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arXiv:2507.19440

Hidden shift problem for complex functions

Serge Adonsou, Peter Bruin, Māris Ozols, Joppe Stokvis

Published Jul 25, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

We study quantum algorithms for the hidden shift problem of complex scalar- and vector-valued functions on finite abelian groups. Given oracle access to a shifted function and the Fourier transform of the unshifted function, the goal is to find the hidden shift. We analyze the success probability of our algorithms when using a constant number of queries. For bent functions, they succeed with probability 1, while for arbitrary functions the success probability depends on the `bentness' of the function.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2507.19440

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We study quantum algorithms for the hidden shift problem of complex scalar- and vector-valued functions on finite abelian groups. Given oracle access to a shifted function and the Fourier transform of the unshifted function, the goal is to find the hidden shift. We analyze the success probability of our algorithms when using a constant number of queries. For bent functions, they succeed with probability 1, while for arbitrary functions the success probability depends on the `bentness' of the function.
Attempts to separate the power of classical and quantum models of computation have a long history. The ultimate goal are exponential separations for computational (promise) problems, however, these do not come a dime a dozen: while there were some early successes in the form of hidden subgroup problems for abelian groups–which generalizes Shor’s factoring algorithm perhaps most faithfully–only for a handful of non-abelian groups efficient quantum algorithms were found. Recently, problems have gotten increased attention that seek to identify hidden sub-structures of other combinatorial and algebraic objects besides groups, notably the quantum algorithms by Childs, Schulman, and Vazirani for shifted subset problems for spheres over a finite field. In this paper we provide new examples for exponential separations by considering hidden shift problems that are defined for several classes of highly non-linear Boolean functions. These so-called bent functions arise in cryptography, where their property of having perfectly flat Fourier spectra on the Boolean hypercube gives them resilience against certain types of attack. We present quantum algorithms that solve the hidden shift problems for several well-known classes of bent functions in polynomial time with a constant number of queries, while the classical query complexity is shown to be exponential. Our approach uses a technique that exploits the duality between bent functions and their Fourier transforms. We also give a quantum algorithm that solves the hidden shift problem for quadratic forms that might be of independent interest. This algorithm can also be used to find approximating polynomials and shifts for functions with large Gowers U3 norm. 1 1
Attempts to separate the power of classical and quantum models of computation have a long history. The ultimate goal is to find exponential separations for computational problems. However, such separations do not come a dime a dozen: while there were some early successes in the form of hidden subgroup problems for abelian groups–which generalize Shor's factoring algorithm perhaps most faithfully–only for a handful of non-abelian groups efficient quantum algorithms were found. Recently, problems have gotten increased attention that seek to identify hidden sub-structures of other combinatorial and algebraic objects besides groups. In this paper we provide new examples for exponential separations by considering hidden shift problems that are defined for several classes of highly non-linear Boolean functions. These so-called bent functions arise in cryptography, where their property of having perfectly flat Fourier spectra on the Boolean hypercube gives them resilience against certain types of attack. We present new quantum algorithms that solve the hidden shift problems for several well-known classes of bent functions in polynomial time and with a constant number of queries, while the classical query complexity is shown to be exponential. Our approach uses a technique that exploits the duality between bent functions and their Fourier transforms.
Attempts to separate the power of classical and quantum models of computation have a long history. The ultimate goal is to find exponential separations for computational problems. However, such separations do not come a dime a dozen: while there were some early successes in the form of hidden subgroup problems for abelian groups--which generalize Shor's factoring algorithm perhaps most faithfully--only for a handful of non-abelian groups efficient quantum algorithms were found. Recently, problems have gotten increased attention that seek to identify hidden sub-structures of other combinatorial and algebraic objects besides groups. In this paper we provide new examples for exponential separations by considering hidden shift problems that are defined for several classes of highly non-linear Boolean functions. These so-called bent functions arise in cryptography, where their property of having perfectly flat Fourier spectra on the Boolean hypercube gives them resilience against certain types of attack. We present new quantum algorithms that solve the hidden shift problems for several well-known classes of bent functions in polynomial time and with a constant number of queries, while the classical query complexity is shown to be exponential. Our approach uses a technique that exploits the duality between bent functions and their Fourier transforms.
We study the quantum query complexity of the Boolean hidden shift problem. Given oracle access to f(x+s) for a known Boolean function f, the task is to determine the n-bit string s. The quantum query complexity of this problem depends strongly on f. We demonstrate that the easiest instances of this problem correspond to bent functions, in the sense that an exact one-query algorithm exists if and only if the function is bent. We partially characterize the hardest instances, which include delta functions. Moreover, we show that the problem is easy for random functions, since two queries suffice. Our algorithm for random functions is based on performing the pretty good measurement on several copies of a certain state; its analysis relies on the Fourier transform. We also use this approach to improve the quantum rejection sampling approach to the Boolean hidden shift problem.
In this work, we mostly concentrate on the hidden shift problem for non-injective functions. It is worthwhile to know that the query complexity of the non-injective hidden shift problem is exponential in the worst case by the well known bounds on the unstructured search problem. Hence, we can make this problem more tractable by imposing additional constraints on the problem. Perhaps the first constraint that comes to mind is to address the average case problem. In this work, we show that the average case non-injective hidden shift problem can be reduced to the injective hidden shift problem by giving one such reduction. The reduction is based on a tool we developed called injectivization. The result is strong in the sense that the underlying group can be any finite group and that the non-injective functions for which we have defined the hidden shift problem can have range in an arbitrary finite set. Using this tool, we simplify the main result of a recent paper by about the hidden shift problem for Boolean-valued functions by reducing that problem to Simon's problem. They also posed an open question which is subject to personal interpretation. We answer the seemingly most general interpretation of the question. However, we use our own techniques in doing so (the authors ask if their techniques can be used for addressing that problem). Another constraint that one can consider is to have a promise on the structure of the functions. In this work we consider the hidden shift problem for c-almost generalized bent functions. A class of functions which we defined that includes the generalized bent functions. Then we turn our attention toward the generalized hidden shift problem which is easier than injective hidden shift problem and hence more tractable. We state some of our observations about this problem. Finally we show that the average classical query complexity of the non-injective hidden shift problem over groups of form (Z/mZ)^n when m is a constant is exponential, which also immediately implies that the classical average query complexity of the non-injective hidden shift problem is exponential. We also show that the worst-case classical query complexity of the generalized injective hidden shift problem over the same group is high, which implies that the classical query complexity of the hidden shift problem is high.
Almost all of the most successful quantum algorithms discovered to date exploit the ability of the Fourier transform to recover subgroup structure of functions, especially periodicity. The fact that Fourier transforms can also be used to capture shift structure has received far less attention in the context of quantum computation. In this paper, we present three examples of ``unknown shift'' problems that can be solved efficiently on a quantum computer using the quantum Fourier transform. We also define the hidden coset problem, which generalizes the hidden shift problem and the hidden subgroup problem. This framework provides a unified way of viewing the ability of the Fourier transform to capture subgroup and shift structure.