arXiv subjects

Ramis Movassagh

Publications and source records attributed to Ramis Movassagh.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Separating Quantum Indistinguishability Obfuscation from Falsifiable Assumptions

Quantum indistinguishability obfuscation (qIO) aims to make a quantum circuit unintelligible while preserving its functionality. It serves as a foundational primitive for advanced applications, such as witness encryption (WE) for QMA, non-interactive zero-knowledge arguments for QMA, and attribute-based encryption for BQP. Despite its importance, constructing qIO from standard assumptions remains a major open problem. In this work, we prove that the security of WE for QMA cannot be based on any falsifiable cryptographic assumption via a restricted class of quantum black-box reductions. Because qIO for null quantum circuits implies WE for QMA, this also separates null-qIO from falsifiable assumptions. Since almost all standard cryptographic assumptions are falsifiable, our result presents a barrier to basing qIO on standard cryptographic assumptions. The reductions we rule out are restricted: the reduction must query the adversary classically, non-adaptively, at the same security parameter, and only on honestly generated ciphertexts. Moreover, our impossibility applies only to WE with classical ciphertexts, and therefore does not rule out qIO with obfuscators whose output is a quantum state. Ruling out more general reductions, as well as more general forms of WE and qIO, remains open. Our impossibility relies on the existence of a QMA-QCIP[2] gap problem, an average-case assumption postulating a QMA language that cannot be verified with two messages of classical communication.

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arXiv2025

Quantum function secret sharing

We propose a quantum function secret sharing scheme in which the communication is exclusively classical. In this primitive, a classical dealer distributes a secret quantum circuit $C$ by providing shares to $p$ quantum parties. The parties on an input state $\ket{\psi}$ and a projection $\Pi$, compute values $y_i$ that they then classically communicate back to the dealer, who can then compute $\lVert \Pi C|\psi\rangle\rVert^2$ using only classical resources. Moreover, the shares do not leak much information about the secret circuit $C$. Our protocol for quantum secret sharing uses the {\em Cayley path}, a tool that has been extensively used to support quantum primacy claims. More concretely, the shares of $C$ correspond to randomized version of $C$ which are delegated to the quantum parties, and the reconstruction can be done by extrapolation. Our scheme has two limitations, which we prove to be inherent to our techniques: First, our scheme is only secure against single adversaries, and we show that if two parties collude, then they can break its security. Second, the evaluation done by the parties requires exponential time in the number of gates.

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arXiv2024

Quantum One-Time Protection of any Randomized Algorithm

The meteoric rise in power and popularity of machine learning models dependent on valuable training data has reignited a basic tension between the power of running a program locally and the risk of exposing details of that program to the user. At the same time, fundamental properties of quantum states offer new solutions to data and program security that can require strikingly few quantum resources to exploit, and offer advantages outside of mere computational run time. In this work, we demonstrate such a solution with quantum one-time tokens. A quantum one-time token is a quantum state that permits a certain program to be evaluated exactly once. One-time security guarantees, roughly, that the token cannot be used to evaluate the program more than once. We propose a scheme for building quantum one-time tokens for any randomized classical program, which include generative AI models. We prove that the scheme satisfies an interesting definition of one-time security as long as outputs of the classical algorithm have high enough min-entropy, in a black box model. Importantly, the classical program being protected does not need to be implemented coherently on a quantum computer. In fact, the size and complexity of the quantum one-time token is independent of the program being protected, and additional quantum resources serve only to increase the security of the protocol. Due to this flexibility in adjusting the security, we believe that our proposal is parsimonious enough to serve as a promising candidate for a near-term useful demonstration of quantum computing in either the NISQ or early fault tolerant regime.

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arXiv2024

Symmetries, correlation functions, and entanglement of general quantum Motzkin spin-chains

Motzkin spin-chains, which include 'colorless' (integer spin $s=1$) and 'colorful' ($s \geq 2$) variants, are one-dimensional (1D) local integer spin models notable for their lack of a conformal field theory (CFT) description of their low-energy physics, despite being gapless. The colorful variants are particularly unusual, as they exhibit power-law violation of the area-law of entanglement entropy (as $\sqrt{n}$ in system size $n$), rather than a logarithmic violation as seen in a CFT. In this work, we analytically discover several unique properties of these models, potentially suggesting a new universality class for their low-energy physics. We identify a complex structure of symmetries and unexpected scaling behavior in spin-spin correlations, which deviate from known 1D universality classes. Specifically, the $s=1$ chain exhibits $U(1)$ spontaneous symmetry breaking and ferromagnetic order. Meanwhile, the $s \geq 2$ chains do not appear to spontaneously break any symmetries, but display quasi-long-range algebraic order with power-law decaying correlations, inconsistent with standard Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) critical exponents. We also derive exact asymptotic scaling expressions for entanglement measures in both colorless and colorful chains, generalizing previous results of Movassagh [J. Math Phys. (2017)], while providing benchmarks for potential quantum simulation experiments. The combination of hardness of classically simulating such systems along with the analytical tractability of their ground state properties position Motzkin spin chains as intriguing candidates for exploring quantum computational advantage in simulating many-body physics.

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arXiv2024

Measurement and feedforward induced entanglement negativity transition

We study the interplay between measurement-induced dynamics and conditional unitary evolution in quantum systems. We numerically and analytically investigate commuting random measurement and feedforward (MFF) processes, and find a sharp transition in their ability to generate entanglement negativity as the number of MFF channels varies. We also establish a direct connection between these findings and transitions induced by random dephasing from an environment with broken time-reversal symmetry. In one variant of the problem, we employ free probability theory to rigorously prove the transition's existence. Furthermore, these MFF processes have dynamic circuit representations that can be experimentally explored on current quantum computing platforms.

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arXiv2024

Quantum Merkle Trees

Committing to information is a central task in cryptography, where a party (typically called a prover) stores a piece of information (e.g., a bit string) with the promise of not changing it. This information can be accessed by another party (typically called the verifier), who can later learn the information and verify that it was not meddled with. Merkle trees are a well-known construction for doing so in a succinct manner, in which the verifier can learn any part of the information by receiving a short proof from the honest prover. Despite its significance in classical cryptography, there was no quantum analog of the Merkle tree. A direct generalization using the Quantum Random Oracle Model (QROM) does not seem to be secure. In this work, we propose the quantum Merkle tree. It is based on what we call the Quantum Haar Random Oracle Model (QHROM). In QHROM, both the prover and the verifier have access to a Haar random quantum oracle $G$ and its inverse. Using the quantum Merkle tree, we propose a succinct quantum argument for the Gap-$k$-Local-Hamiltonian problem. Assuming the Quantum PCP conjecture is true, this succinct argument extends to all of QMA. This work raises a number of interesting open research problems.

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arXiv2024

Advantage of Quantum Neural Networks as Quantum Information Decoders

A promising strategy to protect quantum information from noise-induced errors is to encode it into the low-energy states of a topological quantum memory device. However, readout errors from such memory under realistic settings is less understood. We study the problem of decoding quantum information encoded in the groundspaces of topological stabilizer Hamiltonians in the presence of generic perturbations, such as quenched disorder. We first prove that the standard stabilizer-based error correction and decoding schemes work adequately well in such perturbed quantum codes by showing that the decoding error diminishes exponentially in the distance of the underlying unperturbed code. We then prove that Quantum Neural Network (QNN) decoders provide an almost quadratic improvement on the readout error. Thus, we demonstrate provable advantage of using QNNs for decoding realistic quantum error-correcting codes, and our result enables the exploration of a wider range of non-stabilizer codes in the near-term laboratory settings.

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arXiv2023

Uncovering Local Integrability in Quantum Many-Body Dynamics

Interacting many-body quantum systems and their dynamics, while fundamental to modern science and technology, are formidable to simulate and understand. However, by discovering their symmetries, conservation laws, and integrability one can unravel their intricacies. Here, using up to 124 qubits of a fully programmable quantum computer, we uncover local conservation laws and integrability in one- and two-dimensional periodically-driven spin lattices in a regime previously inaccessible to such detailed analysis. We focus on the paradigmatic example of disorder-induced ergodicity breaking, where we first benchmark the system crossover into a localized regime through anomalies in the one-particle-density-matrix spectrum and other hallmark signatures. We then demonstrate that this regime stems from hidden local integrals of motion by faithfully reconstructing their quantum operators, thus providing a detailed portrait of the system's integrable dynamics. Our results demonstrate a versatile strategy for extracting the hidden dynamical structure from noisy experiments on large-scale quantum computers.

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arXiv2023

On quantum backpropagation, information reuse, and cheating measurement collapse

The success of modern deep learning hinges on the ability to train neural networks at scale. Through clever reuse of intermediate information, backpropagation facilitates training through gradient computation at a total cost roughly proportional to running the function, rather than incurring an additional factor proportional to the number of parameters - which can now be in the trillions. Naively, one expects that quantum measurement collapse entirely rules out the reuse of quantum information as in backpropagation. But recent developments in shadow tomography, which assumes access to multiple copies of a quantum state, have challenged that notion. Here, we investigate whether parameterized quantum models can train as efficiently as classical neural networks. We show that achieving backpropagation scaling is impossible without access to multiple copies of a state. With this added ability, we introduce an algorithm with foundations in shadow tomography that matches backpropagation scaling in quantum resources while reducing classical auxiliary computational costs to open problems in shadow tomography. These results highlight the nuance of reusing quantum information for practical purposes and clarify the unique difficulties in training large quantum models, which could alter the course of quantum machine learning.

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arXiv2023

Observing and braiding topological Majorana modes on programmable quantum simulators

Electrons are indivisible elementary particles, yet paradoxically a collection of them can act as a fraction of a single electron, exhibiting exotic and useful properties. One such collective excitation, known as a topological Majorana mode, is naturally stable against perturbations, such as unwanted local noise, and can thereby robustly store quantum information. As such, Majorana modes serve as the basic primitive of topological quantum computing, providing resilience to errors. However, their demonstration on quantum hardware has remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate a verifiable identification and braiding of topological Majorana modes using a superconducting quantum processor as a quantum simulator. By simulating fermions on a one-dimensional lattice subject to a periodic drive, we confirm the existence of Majorana modes localized at the edges, and distinguish them from other trivial modes. To simulate a basic logical operation of topological quantum computing known as braiding, we propose a non-adiabatic technique, whose implementation reveals correct braiding statistics in our experiments. This work could further be used to study topological models of matter using circuit-based simulations, and shows that long-sought quantum phenomena can be realized by anyone in cloud-run quantum simulations, whereby accelerating fundamental discoveries in quantum science and technology.

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arXiv2023

Preparing thermal states on noiseless and noisy programmable quantum processors

Nature is governed by precise physical laws, which can inspire the discovery of new computer-run simulation algorithms. Thermal states are the most ubiquitous for they are the equilibrium states of matter. Simulating thermal states of quantum matter has applications ranging from quantum machine learning to better understanding of high-temperature superconductivity and quantum chemistry. The computational complexity of this task is hopelessly hard for classical computers. The existing quantum algorithms come with caveats: most either require quantum phase estimation rendering them impractical for current noisy hardware, or are variational which face obstacles such as initialization, barren plateaus, and a general lack of provable guarantee. We provide two quantum algorithms with provable guarantees to prepare thermal states on (near-term) quantum computers that avoid these drawbacks. The first algorithm is inspired by the natural thermalization process where the ancilla qubits act as the infinite thermal bath. This algorithm can potentially run in polynomial time to sample thermal distributions of ergodic systems -- the vast class of physical systems that equilibrate in isolation with respect to local observables. The second algorithm works for any system and in general runs in exponential time. However, it requires significantly smaller quantum resources than previous such algorithms. In addition, we provide an error mitigation technique for both algorithms to fight back decoherence, which enables us to run our algorithms on the near-term quantum devices. To illustration, we simulate the thermal state of the hardcore Bose-Hubbard model on the latest generation of available quantum computers.

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arXiv2022

Making Quantum Local Verifiers Simulable with Potential Applications to Zero-Knowledge

Recently Chen and Movassagh proposed the quantum Merkle tree, which is a quantum analogue of the well-known classical Merkle tree. It gives a succinct verification protocol for quantum state commitment. Although they only proved security against semi-honest provers, they conjectured its general security. Using the proposed quantum Merkle tree, they gave a quantum analogue of Kilian's succinct argument for NP, which is based on probabilistically checkable proofs (PCPs). A nice feature of Kilian's argument is that it can be extended to a zero-knowledge succinct argument for NP, if the underlying PCP is zero-knowledge. Hence, a natural question is whether one can also make the quantum succinct argument by Chen and Movassagh zero-knowledge as well. This work makes progress on this problem. We generalize the recent result of Broadbent and Grilo to show that any local quantum verifier can be made simulable with a minor reduction in completeness and soundness. Roughly speaking, a local quantum verifier is simulable if in the yes case, the local views of the verifier can be computed without knowing the actual quantum proof; it can be seen as the quantum analogue of the classical zero-knowledge PCPs. Hence we conjecture that applying the proposed succinct quantum argument of Chen and Movassagh to a simulable local verifier is indeed zero-knowledge.

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arXiv2022

Theory of Ergodic Quantum Processes

The generic behavior of quantum systems has long been of theoretical and practical interest. Any quantum process is represented by a sequence of quantum channels. We consider general ergodic sequences of stochastic channels with arbitrary correlations and non-negligible decoherence. Ergodicity includes and vastly generalizes random independence. We obtain a theorem which shows that the composition of such a sequence of channels converges exponentially fast to a replacement (rank-one) channel. Using this theorem, we derive the limiting behavior of translation-invariant channels and stochastically independent random channels. We then use our formalism to describe the thermodynamic limit of ergodic matrix product states. We derive formulas for the expectation value of a local observable and prove that the two-point correlations of local observables decay exponentially. We then analytically compute the entanglement spectrum across any cut, by which the bipartite entanglement entropy (i.e., Rényi or von Neumann) across an arbitrary cut can be computed exactly. Other physical implications of our results are that most Floquet phases of matter are metastable and that noisy random circuits in the large depth limit will be trivial as far as their quantum entanglement is concerned. To obtain these results, we bridge quantum information theory to dynamical systems and random matrix theory.

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arXiv2022

An ergodic theorem for quantum processes with applications to matrix product states

Any discrete quantum process is represented by a sequence of quantum channels. We consider ergodic quantum processes obtained by a map that takes the points along the trajectory of a discrete ergodic dynamical system to the space of quantum channels. Under natural irreducibility conditions, we obtain a theorem showing that the state under such a process converges exponentially fast to an ergodic sequence depending on the process, but independent of the initial state. As an application, we describe the thermodynamic limit of ergodic matrix product states and prove that the 2-point correlations of local observables in such states decay exponentially with their distance in the bulk.

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arXiv2022

Repeated Averages on Graphs

Sourav Chatterjee, Persi Diaconis, Allan Sly and Lingfu Zhang, prompted by a question of Ramis Movassagh, renewed the study of a process proposed in the early 1980s by Jean Bourgain. A state vector $v \in \mathbb R^n$, labeled with the vertices of a connected graph, $G$, changes in discrete time steps following the simple rule that at each step a random edge $(i,j)$ is picked and $v_i$ and $v_j$ are both replaced by their average $(v_i+v_j)/2$. It is easy to see that the value associated with each vertex converges to $1/n$. The question was how quickly will $v$ be $ε$-close to uniform in the $L^{1}$ norm in the case of the complete graph, $K_{n}$, when $v$ is initialized as a standard basis vector that takes the value 1 on one coordinate, and zeros everywhere else. They have established a sharp cutoff of $\frac{1}{2\log 2}n\log n + O(n\sqrt{\log n})$. Our main result is to prove, that $\frac{(1-ε)}{2\log2}n\log n-O(n)$ is a general lower bound for all connected graphs on $n$ nodes. We also get sharp magnitude of $t_{ε,1}$ for several important families of graphs, including star, expander, dumbbell, and cycle. In order to establish our results we make several observations about the process, such as the worst case initialization is always a standard basis vector. Our results add to the body of work of Aldous, Aldous and Lanoue, Quattropani and Sau, Cao, Olshevsky and Tsitsiklis, and others. The renewed interest is due to an analogy to a question related to the Google's supremacy circuit. For the proof of our main theorem we employ a concept that we call 'augmented entropy function' which may find independent interest in the computer science and probability theory communities.

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arXiv2022

The spin-one Motzkin chain is gapped for any area weight $t<1$

We consider the spin-one Motzkin chain with area weight $t>0$. We resolve three questions from the literature about this model. We prove (i) existence of a uniform spectral gap for all $t<1$ as conjectured by Zhang--Ahmadein--Klich \cite{zhang2017novel} (ii) an explicit formula for the long-distance limit of the string order parameter, which implies it is non-vanishing at small $t$, confirming a conjecture by Barbiero et al. \cite{barbiero2017haldane}, and (iii) that gaplessness for $t>1$ is robust and extends to hard boundary conditions, answering a question of Zhang--Klich \cite{zhang2017entropy}. These conclusions rest on an effective approximate description of the ground states of finite open Motzkin chains in terms of height-controlled imbalanced Motzkin walks.

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arXiv2021

Quantum supremacy and hardness of estimating output probabilities of quantum circuits

Motivated by the recent experimental demonstrations of quantum supremacy, proving the hardness of the output of random quantum circuits is an imperative near term goal. We prove under the complexity theoretical assumption of the non-collapse of the polynomial hierarchy that approximating the output probabilities of random quantum circuits to within $\exp(-Ω(m\log m))$ additive error is hard for any classical computer, where $m$ is the number of gates in the quantum computation. More precisely, we show that the above problem is $\#\mathsf{P}$-hard under $\mathsf{BPP}^{\mathsf{NP}}$ reduction. In the recent experiments, the quantum circuit has $n$-qubits and the architecture is a two-dimensional grid of size $\sqrt{n}\times\sqrt{n}$. Indeed for constant depth circuits approximating the output probabilities to within $2^{-Ω(n\log{n})}$ is hard. For circuits of depth $\log{n}$ or $\sqrt{n}$ for which the anti-concentration property holds, approximating the output probabilities to within $2^{-Ω(n\log^2{n})}$ and $2^{-Ω(n^{3/2}\log n)}$ is hard respectively. We then show that the hardness results extend to any open neighborhood of an arbitrary (fixed) circuit including the trivial circuit with identity gates. We made an effort to find the best proofs and proved these results from first principles, which do not use the standard techniques such as the Berlekamp--Welch algorithm, the usual Paturi's lemma, and Rakhmanov's result.

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arXiv2020

Constructing quantum codes from any classical code and their embedding in ground space of local Hamiltonians

Implementing robust quantum error correction (QEC) is imperative for harnessing the promise of quantum technologies. We introduce a framework that takes {\it any} classical code and explicitly constructs the corresponding QEC code. Our framework can be seen to generalize the CSS codes, and goes beyond the stabilizer formalism~(Fig.~1). A concrete advantage is that the desirable properties of a classical code are automatically incorporated in the design of the resulting quantum code. We reify the theory by various illustrations some of which outperform the best previous constructions. We then introduce a local quantum spin-chain Hamiltonian whose ground space we analytically completely characterize. We utilize our framework to demonstrate that the ground space contains explicit quantum codes with linear distance. This side-steps the Bravyi-Terhal no-go theorem.

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