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arXiv:1203.6161 · Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science

Classical and quantum satisfiability

Anderson de Araújo, Marcelo Finger

Published Mar 24, 2012• 2 citations
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Abstract

We present the linear algebraic definition of QSAT and propose a direct logical characterization of such a definition. We then prove that this logical version of QSAT is not an extension of classical satisfiability problem (SAT). This shows that QSAT does not allow a direct comparison between the complexity classes NP and QMA, for which SAT and QSAT are respectively complete.

DOI
10.4204/eptcs.81.6

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Quantum satisfiability is a constraint satisfaction problem that generalizes classical boolean satisfiability. In the quantum k-SAT problem, each constraint is specified by a k-local projector and is satisfied by any state in its nullspace. Bravyi showed that quantum 2-SAT can be solved efficiently on a classical computer and that quantum k-SAT with k ≥ 4 is QMA1-complete [4]. Quantum 3-SAT was known to be contained in QMA1[4], but its computational hardness was unknown until now. We prove that quantum 3-SAT is QMA1-hard, and therefore complete for this complexity class.
We describe Kitaev's result from 1999, in which he defines the complexity class QMA, the quantum analog of the class NP, and shows that a natural extension of 3-SAT, namely local Hamiltonians, is QMA complete. The result builds upon the classical Cook-Levin proof of the NP completeness of SAT, but differs from it in several fundamental ways, which we highlight. This result raises a rich array of open problems related to quantum complexity, algorithms and entanglement, which we state at the end of this survey. This survey is the extension of lecture notes taken by Naveh for Aharonov's quantum computation course, held in Tel Aviv University, 2001.