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arXiv:2308.13741 · Reviews in Mathematical Physics

A method of approximation of discrete Schrödinger equation with the normalized Laplacian by discrete-time quantum walk on graphs

Kei Saito, Etsuo Segawa

Published Apr 10, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

We propose a class of continuous-time quantum walk models on graphs induced by a certain class of discrete-time quantum walk models with a parameter [Formula: see text]. Here the graph treated in this paper can be applied to both finite and infinite cases. The induced continuous-time quantum walk is an extended version of the (free) discrete-Schrödinger equation driven by the normalized Laplacian: the element of the weighted Hermitian takes not only a scalar value but also a matrix value depending on the underlying discrete-time quantum walk. We show that each discrete-time quantum walk with an appropriate setting of the parameter [Formula: see text] in the long time limit identifies with its induced continuous-time quantum walk and gives the running time for the discrete-time to approximate the induced continuous-time quantum walk with a small error [Formula: see text]. We also investigate the detailed spectral information on the induced continuous-time quantum walk.

DOI
10.1142/s0129055x25500126

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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).
The continuous-time quantum walk is a particle evolving by Schr\"odinger's equation in discrete space. Encoding the space as a graph of vertices and edges, the Hamiltonian is proportional to the discrete Laplacian. In some physical systems, however, the Hamiltonian is proportional to the adjacency matrix instead. It is well known that these quantum walks are equivalent when the graph is regular, i.e., when each vertex has the same number of neighbors. If the graph is irregular, however, the quantum walks evolve differently. In this paper, we show that for some irregular graphs, if the particle is initially localized at a certain vertex, the probability distributions of the two quantum walks are identical, even though the amplitudes differ. We analytically prove this for a graph with five vertices and a graph with six vertices. By simulating the walks on all 1 018 689 568 simple, connected, irregular graphs with 11 vertices or less, we found 64 graphs with this notion of equivalence. We also give eight infinite families of graphs supporting these equivalent walks.
The connection between coined and continuous-time quantum walk models has been addressed in a number of papers. In most of those studies, the continuous-time model is derived from coined quantum walks by employing dimensional reduction and taking appropriate limits. In this work, we produce the evolution of a coined quantum walk on a generic graph using a continuous-time quantum walk on a larger graph. In addition to expanding the underlying structure, we also have to switch on and off edges during the continuous-time evolution to accommodate the alternation between the shift and coin operators from the coined model. In one particular case, the connection is very natural, and the continuous-time quantum walk that simulates the coined quantum walk is driven by the graph Laplacian on the dynamically changing expanded graph.
Quantum walks generated by the adjacency matrix or the Laplacian are known to exhibit low transfer fidelity on general graphs. In this paper, we study continuous-time quantum walks governed by the generalized Laplacian operator L_k = A+kD, where A is the adjacency matrix, D is the degree matrix, and k is a real-valued parameter. Recent work of Duda, McLaughlin, and Wong showed that in the single-excitation Heisenberg (XYZ) spin model, one can realize walks generated by this family of operators on signed weighted graphs. Motivated by earlier studies on vertex-weighted graphs, we demonstrate that for certain graphs, tuning the parameter k can significantly enhance the fidelity of state transfer between endpoints.
In this paper, continuous-time quantum walk is discussed based on the view of quantum probability, i.e. the quantum decomposition of the adjacency matrix A of graph. Regard adjacency matrix A as Hamiltonian which is a real symmetric matrix with elements 0 or 1, so we regard [Formula: see text] as an unbiased evolution operator, which is related to the calculation of probability amplitude. Combining the quantum decomposition and spectral distribution [Formula: see text] of adjacency matrix A, we calculate the probability amplitude reaching each stratum in continuous-time quantum walk on complete bipartite graphs, finite two-dimensional lattices, binary tree, [Formula: see text]-ary tree and [Formula: see text]-fold star power [Formula: see text]. Of course, this method is also suitable for studying some other graphs, such as growing graphs, hypercube graphs and so on, in addition, the applicability of this method is also explained.