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M. B. Hastings

Publications and source records attributed to M. B. Hastings.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2024

Improving Perturbation Theory with the Sum-of-Squares: Third Order

The sum-of-squares method can give rigorous lower bounds on the energy of quantum Hamiltonians. Unfortunately, typically using this method requires solving a semidefinite program, which can be computationally expensive. Further, the typically used degree-$4$ sum-of-squares (also known as the 2RDM method) does not correctly reproduce second order perturbation theory. Here, we give a general method, an analogue of Wigner's $2n+1$ rule for perturbation theory, to compute the order of the error in a given sum-of-squares ansatz. We also give a method for finding solutions of the dual semidefinite program, based on a perturbative ansatz combined with a self-consistent method. As an illustration, we show that for a class of model Hamiltonians (with a gap in the quadratic term and quartic terms chosen as i.i.d. Gaussians), this self-consistent sum-of-squares method significantly improves over the 2RDM method in both speed and accuracy, and also improves over low order perturbation theory. We then explain why the particular ansatz we implement is not suitable for use for quantum chemistry Hamiltonians (due to presence of certain large diagonal terms), but we suggest a modified ansatz that may be suitable, which will be the subject of future work.

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arXiv2024

Limitations and Separations in the Quantum Sum-of-squares, and the Quantum Knapsack Problem

We answer two questions regarding the sum-of-squares for the SYK model left open in Ref. 1, both of which are related to graphs. First (a "limitation"), we show that a fragment of the sum-of-squares, in which one considers commutation relations of degree-$4$ Majorana operators but does not impose any other relations on them, does not give the correct order of magnitude bound on the ground state energy. Second (a "separation"), we show that the graph invariant $Ψ(G)$ defined in Ref. 1 may be strictly larger than the independence number $α(G)$. The invariant $Ψ(G)$ is a bound on the norm of a Hamiltonian whose terms obey commutation relations determined by the graph $G$, and it was shown that $α(G)\leq Ψ(G) \leq \vartheta(G)$, where $\vartheta(\cdot)$ is the Lovasz theta function. We briefly discuss the case of $q\neq 4$ in the SYK model. Separately, we define a problem that we call the quantum knapsack problem.

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arXiv2023

Entanglement of Sections, Examples Looking for a Theory

Quantum information is about the entanglement of states. To this starting point we add parameters whereby a single state becomes a non-vanishing section of a bundle. We consider through examples the possible entanglement patterns of sections.

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arXiv2023

Quantum Codes on Graphs

We consider some questions related to codes constructed using various graphs, in particular focusing on graphs which are not lattices in two or three dimensions. We begin by considering Floquet codes which can be constructed using ``emergent fermions". Here, we are considering codes that in some sense generalize the honeycomb code[1] to more general, non-planar graphs. We then consider a class of these codes that is related to (generalized) toric codes on $2$-complexes. For (generalized) toric codes on $2$-complexes, the following question arises: can the distance of these codes grow faster than square-root? We answer the question negatively, and remark on recent systolic inequalities[2]. We then turn to the case that of planar codes with vacancies, or ``dead qubits", and consider the statistical mechanics of decoding in this setting. Although we do not prove a threshold, our results should be asymptotically correct for low error probability and high degree decoding graphs (high degree taken before low error probability). In an appendix, we discuss a toy model of vacancies in planar quantum codes, giving a phenomenological discussion of how errors occur when ``super-stabilizers" are not measured, and in a separate appendix we discuss a relation between Floquet codes and chain maps.

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arXiv2023

On Quantum Weight Reduction

We give a general procedure for weight reducing quantum codes. This corrects a previous work\cite{owr}, and introduces a new technique that we call "coning" to effectively induce high weight stabilizers in an LDPC code. As one application, any LDPC code (with arbitrary $O(1)$ stabilizer weights) may be turned into a code where all stabilizers have weight at most $5$ at the cost of at most a constant factor increase in number of physical qubits and constant factor reduction in distance. Also, by applying this technique to a quantum code whose $X$-stabilizers are derived from a classical log-weight random code and whose $Z$-stabilizers have linear weight, we construct an LDPC quantum code with distance $\tilde Ω(N^{2/3})$ and $\tildeΩ(N^{2/3})$ logical qubits.

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arXiv2023

Field Theory and The Sum-of-Squares for Quantum Systems

This is a collection of various result and notes, addressing the sum-of-squares hierarchy for spin and fermion systems using some ideas from quantum field theory, including higher order perturbation theory, critical phenomena, nonlocal coupling in time, and auxiliary field Monte Carlo. This paper should be seen as a sequel to Refs. 1,2. Additionally in this paper, we consider the difficulty of approximating the ground state energy of the Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) model using other methods. We provide limitations on the power of the Lanczos method, starting with a Gausian wavefunction, and on the power of a sum of Gaussian wavefunctions (in this case under an assumption).

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arXiv2022

Classification of Quantum Cellular Automata

There exists an index theory to classify strictly local quantum cellular automata in one dimension. We consider two classification questions. First, we study to what extent this index theory can be applied in higher dimensions via dimensional reduction, finding a classification by the first homology group of the manifold modulo torsion. Second, in two dimensions, we show that an extension of this index theory (including torsion) fully classifies quantum cellular automata, at least in the absence of fermionic degrees of freedom. This complete classification in one and two dimensions by index theory is not expected to extend to higher dimensions due to recent evidence of a nontrivial automaton in three dimensions. Finally, we discuss some group theoretical aspects of the classification of quantum cellular automata and consider these automata on higher dimensional real projective spaces.

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arXiv2020

Classical and Quantum Algorithms for Tensor Principal Component Analysis

We present classical and quantum algorithms based on spectral methods for a problem in tensor principal component analysis. The quantum algorithm achieves a quartic speedup while using exponentially smaller space than the fastest classical spectral algorithm, and a super-polynomial speedup over classical algorithms that use only polynomial space. The classical algorithms that we present are related to, but slightly different from those presented recently in Ref. 1. In particular, we have an improved threshold for recovery and the algorithms we present work for both even and odd order tensors. These results suggest that large-scale inference problems are a promising future application for quantum computers.

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arXiv2020

How Quantum Are Non-Negative Wavefunctions?

We consider wavefunctions which are non-negative in some tensor product basis. We study what possible teleportation can occur in such wavefunctions, giving a complete answer in some cases (when one system is a qubit) and partial answers elsewhere. We use this to show that a one-dimensional wavefunction which is non-negative and has zero correlation length can be written in a "coherent Gibbs state" form, as explained later. We conjecture that such holds in higher dimensions. Additionally, some results are provided on possible teleportation in general wavefunctions, explaining how Schmidt coefficients before measurement limit the possible Schmidt coefficients after measurement, and on the absence of a "generalized area law"\cite{genarealaw} even for Hamiltonians with no sign problem. One of the motivations for this work is an attempt to prove a conjecture about ground state wavefunctions which have an "intrinsic" sign problem that cannot be removed by any quantum circuit. We show a weaker version of this, showing that the sign problem is intrinsic for commuting Hamiltonians in the same phase as the double semion model under the technical assumption that TQO-2 holds\cite{tqo2}.

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arXiv2019

Duality in Quantum Quenches and Classical Approximation Algorithms: Pretty Good or Very Bad

We consider classical and quantum algorithms which have a duality property: roughly, either the algorithm provides some nontrivial improvement over random or there exist many solutions which are significantly worse than random. This enables one to give guarantees that the algorithm will find such a nontrivial improvement: if few solutions exist which are much worse than random, then a nontrivial improvement is guaranteed. The quantum algorithm is based on a sudden of a Hamiltonian; while the algorithm is general, we analyze it in the specific context of MAX-$K$-LIN$2$, for both even and odd $K$. The classical algorithm is a "dequantization of this algorithm", obtaining the same guarantee (indeed, some results which are only conjectured in the quantum case can be proven here); however, the quantum point of view helps in analyzing the performance of the classical algorithm and might in some cases perform better.

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arXiv2019

Classical and Quantum Bounded Depth Approximation Algorithms

We consider some classical and quantum approximate optimization algorithms with bounded depth. First, we define a class of "local" classical optimization algorithms and show that a single step version of these algorithms can achieve the same performance as the single step QAOA on MAX-3-LIN-2. Second, we show that this class of classical algorithms generalizes a class previously considered in the literature, and also that a single step of the classical algorithm will outperform the single-step QAOA on all triangle-free MAX-CUT instances. In fact, for all but $4$ choices of degree, existing single-step classical algorithms already outperform the QAOA on these graphs, while for the remaining $4$ choices we show that the generalization here outperforms it. Finally, we consider the QAOA and provide strong evidence that, for any fixed number of steps, its performance on MAX-3-LIN-2 on bounded degree graphs cannot achieve the same scaling as can be done by a class of "global" classical algorithms. These results suggest that such local classical algorithms are likely to be at least as promising as the QAOA for approximate optimization.

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arXiv2019

The Short Path Algorithm Applied to a Toy Model

We numerically investigate the performance of the short path optimization algorithm on a toy problem, with the potential chosen to depend only on the total Hamming weight to allow simulation of larger systems. We consider classes of potentials with multiple minima which cause the adiabatic algorithm to experience difficulties with small gaps. The numerical investigation allows us to consider a broader range of parameters than was studied in previous rigorous work on the short path algorithm, and to show that the algorithm can continue to lead to speedups for more general objective functions than those considered before. We find in many cases a polynomial speedup over Grover search. We present a heuristic analytic treatment of choices of these parameters and of scaling of phase transitions in this model.

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arXiv2018

A Short Path Quantum Algorithm for Exact Optimization

We give a quantum algorithm to exactly solve certain problems in combinatorial optimization, including weighted MAX-2-SAT as well as problems where the objective function is a weighted sum of products of Ising variables, all terms of the same degree $D$; this problem is called weighted MAX-E$D$-LIN2. We require that the optimal solution be unique for odd $D$ and doubly degenerate for even $D$; however, we expect that the algorithm still works without this condition and we show how to reduce to the case without this assumption at the cost of an additional overhead. While the time required is still exponential, the algorithm provably outperforms Grover's algorithm assuming a mild condition on the number of low energy states of the target Hamiltonian. The detailed analysis of the runtime dependence on a tradeoff between the number of such states and algorithm speed: fewer such states allows a greater speedup. This leads to a natural hybrid algorithm that finds either an exact or approximate solution.

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arXiv2018

Weaker Assumptions for the Short Path Optimization Algorithm

The short path algorithm gives a super-Grover speedup for various optimization problems under the assumption of a unique ground state and under an assumption on the density of low-energy states. Here, we remove the assumption of a unique ground state; this uses the same algorithm but a slightly different analysis and holds for arbitrary MAX-$D$-LIN-$2$ problems. Then, specializing to the case $D=2$, we show that for certain values of the objective function we can always achieve a super-Grover speedup (albeit a very slight one) without any assumptions on the density of states. Finally, for random instances, we give a heuristic treatment suggesting a more significant improvement.

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arXiv2018

An Area Law for One Dimensional Quantum Systems

We prove an area law for the entanglement entropy in gapped one dimensional quantum systems. The bound on the entropy grows surprisingly rapidly with the correlation length; we discuss this in terms of properties of quantum expanders and present a conjecture on completely positive maps which may provide an alternate way of arriving at an area law. We also show that, for gapped, local systems, the bound on Von Neumann entropy implies a bound on Rényi entropy for sufficiently large $α<1$ and implies the ability to approximate the ground state by a matrix product state.

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arXiv2018

Classifying Quantum Phases With The Torus Trick

Classifying phases of local quantum systems is a general problem that includes special cases such as free fermions, commuting projectors, and others. An important distinction in this classification should be made between classifying periodic and aperiodic systems. A related distinction is that between homotopy invariants (invariants which remain constant so long as certain general properties such as locality, gap, and others hold) and locally computable invariants (properties of the system that cannot change from one region to another without producing a gapless edge between them). We attack this problem using a technique inspired by Kirby's "torus trick" in topology. We use this trick to reproduce results for free fermions (in particular, using the trick to reduce the aperiodic classification to the simpler problem of periodic classification). We also show that a similar trick works for interacting phases which are nontrivial but lack anyons; these results include symmetry protected phases. A key part of this work is an attempt to classify quantum cellular automata (QCA).

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