arXiv subjects

Stephen P. Jordan

Publications and source records attributed to Stephen P. Jordan.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Diffusion Monte Carlo approach versus adiabatic computation for local Hamiltonians

Most research regarding quantum adiabatic optimization has focused on stoquastic Hamiltonians, whose ground states can be expressed with only real, nonnegative amplitudes. This raises the question of whether classical Monte Carlo algorithms can efficiently simulate quantum adiabatic optimization with stoquastic Hamiltonians. Recent results have given counterexamples in which path integral and diffusion Monte Carlo fail to do so. However, most adiabatic optimization algorithms, such as for solving MAX-k-SAT problems, use k-local Hamiltonians, whereas our previous counterexample for diffusion Monte Carlo involved n-body interactions. Here we present a new 6-local counterexample which demonstrates that even for these local Hamiltonians there are cases where diffusion Monte Carlo cannot efficiently simulate quantum adiabatic optimization. Furthermore, we perform empirical testing of diffusion Monte Carlo on a standard well-studied class of permutation-symmetric tunneling problems and similarly find large advantages for quantum optimization over diffusion Monte Carlo.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

BQP-completeness of Scattering in Scalar Quantum Field Theory

Recent work has shown that quantum computers can compute scattering probabilities in massive quantum field theories, with a run time that is polynomial in the number of particles, their energy, and the desired precision. Here we study a closely related quantum field-theoretical problem: estimating the vacuum-to-vacuum transition amplitude, in the presence of spacetime-dependent classical sources, for a massive scalar field theory in (1+1) dimensions. We show that this problem is BQP-hard; in other words, its solution enables one to solve any problem that is solvable in polynomial time by a quantum computer. Hence, the vacuum-to-vacuum amplitude cannot be accurately estimated by any efficient classical algorithm, even if the field theory is very weakly coupled, unless BQP=BPP. Furthermore, the corresponding decision problem can be solved by a quantum computer in a time scaling polynomially with the number of bits needed to specify the classical source fields, and this problem is therefore BQP-complete. Our construction can be regarded as an idealized architecture for a universal quantum computer in a laboratory system described by massive phi^4 theory coupled to classical spacetime-dependent sources.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Modulus of continuity eigenvalue bounds for homogeneous graphs and convex subgraphs with applications to quantum Hamiltonians

We adapt modulus of continuity estimates to the study of spectra of combinatorial graph Laplacians, as well as the Dirichlet spectra of certain weighted Laplacians. The latter case is equivalent to stoquastic Hamiltonians and is of current interest in both condensed matter physics and quantum computing. In particular, we introduce a new technique which bounds the spectral gap of such Laplacians (Hamiltonians) by studying the limiting behavior of the oscillations of their eigenvectors when introduced into the heat equation. Our approach is based on recent advances in the PDE literature, which include a proof of the fundamental gap theorem by Andrews and Clutterbuck.

math.SP↗

arXiv2017

Fast quantum computation at arbitrarily low energy

One version of the energy-time uncertainty principle states that the minimum time $T_{\perp}$ for a quantum system to evolve from a given state to any orthogonal state is $h/(4 ΔE)$ where $ΔE$ is the energy uncertainty. A related bound called the Margolus-Levitin theorem states that $T_{\perp} \geq h/(2 E)$ where E is the expectation value of energy and the ground energy is taken to be zero. Many subsequent works have interpreted $T_{\perp}$ as defining a minimal time for an elementary computational operation and correspondingly a fundamental limit on clock speed determined by a system's energy. Here we present local time-independent Hamiltonians in which computational clock speed becomes arbitrarily large relative to E and $ΔE$ as the number of computational steps goes to infinity. We argue that energy considerations alone are not sufficient to obtain an upper bound on computational speed, and that additional physical assumptions such as limits to information density and information transmission speed are necessary to obtain such a bound.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Grover search and the no-signaling principle

Two of the key properties of quantum physics are the no-signaling principle and the Grover search lower bound. That is, despite admitting stronger-than-classical correlations, quantum mechanics does not imply superluminal signaling, and despite a form of exponential parallelism, quantum mechanics does not imply polynomial-time brute force solution of NP-complete problems. Here, we investigate the degree to which these two properties are connected. We examine four classes of deviations from quantum mechanics, for which we draw inspiration from the literature on the black hole information paradox. We show that in these models, the physical resources required to send a superluminal signal scale polynomially with the resources needed to speed up Grover's algorithm. Hence the no-signaling principle is equivalent to the inability to solve NP-hard problems efficiently by brute force within the classes of theories analyzed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Adiabatic optimization versus diffusion Monte Carlo

Most experimental and theoretical studies of adiabatic optimization use stoquastic Hamiltonians, whose ground states are expressible using only real nonnegative amplitudes. This raises a question as to whether classical Monte Carlo methods can simulate stoquastic adiabatic algorithms with polynomial overhead. Here, we analyze diffusion Monte Carlo algorithms. We argue that, based on differences between L1 and L2 normalized states, these algorithms suffer from certain obstructions preventing them from efficiently simulating stoquastic adiabatic evolution in generality. In practice however, we obtain good performance by introducing a method that we call Substochastic Monte Carlo. In fact, our simulations are good classical optimization algorithms in their own right, competitive with the best previously known heuristic solvers for MAX-k-SAT at k=2,3,4.

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↗

arXiv2014

Adiabatic optimization without local minima

Several previous works have investigated the circumstances under which quantum adiabatic optimization algorithms can tunnel out of local energy minima that trap simulated annealing or other classical local search algorithms. Here we investigate the even more basic question of whether adiabatic optimization algorithms always succeed in polynomial time for trivial optimization problems in which there are no local energy minima other than the global minimum. Surprisingly, we find a counterexample in which the potential is a single basin on a graph, but the eigenvalue gap is exponentially small as a function of the number of vertices. In this counterexample, the ground state wavefunction consists of two "lobes" separated by a region of exponentially small amplitude. Conversely, we prove if the ground state wavefunction is single-peaked then the eigenvalue gap scales at worst as one over the square of the number of vertices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Quantum Algorithms for Fermionic Quantum Field Theories

Extending previous work on scalar field theories, we develop a quantum algorithm to compute relativistic scattering amplitudes in fermionic field theories, exemplified by the massive Gross-Neveu model, a theory in two spacetime dimensions with quartic interactions. The algorithm introduces new techniques to meet the additional challenges posed by the characteristics of fermionic fields, and its run time is polynomial in the desired precision and the energy. Thus, it constitutes further progress towards an efficient quantum algorithm for simulating the Standard Model of particle physics.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

The Fundamental Gap for a Class of Schrödinger Operators on Path and Hypercube Graphs

We consider the difference between the two lowest eigenvalues (the fundamental gap) of a Schrödinger operator acting on a class of graphs. In particular, we derive tight bounds for the gap of Schrödinger operators with convex potentials acting on the path graph. Additionally, for the hypercube graph, we derive a tight bound for the gap of Schrödinger operators with convex potentials dependent only upon vertex Hamming weight. Our proof makes use of tools from the literature of the fundamental gap theorem as proved in the continuum combined with techniques unique to the discrete case. We prove the tight bound for the hypercube graph as a corollary to our path graph results.

math-ph↗

arXiv2013

Strong equivalence of reversible circuits is coNP-complete

It is well-known that deciding equivalence of logic circuits is a coNP-complete problem. As a corollary, the problem of deciding weak equivalence of reversible circuits, i.e. ignoring the ancilla bits, is also coNP-complete. The complexity of deciding strong equivalence, including the ancilla bits, is less obvious and may depend on gate set. Here we use Barrington's theorem to show that deciding strong equivalence of reversible circuits built from the Fredkin gate is coNP-complete. This implies coNP-completeness of deciding strong equivalence for other commonly used universal reversible gate sets, including any gate set that includes the Toffoli or Fredkin gate.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2013

Testing quantum expanders is co-QMA-complete

A quantum expander is a unital quantum channel that is rapidly mixing, has only a few Kraus operators, and can be implemented efficiently on a quantum computer. We consider the problem of estimating the mixing time (i.e., the spectral gap) of a quantum expander. We show that this problem is co-QMA-complete. This has applications to testing randomized constructions of quantum expanders, and studying thermalization of open quantum systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Achieving perfect completeness in classical-witness quantum Merlin-Arthur proof systems

This paper proves that classical-witness quantum Merlin-Arthur proof systems can achieve perfect completeness. That is, QCMA = QCMA1. This holds under any gate set with which the Hadamard and arbitrary classical reversible transformations can be exactly implemented, e.g., {Hadamard, Toffoli, NOT}. The proof is quantumly nonrelativizing, and uses a simple but novel quantum technique that additively adjusts the success probability, which may be of independent interest.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Perturbative Gadgets at Arbitrary Orders

Adiabatic quantum algorithms are often most easily formulated using many-body interactions. However, experimentally available interactions are generally two-body. In 2004, Kempe, Kitaev, and Regev introduced perturbative gadgets, by which arbitrary three-body effective interactions can be obtained using Hamiltonians consisting only of two-body interactions. These three-body effective interactions arise from the third order in perturbation theory. Since their introduction, perturbative gadgets have become a standard tool in the theory of quantum computation. Here we construct generalized gadgets so that one can directly obtain arbitrary k-body effective interactions from two-body Hamiltonians. These effective interactions arise from the kth order in perturbation theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Quantum Algorithms for Quantum Field Theories

Quantum field theory reconciles quantum mechanics and special relativity, and plays a central role in many areas of physics. We develop a quantum algorithm to compute relativistic scattering probabilities in a massive quantum field theory with quartic self-interactions (phi-fourth theory) in spacetime of four and fewer dimensions. Its run time is polynomial in the number of particles, their energy, and the desired precision, and applies at both weak and strong coupling. In the strong-coupling and high-precision regimes, our quantum algorithm achieves exponential speedup over the fastest known classical algorithm.

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

On the degeneracy of $SU(3)_k$ topological phases

The ground state degeneracy of an $SU(N)_k$ topological phase with $n$ quasiparticle excitations is relevant quantity for quantum computation, condensed matter physics, and knot theory. It is an open question to find a closed formula for this degeneracy for any $N > 2$. Here we present the problem in an explicit combinatorial way and analyze the case N=3. While not finding a complete closed-form solution, we obtain generating functions and solve some special cases.

math.CO↗