Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1810.05377

The rational fragment of the ZX-calculus

Emmanuel Jeandel

Published Oct 12, 2018• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We introduce here a new axiomatisation of the rational fragment of the ZX-calculus, a diagrammatic language for quantum mechanics. Compared to the previous axiomatisation introduced in [8], our axiomatisation does not use any metarule , but relies instead on a more natural rule, called the cyclotomic supplementarity rule, that was introduced previously in the literature. Our axiomatisation is only complete for diagrams using rational angles , and is not complete in the general case. Using results on diophantine geometry, we characterize precisely which diagram equality involving arbitrary angles are provable in our framework without any new axioms, and we show that our axiomatisation is continuous, in the sense that a diagram equality involving arbitrary angles is provable iff it is a limit of diagram equalities involving rational angles. We use this result to give a complete characterization of all Euler equations that are provable in this axiomatisation.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1810.05377

Related papers

ZX-Calculus: Cyclotomic Supplementarity and Incompleteness for Clifford+T Quantum Mechanics

Emmanuel Jeandel, Simon Perdrix, Renaud Vilmart +1 more

The ZX-Calculus is a powerful graphical language for quantum mechanics and quantum information processing. The completeness of the language -- i.e. the ability to derive any true equation -- is a crucial question. In the quest of a complete ZX-calculus, supplementarity has been recently proved to be necessary for quantum diagram reasoning (MFCS 2016). Roughly speaking, supplementarity consists in merging two subdiagrams when they are parameterized by antipodal angles. We introduce a generalised supplementarity -- called cyclotomic supplementarity -- which consists in merging n subdiagrams at once, when the n angles divide the circle into equal parts. We show that when n is an odd prime number, the cyclotomic supplementarity cannot be derived, leading to a countable family of new axioms for diagrammatic quantum reasoning.We exhibit another new simple axiom that cannot be derived from the existing rules of the ZX-Calculus, implying in particular the incompleteness of the language for the so-called Clifford+T quantum mechanics. We end up with a new axiomatisation of an extended ZX-Calculus, including an axiom schema for the cyclotomic supplementarity.

arXiv:1702.01945•Leibniz international proceedings in informatics•Jan 1, 2017•12 citations

A Generic Normal Form for ZX-Diagrams and Application to the Rational Angle Completeness

Emmanuel Jeandel, Simon Perdrix, Renaud Vilmart

Recent completeness results on the ZX-calculus used a third-party language, namely the ZW-Calculus. As a consequence, these proofs are elegant, but sadly non-constructive. We address this issue in the following. To do so, we first describe a generic normal form for ZX-diagrams in any fragment that contains Clifford+T quantum mechanics. We give sufficient conditions for an axiomatisation to be complete, and an algorithm to reach the normal form. Finally, we apply these results to the Clifford+T fragment and the general ZX-calculus - for which we already know the completeness-, but also for any fragment of rational angles: we show that the axiomatisation for Clifford+T is also complete for any fragment of dyadic angles, and that a simple new rule (called cancellation) is necessary and sufficient otherwise.

arXiv:1805.05296•ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS)•Jun 1, 2019•20 citations

A Complete Axiomatisation of the ZX-Calculus for Clifford+T Quantum Mechanics

Emmanuel Jeandel, Simon Perdrix, Renaud Vilmart

We introduce the first complete and approximately universal diagrammatic language for quantum mechanics. We make the ZX-Calculus, a diagrammatic language introduced by Coecke and Duncan, complete for the so-called Clifford+T quantum mechanics by adding two new axioms to the language. The completeness of the ZX-Calculus for Clifford+T quantum mechanics -- also called the π/4-fragment of the ZX-Calculus -- was one of the main open questions in categorical quantum mechanics. We prove the completeness of this fragment using the recently studied ZW-Calculus, a calculus dealing with integer matrices. We also prove that the π/4-fragment of the ZX-Calculus represents exactly all the matrices over some finite dimensional extension of the ring of dyadic rationals.

arXiv:1705.11151•ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS)•Jun 27, 2018•6 citations

Supplementarity is Necessary for Quantum Diagram Reasoning

Simon Perdrix, Quanlong Wang

The ZX-calculus is a powerful diagrammatic language for quantum mechanics and quantum information processing. We prove that its pi/4-fragment is not complete, in other words the ZX-calculus is not complete for the so called "Clifford+T quantum mechanics". The completeness of this fragment was one of the main open problems in categorical quantum mechanics, a programme initiated by Abramsky and Coecke. The ZX-calculus was known to be incomplete for quantum mechanics. On the other hand, its pi/2-fragment is known to be complete, i.e. the ZX-calculus is complete for the so called "stabilizer quantum mechanics". Deciding whether its pi/4-fragment is complete is a crucial step in the development of the ZX-calculus since this fragment is approximately universal for quantum mechanics, contrary to the pi/2-fragment. To establish our incompleteness result, we consider a fairly simple property of quantum states called supplementarity. We show that supplementarity can be derived in the ZX-calculus if and only if the angles involved in this equation are multiples of pi/2. In particular, the impossibility to derive supplementarity for pi/4 implies the incompleteness of the ZX-calculus for Clifford+T quantum mechanics. As a consequence, we propose to add the supplementarity to the set of rules of the ZX-calculus. We also show that if a ZX-diagram involves antiphase twins, they can be merged when the ZX-calculus is augmented with the supplementarity rule. Merging antiphase twins makes diagrammatic reasoning much easier and provides a purely graphical meaning to the supplementarity rule.

arXiv:1506.03055•Leibniz international proceedings in informatics•Jun 9, 2015•15 citations

An Algebraic Axiomatisation of ZX-calculus

Quanlong Wang

ZX-calculus is a graphical language for quantum computing which is complete in the sense that calculation in matrices can be done in a purely diagrammatic way. However, all previous universally complete axiomatisations of ZX-calculus have included at least one rule involving trigonometric functions such as sin and cos which makes it difficult for application purpose. In this paper we give an algebraic complete axiomatisation of ZX-calculus instead such that there are only ring operations involved for phases. With this algebraic axiomatisation of ZX-calculus, we are able to establish for the first time a simple translation of diagrams from another graphical language called ZH-calculus and to derive all the ZX-translated rules of ZH-calculus. As a consequence, we have a great benefit that all techniques obtained in ZH-calculus can be transplanted to ZX-calculus, which can't be obtained by just using the completeness of ZX-calculus.

arXiv:1911.06752•Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science•Sep 6, 2021•14 citations

Diagrammatic Reasoning beyond Clifford+T Quantum Mechanics

Emmanuel Jeandel, Simon Perdrix, Renaud Vilmart

The ZX-Calculus is a graphical language for diagrammatic reasoning in quantum mechanics and quantum information theory. An axiomatisation has recently been proven to be complete for an approximatively universal fragment of quantum mechanics, the so-called Clifford+T fragment. We focus here on the expressive power of this axiomatisation beyond Clifford+T Quantum mechanics. We consider the full pure qubit quantum mechanics, and mainly prove two results: (i) First, the axiomatisation for Clifford+T quantum mechanics is also complete for all equations involving some kind of linear diagrams. The linearity of the diagrams reflects the phase group structure, an essential feature of the ZX-calculus. In particular all the axioms of the ZX-calculus are involving linear diagrams. (ii) We also show that the axiomatisation for Clifford+T is not complete in general but can be completed by adding a single (non linear) axiom, providing a simpler axiomatisation of the ZX-calculus for pure quantum mechanics than the one recently introduced by Ng&Wang.

arXiv:1801.10142•ACM/IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS)•Jun 27, 2018•55 citations
We introduce here a new axiomatisation of the rational fragment of the ZX-calculus, a diagrammatic language for quantum mechanics. Compared to the previous axiomatisation introduced in [8], our axiomatisation does not use any metarule , but relies instead on a more natural rule, called the cyclotomic supplementarity rule, that was introduced previously in the literature. Our axiomatisation is only complete for diagrams using rational angles , and is not complete in the general case. Using results on diophantine geometry, we characterize precisely which diagram equality involving arbitrary angles are provable in our framework without any new axioms, and we show that our axiomatisation is continuous, in the sense that a diagram equality involving arbitrary angles is provable iff it is a limit of diagram equalities involving rational angles. We use this result to give a complete characterization of all Euler equations that are provable in this axiomatisation.
The ZX-Calculus is a powerful graphical language for quantum mechanics and quantum information processing. The completeness of the language -- i.e. the ability to derive any true equation -- is a crucial question. In the quest of a complete ZX-calculus, supplementarity has been recently proved to be necessary for quantum diagram reasoning (MFCS 2016). Roughly speaking, supplementarity consists in merging two subdiagrams when they are parameterized by antipodal angles. We introduce a generalised supplementarity -- called cyclotomic supplementarity -- which consists in merging n subdiagrams at once, when the n angles divide the circle into equal parts. We show that when n is an odd prime number, the cyclotomic supplementarity cannot be derived, leading to a countable family of new axioms for diagrammatic quantum reasoning.We exhibit another new simple axiom that cannot be derived from the existing rules of the ZX-Calculus, implying in particular the incompleteness of the language for the so-called Clifford+T quantum mechanics. We end up with a new axiomatisation of an extended ZX-Calculus, including an axiom schema for the cyclotomic supplementarity.
Recent completeness results on the ZX-calculus used a third-party language, namely the ZW-Calculus. As a consequence, these proofs are elegant, but sadly non-constructive. We address this issue in the following. To do so, we first describe a generic normal form for ZX-diagrams in any fragment that contains Clifford+T quantum mechanics. We give sufficient conditions for an axiomatisation to be complete, and an algorithm to reach the normal form. Finally, we apply these results to the Clifford+T fragment and the general ZX-calculus - for which we already know the completeness-, but also for any fragment of rational angles: we show that the axiomatisation for Clifford+T is also complete for any fragment of dyadic angles, and that a simple new rule (called cancellation) is necessary and sufficient otherwise.
We introduce the first complete and approximately universal diagrammatic language for quantum mechanics. We make the ZX-Calculus, a diagrammatic language introduced by Coecke and Duncan, complete for the so-called Clifford+T quantum mechanics by adding two new axioms to the language. The completeness of the ZX-Calculus for Clifford+T quantum mechanics -- also called the π/4-fragment of the ZX-Calculus -- was one of the main open questions in categorical quantum mechanics. We prove the completeness of this fragment using the recently studied ZW-Calculus, a calculus dealing with integer matrices. We also prove that the π/4-fragment of the ZX-Calculus represents exactly all the matrices over some finite dimensional extension of the ring of dyadic rationals.
The ZX-calculus is a powerful diagrammatic language for quantum mechanics and quantum information processing. We prove that its pi/4-fragment is not complete, in other words the ZX-calculus is not complete for the so called "Clifford+T quantum mechanics". The completeness of this fragment was one of the main open problems in categorical quantum mechanics, a programme initiated by Abramsky and Coecke. The ZX-calculus was known to be incomplete for quantum mechanics. On the other hand, its pi/2-fragment is known to be complete, i.e. the ZX-calculus is complete for the so called "stabilizer quantum mechanics". Deciding whether its pi/4-fragment is complete is a crucial step in the development of the ZX-calculus since this fragment is approximately universal for quantum mechanics, contrary to the pi/2-fragment. To establish our incompleteness result, we consider a fairly simple property of quantum states called supplementarity. We show that supplementarity can be derived in the ZX-calculus if and only if the angles involved in this equation are multiples of pi/2. In particular, the impossibility to derive supplementarity for pi/4 implies the incompleteness of the ZX-calculus for Clifford+T quantum mechanics. As a consequence, we propose to add the supplementarity to the set of rules of the ZX-calculus. We also show that if a ZX-diagram involves antiphase twins, they can be merged when the ZX-calculus is augmented with the supplementarity rule. Merging antiphase twins makes diagrammatic reasoning much easier and provides a purely graphical meaning to the supplementarity rule.
ZX-calculus is a graphical language for quantum computing which is complete in the sense that calculation in matrices can be done in a purely diagrammatic way. However, all previous universally complete axiomatisations of ZX-calculus have included at least one rule involving trigonometric functions such as sin and cos which makes it difficult for application purpose. In this paper we give an algebraic complete axiomatisation of ZX-calculus instead such that there are only ring operations involved for phases. With this algebraic axiomatisation of ZX-calculus, we are able to establish for the first time a simple translation of diagrams from another graphical language called ZH-calculus and to derive all the ZX-translated rules of ZH-calculus. As a consequence, we have a great benefit that all techniques obtained in ZH-calculus can be transplanted to ZX-calculus, which can't be obtained by just using the completeness of ZX-calculus.
The ZX-Calculus is a graphical language for diagrammatic reasoning in quantum mechanics and quantum information theory. An axiomatisation has recently been proven to be complete for an approximatively universal fragment of quantum mechanics, the so-called Clifford+T fragment. We focus here on the expressive power of this axiomatisation beyond Clifford+T Quantum mechanics. We consider the full pure qubit quantum mechanics, and mainly prove two results: (i) First, the axiomatisation for Clifford+T quantum mechanics is also complete for all equations involving some kind of linear diagrams. The linearity of the diagrams reflects the phase group structure, an essential feature of the ZX-calculus. In particular all the axioms of the ZX-calculus are involving linear diagrams. (ii) We also show that the axiomatisation for Clifford+T is not complete in general but can be completed by adding a single (non linear) axiom, providing a simpler axiomatisation of the ZX-calculus for pure quantum mechanics than the one recently introduced by Ng&Wang.