Abstract We define the computational task of detecting projectors in finite dimensional associative algebras with a combinatorial basis, labelled by representation theory data, using combinatorial central elements in the algebra. In the first example, the projectors belong to the centre of a symmetric group algebra and are labelled by Young diagrams with a fixed number of boxes n. We describe a quantum algorithm for the task based on quantum phase estimation (QPE) and obtain estimates of the complexity as a function of n. We compare to a classical algorithm related to the projector identification problem by the AdS/CFT correspondence. This gives a concrete proof of concept for classical/quantum comparisons of the complexity of a detection task, based in holographic correspondences. A second example involves projectors labelled by triples of Young diagrams, all having n boxes, with non-vanishing Kronecker coefficient. The task takes as input the projector, and consists of identifying the triple of Young diagrams. In both of the above cases the standard QPE complexities are polynomial in n. A third example of quantum projector detection involves projectors labelled by a triple of Young diagrams, with m, n and m + n boxes respectively, such that the associated Littlewood-Richardson coefficient is non-zero. The projector detection task is to identify the triple of Young diagrams associated with the projector which is given as input. This is motivated by a two-matrix model, related via the AdS/CFT correspondence, to systems of strings attached to giant gravitons. The QPE complexity in this case is polynomial in m and n.
Abstract We define the computational task of detecting projectors in finite dimensional associative algebras with a combinatorial basis, labelled by representation theory data, using combinatorial central elements in the algebra. In the first example, the projectors belong to the centre of a symmetric group algebra and are labelled by Young diagrams with a fixed number of boxes n. We describe a quantum algorithm for the task based on quantum phase estimation (QPE) and obtain estimates of the complexity as a function of n. We compare to a classical algorithm related to the projector identification problem by the AdS/CFT correspondence. This gives a concrete proof of concept for classical/quantum comparisons of the complexity of a detection task, based in holographic correspondences. A second example involves projectors labelled by triples of Young diagrams, all having n boxes, with non-vanishing Kronecker coefficient. The task takes as input the projector, and consists of identifying the triple of Young diagrams. In both of the above cases the standard QPE complexities are polynomial in n. A third example of quantum projector detection involves projectors labelled by a triple of Young diagrams, with m, n and m + n boxes respectively, such that the associated Littlewood-Richardson coefficient is non-zero. The projector detection task is to identify the triple of Young diagrams associated with the projector which is given as input. This is motivated by a two-matrix model, related via the AdS/CFT correspondence, to systems of strings attached to giant gravitons. The QPE complexity in this case is polynomial in m and n.
Whether or not the Kronecker coefficients of the symmetric group count some set of combinatorial objects is a longstanding open question. In this work we show that a given Kronecker coefficient is proportional to the rank of a projector that can be measured efficiently using a quantum computer. In other words a Kronecker coefficient counts the dimension of the vector space spanned by the accepting witnesses of a QMA verifier, where QMA is the quantum analogue of NP . This implies that approximating the Kronecker coefficients to within a given relative error is not harder than a certain natural class of problems that captures the complexity of estimating thermal properties of quantum many-body systems. A second consequence is that deciding positivity of Kronecker coefficients is contained in QMA , complementing a recent NP -hardness result of Ikenmeyer, Mulmuley, and Walter. We obtain similar results for the related problem of approximating row sums of the character table of the symmetric group. Finally, we discuss an efficient quantum algorithm that approximates normalized Kronecker coefficients to inverse-polynomial additive error. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Kostka, Littlewood-Richardson, Plethysm, and Kronecker coefficients are the multiplicities of irreducible representations in the decomposition of representations of the symmetric group that play an important role in representation theory, geometric complexity, and algebraic combinatorics. We give quantum algorithms for computing these coefficients whenever the ratio of dimensions of the representations is polynomial. We show that there is an efficient classical algorithm for computing the Kostka numbers under this restriction and conjecture the existence of an analogous algorithm for the Littlewood-Richardson coefficients. We argue why such classical algorithm does not straightforwardly work for the Plethysm and Kronecker coefficients and conjecture that our quantum algorithms lead to superpolynomial speedups. The conjecture about Kronecker coefficients was disproved by Panova [Polynomial time classical versus quantum algorithms for representation theoretic multiplicities, arXiv:2502.20253] with a classical algorithm which, if optimal, points to a O(n^{4+2k}) vs Ω[over ˜](n^{4k^{2}+1}) polynomial gap in quantum vs classical computational complexity for an integer parameter k.
Abstract Littlewood-Richardson, Kronecker and plethysm coefficients are fundamental multiplicities of interest in Representation Theory and Algebraic Combinatorics. Determining a combinatorial interpretation for the Kronecker and plethysm coefficients is a major open problem and prompts the consideration of their computational complexity. Recently, it was shown that they behave relatively well with respect to quantum computation, and for some large families there are polynomial-time quantum algorithms (Larocca and Havlicek in Quantum algorithms for representation-theoretic multiplicities, 2024. arXiv:2407.17649 ) (also Bravyi et al. in PRX Quantum 5(1):010329, 2024). In this paper, we show that for many of those cases the Kronecker and plethysm coefficients can also be computed in polynomial time via classical algorithms, thereby refuting some of the conjectures in Larocca and Havlicek (2024). This vastly limits the cases in which the desired superpolynomial quantum speedup could be achieved.
We introduce Quantum Index Algebra (QIA) as a finite, index-based algebraic framework for representing and manipulating quantum operators on Hilbert spaces of dimension 2m. In QIA, operators are expressed as structured combinations of basis elements indexed by Boolean codes, allowing products, commutators, and conjugations to be computed through finite rules on discrete indices rather than through dense matrix arithmetic. This representation unifies combinatorial index structure, explicit matrix realization, and transformation properties under Walsh-Hadamard-type transforms within a single formalism. Using QIA and its associated block-matrix realization, we reformulate the Bernstein-Vazirani hidden-string problem in its phase-oracle form entirely within a real, finite-dimensional algebraic setting. We show that, under structured oracle access, the QIA procedure reproduces the Bernstein-Vazirani algorithm exactly and achieves the same asymptotic query complexity and circuit depth as the standard quantum algorithm. In particular, the hidden string is recovered by symbolic manipulation of a sparse algebraic representation of the oracle rather than by numerical simulation of quantum amplitudes. Our results demonstrate that the apparent quantum speed-up in this setting is a consequence of operator structure rather than Hilbert-space dimensionality alone. QIA thus provides a precise language for separating genuinely quantum resources from those arising from algebraic and combinatorial structures and offers a new perspective on the classical simulability of structured quantum circuits.
It was found, by studying black holes, that the compatibility of the theory of gravity and the laws of quantum mechanics demands that the universe must act like a hologram. That is, all the information inside a region of the universe should be encoded on a so-called holographic screen of one-lesser dimension. This is termed the holographic principle. In a generic spacetime, such as an expanding universe, holographic screens depend on the choice of an observer, which is consistent with the notion that the observer is part of the system in cosmology. In the first part of this dissertation, we study the observer-dependence of holographic screens. This will help us understand how the fundamental description of the universe depends on the choice of the observer. Furthermore, we study the dynamics of the holographic screens and their geometry in the first part of this dissertation.An example where the holographic principle is manifest is the AdS-CFT correspondence. This correspondence connects quantum information quantities, like entanglement and complexity, to geometric quantities, like area and volume, respectively. In the second and the third part of this dissertation, we use the AdS-CFT correspondence as a tool to calculate the entanglement entropy and the computational complexity of a quenched CFT state. Studying the time evolution of the entanglement entropy following a quantum quench teaches us how a CFT state thermalizes. On the other hand, studying the time evolution of the computational complexity allows us to check the validity of various recent conjectures involving black holes and complexity.
The determination of structures that can emerge out of the interactions among the constituents of a quantum many-body system is a foundational task of condensed matter physics.One of the most advanced proposals within this paradigm is the holographic generation of spacetime in some strongly coupled chaotic systems with particular patterns of entanglement and quantum complexity, which is historically motivated by the holographic principle and by the AdS/CFT correspondence.As a part of this scenario, this thesis is dedicated to the analysis of some concepts that are relevant to such proposal, where they are separately applied to some lattice models.Concretely, the matter is divided into three main studies: first, the calculation of the time-dependent circuit complexity in the Ising model with a periodically driven transverse field, where we establish the effectiveness of this quantity for the detection of nonequilibrium quantum phase transitions.Our results provide hints for understanding how universal features out of equilibrium are captured by the complexity of quantum states.Second, the derivation of a bound on the maximal rate of entanglement entropy production for a class of one-dimensional quantum circuits with periodic dynamics.An example of a circuit that saturates the bound is composed by parallel SWAP gates acting on entangled pairs.Out of inequalities obeyed by the entropy, in addition to considerations on multipartite entanglement, we indicate that the effect of a chaotic dynamics cannot result in the increase on the rate of entanglement production.Third, the construction of a class of supersymmetric many-body systems using symmetric inverse semigroups.For particular toy models built out of this structure, we study some questions regarding supersymmetric phases, integrability, disorder, spreading of quantum information and many-body localization.Finally, besides those three works, we include an essay addressing the problem of emergent holographic spaces out of two-dimensional conformal field theories, where the mediation between the two parts is performed by means of a Riemannian structure defined in the Hilbert space of the field theory.