arXiv subjects

Vincent Nesme

Publications and source records attributed to Vincent Nesme.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Automaticity of spacetime diagrams generated by cellular automata on commutative monoids

It is well known that the spacetime diagrams of some cellular automata have a fractal structure: for instance Pascal's triangle modulo 2 generates a Sierpinski triangle. It has been shown that such patterns can occur when the alphabet is endowed with the structure of an Abelian group, provided the cellular automaton is a morphism with respect to this structure and the initial configuration has finite support. The spacetime diagram then has a property related to k-automaticity. We show that these conditions can be relaxed: the Abelian group can be a commutative monoid, the initial configuration can be k-automatic, and the spacetime diagrams still exhibit the same regularity.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2016

Bounds on the Speedup in Quantum signalling

Given a discrete reversible dynamics, we can define a quantum dynamics, which acts on basis states like the classical one, but also allows for superpositions of them. It is a curious fact that in the quantum version, local changes in the initial state, after a single dynamical step, can sometimes can be detected much farther away than classically. Here we show that this effect is no use for generating faster signals. In a run of many steps the quantum propagation neighborhood can only increase by a constant fringe, so there is no asymptotic increase in speed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Generalized Cayley Graphs and Cellular Automata over them

Cayley graphs have a number of useful features: the ability to graphically represent finitely generated group elements and their relations; to name all vertices relative to a point; and the fact that they have a well-defined notion of translation. We propose a notion of graph associated to a language, which conserves or generalizes these features. Whereas Cayley graphs are very regular; associated graphs are arbitrary, although of a bounded degree. Moreover, it is well-known that cellular automata can be characterized as the set of translation-invariant continuous functions for a distance on the set of configurations that makes it a compact metric space; this point of view makes it easy to extend their definition from grids to Cayley graphs. Similarly, we extend their definition to these arbitrary, bounded degree, time-varying graphs. The obtained notion of Cellular Automata over generalized Cayley graphs is stable under composition and under inversion. KEYWORDS: Causal Graph Dynamics, Curtis-Hedlund-Lyndon, Dynamical networks, Boolean networks, Generative networks automata, Graph Automata, Graph rewriting automata, L-systems, parallel graph transformations, Amalgamated graph transformations, Time-varying graphs, Regge calculus, Local, No-signalling, Reversibility.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2013

The Dirac equation as a quantum walk: higher dimensions, observational convergence

The Dirac equation can be modelled as a quantum walk, with the quantum walk being: discrete in time and space (i.e. a unitary evolution of the wave-function of a particle on a lattice); homogeneous (i.e. translation-invariant and time-independent), and causal (i.e. information propagates at a bounded speed, in a strict sense). This quantum walk model was proposed independently by Succi and Benzi, Bialynicki-Birula and Meyer: we rederive it in a simple way in all dimensions and for hyperbolic symmetric systems in general. We then prove that for any time t, the model converges to the continuous solution of the Dirac equation at time t, i.e. the probability of observing a discrepancy between the model and the solution is an O(ε^2), with ε the discretization step. At the practical level, this result is of interest for the quantum simulation of relativistic particles. At the theoretical level, it reinforces the status of this quantum walk model as a simple, discrete toy model of relativistic particles. Keywords: Friedrichs symmetric hyperbolic systems, Quantum Walk, Quantum Lattice Gas Automata, Quantum Computation, Trotter-Kato, Baker-Campbell-Thomson, Operator splitting, Lax theorem

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Continuous-variable quantum compressed sensing

We significantly extend recently developed methods to faithfully reconstruct unknown quantum states that are approximately low-rank, using only a few measurement settings. Our new method is general enough to allow for measurements from a continuous family, and is also applicable to continuous-variable states. As a technical result, this work generalizes quantum compressed sensing to the situation where the measured observables are taken from a so-called tight frame (rather than an orthonormal basis) --- hence covering most realistic measurement scenarios. As an application, we discuss the reconstruction of quantum states of light from homodyne detection and other types of measurements, and we present simulations that show the advantage of the proposed compressed sensing technique over present methods. Finally, we introduce a method to construct a certificate which guarantees the success of the reconstruction with no assumption on the state, and we show how slightly more measurements give rise to "universal" state reconstruction that is highly robust to noise.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

A simple block representation of reversible cellular automata with time-symmetry

Reversible Cellular Automata (RCA) are a physics-like model of computation consisting of an array of identical cells, evolving in discrete time steps by iterating a global evolution G. Further, G is required to be shift-invariant (it acts the same everywhere), causal (information cannot be transmitted faster than some fixed number of cells per time step), and reversible (it has an inverse which verifies the same requirements). An important, though only recently studied special case is that of Time-symmetric Cellular Automata (TSCA), for which G and its inverse are related via a local operation. In this note we revisit the question of the Block representation of RCA, i.e. we provide a very simple proof of the existence of a reversible circuit description implementing G. This operational, bottom-up description of G turns out to be time-symmetric, suggesting interesting connections with TSCA. Indeed we prove, using a similar technique, that a wide class of them admit an Exact block representation (EBR), i.e. one which does not increase the state space.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2011

Selfsimilarity, Simulation and Spacetime Symmetries

We study intrinsic simulations between cellular automata and introduce a new necessary condition for a CA to simulate another one. Although expressed for general CA, this condition is targeted towards surjective CA and especially linear ones. Following the approach introduced by the first author in an earlier paper, we develop proof techniques to tell whether some linear CA can simulate another linear CA. Besides rigorous proofs, the necessary condition for the simulation to occur can be heuristically checked via simple observations of typical space-time diagrams generated from finite configurations. As an illustration, we give an example of linear reversible CA which cannot simulate the identity and which is 'time-asymmetric', i.e. which can neither simulate its own inverse, nor the mirror of its own inverse.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2011

Applying causality principles to the axiomatization of probabilistic cellular automata

Cellular automata (CA) consist of an array of identical cells, each of which may take one of a finite number of possible states. The entire array evolves in discrete time steps by iterating a global evolution G. Further, this global evolution G is required to be shift-invariant (it acts the same everywhere) and causal (information cannot be transmitted faster than some fixed number of cells per time step). At least in the classical, reversible and quantum cases, these two top-down axiomatic conditions are sufficient to entail more bottom-up, operational descriptions of G. We investigate whether the same is true in the probabilistic case. Keywords: Characterization, noise, Markov process, stochastic Einstein locality, screening-off, common cause principle, non-signalling, Multi-party non-local box.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2010

The fractal structure of cellular automata on Abelian groups

It is well-known that the spacetime diagrams of some cellular automata have a fractal structure: for instance Pascal's triangle modulo 2 generates a Sierpinski triangle. Explaining the fractal structure of the spacetime diagrams of cellular automata is a much explored topic, but virtually all of the results revolve around a special class of automata, whose typical features include irreversibility, an alphabet with a ring structure, a global evolution that is a ring homomorphism, and a property known as (weakly) p-Fermat. The class of automata that we study in this article has none of these properties. Their cell structure is weaker, as it does not come with a multiplication, and they are far from being p-Fermat, even weakly. However, they do produce fractal spacetime diagrams, and we explain why and how.

cs.DM↗

arXiv2010

Note on sampling without replacing from a finite collection of matrices

This technical note supplies an affirmative answer to a question raised in a recent pre-print [arXiv:0910.1879] in the context of a "matrix recovery" problem. Assume one samples m Hermitian matrices X_1, ..., X_m with replacement from a finite collection. The deviation of the sum X_1+...+X_m from its expected value in terms of the operator norm can be estimated by an "operator Chernoff-bound" due to Ahlswede and Winter. The question arose whether the bounds obtained this way continue to hold if the matrices are sampled without replacement. We remark that a positive answer is implied by a classical argument by Hoeffding. Some consequences for the matrix recovery problem are sketched.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2009

Unitarity plus causality implies localizability

We consider a graph with a single quantum system at each node. The entire compound system evolves in discrete time steps by iterating a global evolution $U$. We require that this global evolution $U$ be unitary, in accordance with quantum theory, and that this global evolution $U$ be causal, in accordance with special relativity. By causal we mean that information can only ever be transmitted at a bounded speed, the speed bound being quite naturally that of one edge of the underlying graph per iteration of $U$. We show that under these conditions the operator $U$ can be implemented locally; i.e. it can be put into the form of a quantum circuit made up with more elementary operators -- each acting solely upon neighbouring nodes. We take quantum cellular automata as an example application of this representation theorem: this analysis bridges the gap between the axiomatic and the constructive approaches to defining QCA. KEYWORDS: Quantum cellular automata, Unitary causal operators, Quantum walks, Quantum computation, Axiomatic quantum field theory, Algebraic quantum field theory, Discrete space-time.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Quantization of Cellular Automata

Take a cellular automaton, consider that each configuration is a basis vector in some vector space, and linearize the global evolution function. If lucky, the r esult could actually make sense physically, as a valid quantum evolution; but do es it make sense as a quantum cellular automaton? That is the main question we a ddress in this paper. In every model with discrete time and space, two things ar e required in order to qualify as a cellular automaton: invariance by translatio n and locality. We prove that this locality condition is so restrictive in the q uantum case that every quantum cellular automaton constructed in this way - i. e., by linearization of a classical one - must be reversible. We also discuss some subtleties about the extent of nonlocality that can be encountered in the o ne-dimensional case; we show that, even when the quantized version is non local, still, under some conditions, we may be unable to use this nonlocality to trans mit information nonlocally.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2007

One-dimensional quantum cellular automata over finite, unbounded configurations

One-dimensional quantum cellular automata (QCA) consist in a line of identical, finite dimensional quantum systems. These evolve in discrete time steps according to a local, shift-invariant unitary evolution. By local we mean that no instantaneous long-range communication can occur. In order to define these over a Hilbert space we must restrict to a base of finite, yet unbounded configurations. We show that QCA always admit a two-layered block representation, and hence the inverse QCA is again a QCA. This is a striking result since the property does not hold for classical one-dimensional cellular automata as defined over such finite configurations. As an example we discuss a bijective cellular automata which becomes non-local as a QCA, in a rare case of reversible computation which does not admit a straightforward quantization. We argue that a whole class of bijective cellular automata should no longer be considered to be reversible in a physical sense. Note that the same two-layered block representation result applies also over infinite configurations, as was previously shown for one-dimensional systems in the more elaborate formalism of operators algebras [9]. Here the proof is made simpler and self-contained, moreover we discuss a counterexample QCA in higher dimensions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

A quantum lower bound for the query complexity of Simon's problem

Simon in his FOCS'94 paper was the first to show an exponential gap between classical and quantum computation. The problem he dealt with is now part of a well-studied class of problems, the hidden subgroup problems. We study Simon's problem from the point of view of quantum query complexity and give here a first nontrivial lower bound on the query complexity of a hidden subgroup problem, namely Simon's problem. Our bound is optimal up to a constant factor.

quant-ph↗