arXiv subjects

William Kretschmer

Publications and source records attributed to William Kretschmer.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

The Quantum Supremacy Tsirelson Inequality

A leading proposal for verifying near-term quantum supremacy experiments on noisy random quantum circuits is linear cross-entropy benchmarking. For a quantum circuit $C$ on $n$ qubits and a sample $z \in \{0,1\}^n$, the benchmark involves computing $|\langle z|C|0^n \rangle|^2$, i.e. the probability of measuring $z$ from the output distribution of $C$ on the all zeros input. Under a strong conjecture about the classical hardness of estimating output probabilities of quantum circuits, no polynomial-time classical algorithm given $C$ can output a string $z$ such that $|\langle z|C|0^n\rangle|^2$ is substantially larger than $\frac{1}{2^n}$ (Aaronson and Gunn, 2019). On the other hand, for a random quantum circuit $C$, sampling $z$ from the output distribution of $C$ achieves $|\langle z|C|0^n\rangle|^2 \approx \frac{2}{2^n}$ on average (Arute et al., 2019). In analogy with the Tsirelson inequality from quantum nonlocal correlations, we ask: can a polynomial-time quantum algorithm do substantially better than $\frac{2}{2^n}$? We study this question in the query (or black box) model, where the quantum algorithm is given oracle access to $C$. We show that, for any $\varepsilon \ge \frac{1}{\mathrm{poly}(n)}$, outputting a sample $z$ such that $|\langle z|C|0^n\rangle|^2 \ge \frac{2 + \varepsilon}{2^n}$ on average requires at least $Ω\left(\frac{2^{n/4}}{\mathrm{poly}(n)}\right)$ queries to $C$, but not more than $O\left(2^{n/3}\right)$ queries to $C$, if $C$ is either a Haar-random $n$-qubit unitary, or a canonical state preparation oracle for a Haar-random $n$-qubit state. We also show that when $C$ samples from the Fourier distribution of a random Boolean function, the naive algorithm that samples from $C$ is the optimal 1-query algorithm for maximizing $|\langle z|C|0^n\rangle|^2$ on average.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2020

Symmetries, graph properties, and quantum speedups

Aaronson and Ambainis (2009) and Chailloux (2018) showed that fully symmetric (partial) functions do not admit exponential quantum query speedups. This raises a natural question: how symmetric must a function be before it cannot exhibit a large quantum speedup? In this work, we prove that hypergraph symmetries in the adjacency matrix model allow at most a polynomial separation between randomized and quantum query complexities. We also show that, remarkably, permutation groups constructed out of these symmetries are essentially the only permutation groups that prevent super-polynomial quantum speedups. We prove this by fully characterizing the primitive permutation groups that allow super-polynomial quantum speedups. In contrast, in the adjacency list model for bounded-degree graphs (where graph symmetry is manifested differently), we exhibit a property testing problem that shows an exponential quantum speedup. These results resolve open questions posed by Ambainis, Childs, and Liu (2010) and Montanaro and de Wolf (2013).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Quantum Lower Bounds for Approximate Counting via Laurent Polynomials

We study quantum algorithms that are given access to trusted and untrusted quantum witnesses. We establish strong limitations of such algorithms, via new techniques based on Laurent polynomials (i.e., polynomials with positive and negative integer exponents). Specifically, we resolve the complexity of approximate counting, the problem of multiplicatively estimating the size of a nonempty set $S \subseteq [N]$, in two natural generalizations of quantum query complexity. Our first result holds in the standard Quantum Merlin--Arthur ($\mathsf{QMA}$) setting, in which a quantum algorithm receives an untrusted quantum witness. We show that, if the algorithm makes $T$ quantum queries to $S$, and also receives an (untrusted) $m$-qubit quantum witness, then either $m = Ω(|S|)$ or $T=Ω\bigl(\sqrt{N/\left| S\right| } \bigr)$. This is optimal, matching the straightforward protocols where the witness is either empty, or specifies all the elements of $S$. As a corollary, this resolves the open problem of giving an oracle separation between $\mathsf{SBP}$, the complexity class that captures approximate counting, and $\mathsf{QMA}$. In our second result, we ask what if, in addition to a membership oracle for $S$, a quantum algorithm is also given "QSamples" -- i.e., copies of the state $\left| S\right\rangle = \frac{1}{\sqrt{\left| S\right| }} \sum_{i\in S}|i\rangle$ -- or even access to a unitary transformation that enables QSampling? We show that, even then, the algorithm needs either $Θ\bigl(\sqrt{N/\left| S\right| }\bigr)$ queries or else $Θ\bigl(\min \bigl\{\left| S\right| ^{1/3}, \sqrt{N/\left| S\right| }\bigr\}\bigr)$ QSamples or accesses to the unitary. Our lower bounds in both settings make essential use of Laurent polynomials, but in different ways.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Simulation of Qubit Quantum Circuits via Pauli Propagation

We present novel algorithms to estimate outcomes for qubit quantum circuits. Notably, these methods can simulate a Clifford circuit in linear time without ever writing down stabilizer states explicitly. These algorithms outperform previous noisy near-Clifford techniques for most circuits. We identify a large class of input states that can be efficiently simulated despite not being stabilizer states. The algorithms leverage probability distributions constructed from Bloch vectors, paralleling previously known algorithms that use the discrete Wigner function for qutrits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

$\mathsf{QMA}$ Lower Bounds for Approximate Counting

We prove a query complexity lower bound for $\mathsf{QMA}$ protocols that solve approximate counting: estimating the size of a set given a membership oracle. This gives rise to an oracle $A$ such that $\mathsf{SBP}^A \not\subset \mathsf{QMA}^A$, resolving an open problem of Aaronson [2]. Our proof uses the polynomial method to derive a lower bound for the $\mathsf{SBQP}$ query complexity of the $\mathsf{AND}$ of two approximate counting instances. We use Laurent polynomials as a tool in our proof, showing that the "Laurent polynomial method" can be useful even for problems involving ordinary polynomials.

cs.CC↗

arXiv2016

Structured Factored Inference: A Framework for Automated Reasoning in Probabilistic Programming Languages

Reasoning on large and complex real-world models is a computationally difficult task, yet one that is required for effective use of many AI applications. A plethora of inference algorithms have been developed that work well on specific models or only on parts of general models. Consequently, a system that can intelligently apply these inference algorithms to different parts of a model for fast reasoning is highly desirable. We introduce a new framework called structured factored inference (SFI) that provides the foundation for such a system. Using models encoded in a probabilistic programming language, SFI provides a sound means to decompose a model into sub-models, apply an inference algorithm to each sub-model, and combine the resulting information to answer a query. Our results show that SFI is nearly as accurate as exact inference yet retains the benefits of approximate inference methods.

cs.AI↗