In this paper, we consider the hidden subgroup problem (HSP) over the class of semi-direct product groups
Zpr⋊Zq, for
p and
q prime. We first present a classification of these groups in five classes. Then, we describe a polynomial-time quantum algorithm solving the HSP over all the groups of one of these classes: the groups of the form
Zpr⋊Zp, where
p is an odd prime. Our algorithm works even in the most general case where the group is presented as a black-box group with not necessarily unique encoding. Finally, we extend this result and present an efficient algorithm solving the HSP over the groups
Zprm⋊Zp.
Several early quantum algorithms, including Simon's algorithm and Shor's period-finding are instances of the hidden subgroup problem (HSP) over finite abelian groups. No polynomial-time quantum algorithm is known for the HSP over arbitrary non-abelian finite groups. The non-Abelian case is of particular interest because some instances, such as the dihedral and symmetric group HSPs, are connected to lattice problems and graph isomorphism, respectively.
In this work, we give polynomial-time quantum algorithms for two further families containing non-Abelian groups. First, we consider groups of the form
G=A⋊φZpk, with
A finite Abelian,
p prime,
k∈N and the action of
Zpk is generated by the scalar automorphism
a↦μa, for some
μ∈ZExp(A)×, where
Exp(A) is the exponent of
A. Our algorithm is efficient when
A has bounded generator rank and
Exp(A)/p=polylog(∣G∣). This includes the case
A=ZN for
N∈N and
k=1, studied by Bacon, Childs and van Dam (FOCS 2005), and
A=Zqr with
q prime and
r∈N studied by van Dam and Dey (TQC 2014). Second, we give a polynomial-time quantum algorithm for finite quasi-Hamiltonian groups under a mild assumption on the input structure. Quasi-Hamiltonian groups are finite nilpotent groups with modular subgroup lattice, or equivalently the finite groups in which every subgroup is permutable. As far as we know, this is the first quantum algorithm to exploit the modularity of the subgroup lattice for solving the HSP. This extends, under the aforementioned structured input assumption, the quantum algorithm for Dedekind groups given by Hallgren, Russell, and Ta-Shma (SIAM J. Comput. 32, 2003).
We present efficient quantum algorithms for the hidden subgroup problem (HSP) on the semidirect product of cyclic groups
Zpr⋊ϕZp2, where
p is any odd prime number and
r is any integer such that
r>4. We also address the HSP in the group
ZN⋊ϕZp2, where
N is an integer with a special prime factorization. These quantum algorithms are exponentially faster than any classical algorithm for the same purpose.
The hidden subgroup problem (HSP) plays an important role in quantum computation, because many quantum algorithms that are exponentially faster than classical algorithms can be casted in the HSP structure. In this paper, we present a new polynomial-time quantum algorithm that solves the HSP over the group
Zpr⋊Zqs, when $p^r/q= \up{poly}(\log p^r)$, where
p,
q are any odd prime numbers and
r,s are any positive integers. To find the hidden subgroup, our algorithm uses the abelian quantum Fourier transform and a reduction procedure that simplifies the problem to find cyclic subgroups.