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arXiv:1505.04330 · Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science

Reversible Monadic Computing

Chris Heunen, Martti Karvonen

Published Dec 1, 2015• 11 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We extend categorical semantics of monadic programming to reversible computing, by considering monoidal closed dagger categories: the dagger gives reversibility, whereas closure gives higher-order expressivity. We demonstrate that Frobenius monads model the appropriate notion of coherence between the dagger and closure by reinforcing Cayley's theorem; by proving that effectful computations (Kleisli morphisms) are reversible precisely when the monad is Frobenius; by characterizing the largest reversible subcategory of Eilenberg–Moore algebras; and by identifying the latter algebras as measurements in our leading example of quantum computing. Strong Frobenius monads are characterized internally by Frobenius monoids.

DOI
10.1016/j.entcs.2015.12.014

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We extend categorical semantics of monadic programming to reversible computing, by considering monoidal closed dagger categories: the dagger gives reversibility, whereas closure gives higher-order expressivity. We demonstrate that Frobenius monads model the appropriate notion of coherence between the dagger and closure by reinforcing Cayley's theorem; by proving that effectful computations (Kleisli morphisms) are reversible precisely when the monad is Frobenius; by characterizing the largest reversible subcategory of Eilenberg–Moore algebras; and by identifying the latter algebras as measurements in our leading example of quantum computing. Strong Frobenius monads are characterized internally by Frobenius monoids.
Abstract A Frobenius structure is a monoid together with a comonoid, which satisfies an interaction law. Frobenius structures have a powerful graphical calculus and we prove a normal form theorem that makes them easy to work with. The Frobenius law itself is justified as a coherence property between daggers and closure of a category. We prove classification theorems for dagger Frobenius structures: in Hilb in terms of operator algebras and in Rel in terms of groupoids. Of special interest is the commutative case—as for Hilbert spaces this corresponds to a choice of basis—and provides a powerful tool to model classical information. We discuss phase gates and the state transfer protocol—as well as modules for Frobenius structures—and show how we can use these to model measurement, controlled operations and quantum teleportation.
This thesis revolves around an area of computer science called "semantics". We work with operational semantics, equational theories, and denotational semantics. The first contribution of this thesis is a study of the commutativity of effects through the prism of monads. Monads are the generalisation of algebraic structures such as monoids, which have a notion of centre: the centre of a monoid is made of elements which commute with all others. We provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for a monad to have a centre. We also detail the semantics of a language with effects that carry information on which effects are central. Moreover, we provide a strong link between its equational theories and its denotational semantics. The second focus of the thesis is quantum computing, seen as a reversible effect. Physically permissible quantum operations are all reversible, except measurement; however, measurement can be deferred at the end of the computation, allowing us to focus on the reversible part first. We define a simply-typed reversible programming language performing quantum operations called "unitaries". A denotational semantics and an equational theory adapted to the language are presented, and we prove that the former is complete. Furthermore, we study recursion in reversible programming, providing adequate operational and denotational semantics to a Turing-complete, reversible, functional programming language. The denotational semantics uses the dcpo enrichment of rig join inverse categories. This mathematical account of higher-order reasoning on reversible computing does not directly generalise to its quantum counterpart. In the conclusion, we detail the limitations and possible future for higher-order quantum control through guarded recursion.
This dissertation has two main parts. The first part deals with questions relating to Haghverdi and Scott's notion of partially traced categories. The main result is a representation theorem for such categories: we prove that every partially traced category can be faithfully embedded in a totally traced category. Also conversely, every monoidal subcategory of a totally traced category is partially traced, so this characterizes the partially traced categories completely. The main technique we use is based on Freyd's paracategories, along with a partial version of Joyal, Street, and Verity's Int construction. Along the way, we discuss some new examples of partially traced categories, mostly arising in the context of quantum computation. The second part deals with the construction of categorical models of higher-order quantum computation. We construct a concrete semantic model of Selinger and Valiron's quantum lambda calculus, which has been an open problem until now. We do this by considering presheaf categories over appropriate base categories arising from first-order quantum computation. The main technical ingredients are Day's convolution theory and Kelly and Freyd's notion of continuity of functors. We first give an abstract description of the properties required of the base categories for the model construction to work; then exhibit a specific example of base categories satisfying these properties.
Within the context of an involutive monoidal category the notion of a comparison relation is identified. Instances are equality on sets, inequality on posets, orthogonality on orthomodular lattices, non-empty intersection on powersets, and inner product on vector or Hilbert spaces. Associated with a collection of such (symmetric) comparison relations a dagger category is defined with "tame" relations as morphisms. Examples include familiar categories in the foundations of quantum mechanics, such as sets with partial injections, or with locally bifinite relations, or with formal distributions between them, or Hilbert spaces with bounded (continuous) linear maps. Of one particular example of such a dagger category of tame relations, involving sets and bifinite multirelations between them, the categorical structure is investigated in some detail. It turns out to involve symmetric monoidal dagger structure, with biproducts, and dagger kernels. This category may form an appropriate universe for discrete quantum computations, just like Hilbert spaces form a universe for continuous computation.
Monads are a ubiquitous structure in functional programming used for modelling computational effects. For example, the state monad models the effect of a computation interacting with a memory system. Here we introduce the quantum instrument monad IA\mathcal{I}_\mathcal{A}IA​, which models the effect of a computation interacting with a quantum system with algebra of observables A\mathcal{A}A. It can be thought of as a noncommutative generalization of the state monad. We construct this quantum instrument monad in two versions: a finitary version on the category of sets and a measure-theoretic version on the category of measurable spaces (the latter under the assumption that A\mathcal{A}A is a type I von Neumann algebra with separable predual). Both versions are strong monads. The construction of the measure-theoretic version is based on a new notion of integral of a quantum-operation-valued function against a state-valued measure.