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arXiv:1306.3557 · Interdisciplinary Information Sciences

The Hamiltonians Generating One-Dimensional Discrete-Time Quantum Walks

Tatsuya Tate

Published Jan 1, 2013• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

An explicit formula of the Hamiltonians generating one-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks is given. The formula is deduced by using the algebraic structure introduced before. The square of the Hamiltonian turns out to be an operator without, essentially, the ``coin register,'' and hence it can be compared with the one-dimensional continuous-time quantum walk. It is shown that, under a limit with respect to a parameter, which expresses the magnitude of the diagonal components of the unitary matrix defining the discrete-time quantum walks, the one-dimensional continuous-time quantum walk is obtained from operators defined through the Hamiltonians of the one-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks. Thus, this result can be regarded, in one-dimension, as a partial answer to a problem proposed by Ambainis.

DOI
10.4036/iis.2013.149

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An explicit formula of the Hamiltonians generating one-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks is given. The formula is deduced by using the algebraic structure introduced before. The square of the Hamiltonian turns out to be an operator without, essentially, the ``coin register,'' and hence it can be compared with the one-dimensional continuous-time quantum walk. It is shown that, under a limit with respect to a parameter, which expresses the magnitude of the diagonal components of the unitary matrix defining the discrete-time quantum walks, the one-dimensional continuous-time quantum walk is obtained from operators defined through the Hamiltonians of the one-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks. Thus, this result can be regarded, in one-dimension, as a partial answer to a problem proposed by Ambainis.
Quantum walks can be defined in two quite distinct ways: discrete-time and continuous-time quantum walks (DTQWs and CTQWs). For classical random walks, there is a natural sense in which continuous-time walks are a limit of discrete-time walks. Quantum mechanically, in the discrete-time case, an additional ``coin space'' must be appended for the walk to have nontrivial time evolution. Continuous-time quantum walks, however, have no such constraints. This means that there is no completely straightforward way to treat a CTQW as a limit of a DTQW, as can be done in the classical case. Various approaches to this problem have been taken in the past. We give a construction for walks on ddd-regular, ddd-colorable graphs when the coin flip operator is Hermitian: from a standard DTQW we construct a family of discrete-time walks with a well-defined continuous-time limit on a related graph. One can think of this limit as a ``coined'' continuous-time walk. We show that these CTQWs share some properties with coined DTQWs. In particular, we look at a spatial search by a DTQW over the two-dimensional (2D) torus (a grid with periodic boundary conditions) of size $\sqrt{N}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\sqrt{N}$, where it was shown that a coined DTQW can search in time O(NlogN)O(\sqrt{N}logN)O(N​logN), but a standard CTQW takes $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}(N)$ time to search for a marked element. The continuous limit of the DTQW search over the 2D torus exhibits the O(NlogN)O(\sqrt{N}logN)O(N​logN) scaling, like the coined walk it is derived from. We also look at the effects of graph symmetry on the limiting walk, and show that the properties are similar to those of the DTQW as shown in Krovi and Brun, Phys. Rev. A 75, 062332 (2007).
I obtain the dynamics of the continuous time quantum walk on a d-dimensional lattice, with periodic boundary conditions, as an appropriate limit of the dynamics of the discrete time quantum walk on the same lattice. This extends the main result of [8] which proved this limit for the case of the quantum walk on the infinite line and the quantum cellular automaton proposed in [1]. By highlighting the main features of the limiting procedure, I then extend it to general graphs. For a given discrete time quantum walk on a general graph, I single out the type of continuous dynamics (Hamiltonians) that can be obtained as a limit of the discrete time dynamics. 1 Generalities on quantum walks; continuous and discrete time Consider a graph G: = {V, E} with a set of vertices V of cardinality N and a set of edges E. We assume G to be undirected and without self-loops. In the interval of time ∆t a certain fraction γ∆t of a quantity pj leaves the location of the j-th vertex to move to a neighboring vertex k. The quantity pj, j = 1,..., N, at time t + ∆t is given by 1 pj(t + ∆t) = pj(t) − deg (j)γ∆tpj(t) + ∑ (k,j)∈E γ∆tpk(t). (1) Define ⃗p the N−vector whose components are the pj’s quantities, and L the Laplacian matrix defined by Ljj = − deg (j), Ljk = 1 if (j, k) ∈ E and Ljk = 0 otherwise. L is
From the unitary operator used for implementing two-state discrete-time quantum walk on one-, two- and three- dimensional lattice we obtain a two-component Dirac-like Hamiltonian. In particular, using different pairs of Pauli basis as position translation states we obtain three different form of Hamiltonians for evolution on one-dimensional lattice. We extend this to two- and three-dimensional lattices using different Pauli basis states as position translation states for each dimension and show that the external coin operation, which is necessary for one-dimensional walk is not a necessary requirement for a walk on higher dimensions but can serve as an additional resource to control the dynamics. The two-component Hamiltonian we present here for quantum walk on different lattices can serve as a general framework to simulate, control, and study the dynamics of quantum systems governed by Dirac-like Hamiltonian.
Models of quantum walks which admit continuous time and continuous spacetime limits have recently led to quantum simulation schemes for simulating fermions in relativistic and non relativistic regimes (Di Molfetta and Arrighi, 2020). This work continues the study of relationships between discrete time quantum walks (DTQW) and their ostensive continuum counterparts by developing a more general framework than was done in (Di Molfetta and Arrighi, 2020) to evaluate the continuous time limit of these discrete quantum systems. Under this framework, we prove two constructive theorems concerning which internal discrete transitions ("coins") admit nontrivial continuum limits in 1D+1. We additionally prove that the continuous space limit of the continuous time limit of the DTQW can only yield massless states which obey the Dirac equation. We also demonstrate that for general coins the continuous time limit of the DTQW can be identified with the canonical continuous time quantum walk (CTQW) when the coin is allowed to transition through the continuum limit process. Finally, we introduce the Plastic Quantum Walk, or a quantum walk which admits both continuous time and continuous spacetime limits and, as a novel result, we use our 1D+1 results to obtain necessary and sufficient conditions concerning which DTQWs admit plasticity in 2D+1, showing the resulting Hamiltonians. We consider coin operators as general 4 parameter unitary matrices, with parameters which are functions of the lattice step size 𝜖. This dependence on 𝜖 encapsulates all functions of 𝜖 for which a Taylor series expansion in 𝜖 is well defined, making our results very general.
The discrete time quantum walk (DTQW) is a universal quantum computational model. Significant relationships between discrete and corresponding continuous quantum systems have been studied since the work of Pauli and Feynman. This work continues the study of relationships between discrete quantum models and their ostensive continuum counterparts by developing a formal transition between discrete and continuous quantum systems through a formal framework for continuum limits of the DTQW. Under this framework, we prove two constructive theorems concerning which internal discrete transitions ("coins") admit nontrivial continuum limits. We additionally prove that the continuous space limit of the continuous time limit of the DTQW can only yield massless states which obey the Dirac equation. Finally, we demonstrate that the continuous time limit of the DTQW can be identified with the canonical continuous time quantum walk (CTQW) when the coin is allowed to transition through the continuous limit process.
In this paper we claim that a common underlying structure---a skeleton structure---is present behind discrete-time quantum walks (QWs) on a one-dimensional lattice with a homogeneous coin matrix. This skeleton structure is independent of the initial state, and partially, even of the coin matrix. This structure is best interpreted in the context of quantum-walk-replicating random walks (QWRWs), i.e., random walks that replicate the probability distribution of quantum walks, where this structure acts as a simplified formula for the transition probability. Additionally, we construct a random walk whose transition probabilities are defined by the skeleton structure and demonstrate that the resultant properties of the walkers are similar to both the original QWs and QWRWs.