correlations have yet to find their operational significance in quantum communication. Here we uncover a connection between quantum causality and channel capacity. We show the amount of temporal correlations between two ends of the noisy quantum channel, as quantified by a causality measure, implies a general upper bound on its channel capacity. The expression of this new bound is simpler to evaluate than most previously known bounds. We demonstrate the utility of this bound by applying it to a class of shifted depolarizing channels, which results in improvement over previously calculated bounds for this class of channels.

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arXiv2019

Smooth input preparation for quantum and quantum-inspired machine learning

Machine learning has recently emerged as a fruitful area for finding potential quantum computational advantage. Many of the quantum enhanced machine learning algorithms critically hinge upon the ability to efficiently produce states proportional to high-dimensional data points stored in a quantum accessible memory. Even given query access to exponentially many entries stored in a database, the construction of which is considered a one-off overhead, it has been argued that the cost of preparing such amplitude-encoded states may offset any exponential quantum advantage. Here we prove using smoothed analysis, that if the data-analysis algorithm is robust against small entry-wise input perturbation, state preparation can always be achieved with constant queries. This criterion is typically satisfied in realistic machine learning applications, where input data is subjective to moderate noise. Our results are equally applicable to the recent seminal progress in quantum-inspired algorithms, where specially constructed databases suffice for polylogarithmic classical algorithm in low-rank cases. The consequence of our finding is that for the purpose of practical machine learning, polylogarithmic processing time is possible under a general and flexible input model with quantum algorithms or quantum-inspired classical algorithms in the low-rank cases.

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arXiv2019

Resource-efficient verification of quantum computing using Serfling's bound

Verifying quantum states is central to certifying the correct operation of various quantum information processing tasks. In particular, in measurement-based quantum computing, checking whether correct graph states are generated is essential for reliable quantum computing. Several verification protocols for graph states have been proposed, but none of these are particularly resource efficient: multiple copies are required to extract a single state that is guaranteed to be close to the ideal one. The best protocol currently known requires $O(n^{15})$ copies of the state, where $n$ is the size of the graph state. In this paper, we construct a significantly more resource-efficient verification protocol for graph states that only requires $O(n^5\log{n})$ copies. The key idea is to employ Serfling's bound, which is a probability inequality in classical statistics. Utilizing Serfling's bound also enables us to generalize our protocol for qudit and continuous-variable graph states. Constructing a resource-efficient verification protocol for them is non-trivial. For example, the previous verification protocols for qubit graph states that use the quantum de Finetti theorem cannot be generalized to qudit and continuous-variable graph states without tremendously increasing the resource overhead. This is because the overhead caused by the quantum de Finetti theorem depends on the local dimension. On the other hand, in our protocol, the resource overhead is independent of the local dimension, and therefore generalizing to qudit or continuous-variable graph states does not increase the overhead. The flexibility of Serfling's bound also makes our protocol robust: our protocol accepts slightly noisy but still useful graph states.

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arXiv2018

Quantum advantage for probabilistic one-time programs

One-time programs, computer programs which self-destruct after being run only once, are a powerful building block in cryptography and would allow for new forms of secure software distribution. However, ideal one-time programs have been proved to be unachievable using either classical or quantum resources. Here we relax the definition of one-time programs to allow some probability of error in the output and show that quantum mechanics offers security advantages over purely classical resources. We introduce a scheme for encoding probabilistic one-time programs as quantum states with prescribed measurement settings, explore their security, and experimentally demonstrate various one-time programs using measurements on single-photon states. These include classical logic gates, a program to solve Yao's millionaires problem, and a one-time delegation of a digital signature. By combining quantum and classical technology, we demonstrate that quantum techniques can enhance computing capabilities even before full-scale quantum computers are available.

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arXiv2018

Client-friendly continuous-variable blind and verifiable quantum computing

We present a verifiable and blind protocol for assisted universal quantum computing on continuous-variable (CV) platforms. This protocol is highly experimentally-friendly to the client, as it only requires Gaussian-operation capabilities from the latter. Moreover, the server is not required universal quantum-computational power either, its only function being to supply the client with copies of a single-mode non-Gaussian state. Universality is attained based on state-injection of the server's non-Gaussian supplies. The protocol is automatically blind because the non-Gaussian resource requested to the server is always the same, regardless of the specific computation. Verification, in turn, is possible thanks to an efficient non-Gaussian state fidelity test where we assume identical state preparation by the server. It is based on Gaussian measurements by the client on the injected states, which is potentially interesting on its own. The division of quantum hardware between client and server assumed here is in agreement with the experimental constraints expected in realistic schemes for CV cloud quantum computing.

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arXiv2018

Complexity Classification of Conjugated Clifford Circuits

Clifford circuits -- i.e. circuits composed of only CNOT, Hadamard, and $π/4$ phase gates -- play a central role in the study of quantum computation. However, their computational power is limited: a well-known result of Gottesman and Knill states that Clifford circuits are efficiently classically simulable. We show that in contrast, "conjugated Clifford circuits" (CCCs) -- where one additionally conjugates every qubit by the same one-qubit gate $U$ -- can perform hard sampling tasks. In particular, we fully classify the computational power of CCCs by showing that essentially any non-Clifford conjugating unitary $U$ can give rise to sampling tasks which cannot be efficiently classically simulated to constant multiplicative error, unless the polynomial hierarchy collapses. Furthermore, by standard techniques, this hardness result can be extended to allow for the more realistic model of constant additive error, under a plausible complexity-theoretic conjecture. This work can be seen as progress towards classifying the computational power of all restricted quantum gate sets.

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arXiv2018

Experimental Quantum Homomorphic Encryption

Quantum computers promise not only to outperform classical machines for certain important tasks, but also to preserve privacy of computation. For example, the blind quantum computing protocol enables secure delegated quantum computation, where a client can protect the privacy of their data and algorithms from a quantum server assigned to run the computation. However, this security comes at the expense of interaction: the client and server must communicate after each step of the computation. Homomorphic encryption, on the other hand, avoids this limitation. In this scenario, the server specifies the computation to be performed, and the client provides only the input data, thus enabling secure non-interactive computation. Here we demonstrate a homomorphic-encrypted quantum random walk using single-photon states and non-birefringent integrated optics. The client encrypts their input state in the photons' polarization degree of freedom, while the server performs the computation using the path degree of freedom. Our random walk computation can be generalized, suggesting a promising route toward more general homomorphic encryption protocols.

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arXiv2018

Quantum algorithms for training Gaussian Processes

Gaussian processes (GPs) are important models in supervised machine learning. Training in Gaussian processes refers to selecting the covariance functions and the associated parameters in order to improve the outcome of predictions, the core of which amounts to evaluating the logarithm of the marginal likelihood (LML) of a given model. LML gives a concrete measure of the quality of prediction that a GP model is expected to achieve. The classical computation of LML typically carries a polynomial time overhead with respect to the input size. We propose a quantum algorithm that computes the logarithm of the determinant of a Hermitian matrix, which runs in logarithmic time for sparse matrices. This is applied in conjunction with a variant of the quantum linear system algorithm that allows for logarithmic time computation of the form $\mathbf{y}^TA^{-1}\mathbf{y}$, where $\mathbf{y}$ is a dense vector and $A$ is the covariance matrix. We hence show that quantum computing can be used to estimate the LML of a GP with exponentially improved efficiency under certain conditions.

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arXiv2017

Geometry of quantum correlations in space-time

The traditional formalism of non-relativistic quantum theory allows the state of a quantum system to extend across space, but only restricts it to a single instant in time, leading to distinction between theoretical treatments of spatial and temporal quantum correlations. Here we unify the geometrical description of two-point quantum correlations in space-time. Our study presents the geometry of correlations between two sequential Pauli measurements on a single qubit undergoing an arbitrary quantum channel evolution together with two-qubit spatial correlations under a common framework. We establish a symmetric structure between quantum correlations in space and time. This symmetry is broken in the presence of non-unital channels, which further reveals a set of temporal correlations that are indistinguishable from correlations found in bipartite entangled states.

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arXiv2017

Measurement-driven quantum computing: Performance of a 3-SAT solver

We investigate the performance of a quantum algorithm for solving classical 3-SAT problems. A cycle of post-selected measurements drives the computer's register monotonically toward a steady state which is correlated to the classical solution(s). An internal parameter $θ$ determines both the degree of correlation and the success probability, thus controlling the algorithm's runtime. Optionally this parameter can be gradually evolved during the algorithm's execution to create a Zeno-like effect; this can be viewed as an adiabatic evolution of a Hamiltonian which remains frustration-free at all points, and we lower-bound the corresponding gap. In exact numerical simulations of small systems up to 34 qubits our approach competes favourably with a high-performing classical 3-SAT solver, which itself outperforms a brute-force application of Grover's search.

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arXiv2017

Flow Ambiguity: A Path Towards Classically Driven Blind Quantum Computation

Blind quantum computation protocols allow a user to delegate a computation to a remote quantum computer in such a way that the privacy of their computation is preserved, even from the device implementing the computation. To date, such protocols are only known for settings involving at least two quantum devices: either a user with some quantum capabilities and a remote quantum server or two or more entangled but noncommunicating servers. In this work, we take the first step towards the construction of a blind quantum computing protocol with a completely classical client and single quantum server. Specifically, we show how a classical client can exploit the ambiguity in the flow of information in measurement-based quantum computing to construct a protocol for hiding critical aspects of a computation delegated to a remote quantum computer. This ambiguity arises due to the fact that, for a fixed graph, there exist multiple choices of the input and output vertex sets that result in deterministic measurement patterns consistent with the same fixed total ordering of vertices. This allows a classical user, computing only measurement angles, to drive a measurement-based computation performed on a remote device while hiding critical aspects of the computation.

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arXiv2017

A measurement driven analog of adiabatic quantum computation for frustration-free Hamiltonians

The adiabatic quantum algorithm has drawn intense interest as a potential approach to accelerating optimization tasks using quantum computation. The algorithm is most naturally realised in systems which support Hamiltonian evolution, rather than discrete gates. We explore an alternative approach in which slowly varying measurements are used to mimic adiabatic evolution. We show that for certain Hamiltonians, which remain frustration-free all along the adiabatic path, the necessary measurements can be implemented through the measurement of random terms from the Hamiltonian. This offers a new, and potentially more viable, method of realising adiabatic evolution in gate-based quantum computer architectures.

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arXiv2017

Minimal physical resources for the realisation of measurement-based quantum computation

In measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC), a special highly-entangled state (called a resource state) allows for universal quantum computation driven by single-qubit measurements and post-measurement corrections. Physical realisations of this model have been achieved in various physical systems for low numbers of qubits. The large number of qubits necessary to construct the resource state constitutes one of the main down sides to MBQC. However, in some instances it is possible to extend the resource state on the fly, meaning that not every qubit must be realised in the devices simultaneously. We consider the question of the minimal number of physical qubits that must be present in a system to directly implement a given measurement pattern. For measurement patterns with n inputs, n outputs and m total qubits which have flow, we show that only min(n + 1, m) qubits are required, while the number of required qubits can be as high as m-2 for measurement patterns with only gflow. We discuss the implications of removing the Clifford part of a measurement pattern, using well-established transformation rules for Pauli measurements, for the presence of flow versus gflow, and hence the effect on the minimum number of physical qubits required to directly realise the measurement pattern.

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arXiv2017

Computing on quantum shared secrets

A (k,n)-threshold secret-sharing scheme allows for a string to be split into n shares in such a way that any subset of at least k shares suffices to recover the secret string, but such that any subset of at most k-1 shares contains no information about the secret. Quantum secret-sharing schemes extend this idea to the sharing of quantum states. Here we propose a method of performing computation on quantum shared secrets. We introduce a (n,n)-quantum secret sharing scheme together with a set of protocols that allow quantum circuits to be evaluated on the shared secret without the need to decode the secret. We consider a multipartite setting, with each participant holding a share of the secret. We show that if there exists at least one honest participant, no group of dishonest participants can recover any information about the shared secret, independent of their deviations from the protocol.

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arXiv2016

Classical verification of quantum circuits containing few basis changes

We consider the task of verifying the correctness of quantum computation for a restricted class of circuits which contain at most two basis changes. This contains circuits giving rise to the second level of the Fourier Hierarchy, the lowest level for which there is an established quantum advantage. We show that, when the circuit has an outcome with probability at least the inverse of some polynomial in the circuit size, the outcome can be checked in polynomial time with bounded error by a completely classical verifier. This verification procedure is based on random sampling of computational paths and is only possible given knowledge of the likely outcome.

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arXiv2016

Private quantum computation: An introduction to blind quantum computing and related protocols

Quantum technologies hold the promise of not only faster algorithmic processing of data, via quantum computation, but also of more secure communications, in the form of quantum cryptography. In recent years, a number of protocols have emerged which seek to marry these concepts for the purpose of securing computation rather than communication. These protocols address the task of securely delegating quantum computation to an untrusted device while maintaining the privacy, and in some instances the integrity, of the computation. We present a review of the progress to date in this emerging area.

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arXiv2016

Universality of quantum computation with cluster states and (X,Y)-plane measurements

Measurement-based quantum computing (MBQC) is a model of quantum computation where quantum information is coherently processed by means of projective measurements on highly entangled states. Following the introduction of MBQC, cluster states have been studied extensively both from the theoretical and experimental point of view. Indeed, the study of MBQC was catalysed by the realisation that cluster states are universal for MBQC with (X,Y)-plane and Z measurements. Here we examine the question of whether the requirement for Z measurements can be dropped while maintaining universality. We answer this question in the affirmative by showing that universality is possible in this scenario.

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arXiv2015

Post hoc verification of quantum computation

With recent progress on experimental quantum information processing, an important question has arisen as to whether it is possible to verify arbitrary computation performed on a quantum processor. A number of protocols have been proposed to achieve this goal, however all are interactive in nature, requiring that the computation be performed in an interactive manner with back and forth communication between the verifier and one or more provers. Here we propose two methods for verifying quantum computation in a non-interactive manner based on recent progress in the understanding of the local Hamiltonian problem. Provided that the provers compute certain witnesses for the computation, this allows the result of a quantum computation to be verified after the fact, a property not seen in current verification protocols.

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