Locality in distributed quantum and online graph algorithms
Henrik Lievonen
In this thesis, I study how quantum computation and quantum communication can help large networks of computers to solve computational problems faster. I also connect the notion of locality between various models, including distributed quantum algorithms and online graph algorithms, and show that locality in online graph algorithms can be used to provide bounds for distributed quantum advantage. Towards proving distributed quantum advantage, I present the first family of LCL problems which shows a quantum advantage for distributed graph algorithms. Here LCLs, or Locally Checkable Labeling problems, are a family of graph problems described by a finite set of local constraints, and I mainly focus on them in this thesis. The models of distributed computing which this result separates are the classical LOCAL model and the quantum-LOCAL model. In both of these models, a network of computers exchanges messages in synchronous rounds, and the running time of the algorithm directly corresponds with locality, that is, how far the computers see in the network. In this thesis, I also introduce new models of computing that capture locality in stronger settings. Most notably, I introduce the online-LOCAL model which captures the locality of online graph algorithms, and show that it is, asymptotically, roughly as strong as the classical LOCAL model for solving LCL problems on rooted regular trees. I provide an online-LOCAL algorithm for finding a 3-coloring of a bipartite graph with lower locality than is possible in the classical LOCAL model, and show that the algorithm is tight. To draw things together, I show that quantum-LOCAL and online-LOCAL are indeed related to each other: any quantum-LOCAL algorithm can be simulated in the randomized online-LOCAL model. The converse does not hold in general, but an online-LOCAL algorithm solving an LCL problem in rooted, possibly non-regular, trees can be simulated in the classical LOCAL model—and thus in the quantum-LOCAL model—with an exponential cost in locality, putting indirectly a bound on the maximum possible attainable quantum advantage. Finally, I consider the sinkless orientation problem, which holds a central role in our understanding of the locality of LCL problems in the classical LOCAL model, and provide a simpler and more direct proof for its hardness using the supported LOCAL model. I also provide a simpler algorithm solving sinkless orientation in the SLOCAL model, which is a sequential version of the LOCAL model.
•Jan 1, 2026•0 citations