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arXiv:2509.05795

Discrete-Time Quantum Random Walk for Epidemiological Modeling

Serena La Manna, Nikhil Kowshik, Sudebkumar Prasant Pal

Published Sep 6, 2025• 0 citations
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Abstract

We introduce a discrete-time quantum random walk (QRW) framework for spatial epidemic modelling on a two-dimensional square lattice and compare its dynamics to classical random-walk SIR models. In our model, each infected site spawns a quantum walker whose coherent evolution (controlled by an amplitude-splitting coin and conditional shifts) can infect visited susceptible sites with probability $p$ and persists for a lifetime of $τ$ steps. We perform extensive quantum simulations on finite lattices and compute the basic reproduction number $R_0$ across a broad grid of $(p,τ)$ values. Results show that QRW dynamics interpolate between diffusive and super-diffusive regimes: at low $p$ the QRW reproduces classical-like $R_0$, while at higher $p$ and $τ$ ballistic propagation and interference produce markedly larger $R_0$ and non-Gaussian spatial profiles. We compare the QRW $R_0$ range to empirical estimates from historical outbreaks and discuss parameter regimes where QRW offers a closer qualitative match than classical diffusion. We conclude that QRWs provide a flexible, conceptually novel toy model for exploring rapid or heavy-tailed epidemic spread.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2509.05795

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Discrete-time quantum walks, quantum generalizations of classical random walks, provide a framework for quantum information processing, quantum algorithms, and quantum simulation of condensed-matter systems. The key property of quantum walks, which lies at the heart of their quantum information applications, is the possibility for a parametric quantum speedup in propagation compared to classical random walks. In this work we study propagation of quantum walks on percolation-generated two-dimensional random lattices. In large-scale simulations of topological and trivial split-step walks, we identify distinct prediffusive and diffusive behaviors at different timescales. Importantly, we show that even arbitrarily weak concentrations of randomly removed lattice sites give rise to a complete breakdown of the superdiffusive quantum speedup, reducing the motion to ordinary diffusion. By increasing the randomness, quantum walks eventually stop spreading due to Anderson localization. Near the localization threshold, we find that the quantum walks become subdiffusive. The fragility of quantum speedup implies dramatic limitations for quantum information applications of quantum walks on random geometries and graphs.
Quantum walks, both discrete (coined) and continuous time, form the basis of several quantum algorithms and have been used to model processes such as transport in spin chains and quantum chemistry. The enhanced spreading and mixing properties of quantum walks compared with their classical counterparts have been well studied on regular structures and also shown to be sensitive to defects and imperfections in the lattice. As a simple example of a disordered system, we consider percolation lattices, in which edges or sites are randomly missing, interrupting the progress of the quantum walk. We use numerical simulation to study the properties of coined quantum walks on these percolation lattices in one and two dimensions. In one dimension (the line), we introduce a simple notion of quantum tunnelling and determine how this affects the properties of the quantum walk as it spreads. On two-dimensional percolation lattices, we show how the spreading rate varies from linear in the number of steps down to zero as the percolation probability decreases towards the critical point. This provides an example of fractional scaling in quantum-walk dynamics.
We study discrete-time quantum walks with Fourier, Grover, and Hadamard coin operators on disordered square lattices, alongside classical random walks. Edges in the lattice are absent with a probability, ppp. In this case, both classical and quantum walks exhibit an essentially identical degradation of transport. We then study a general version of this model, in which the existing edges are retained. However, the absent edges are no longer absent, but now become partially transmitting, with a transmission coefficient fff. We find that the response is now quite sensitive to the walk protocol and coin symmetry. The classical walk exhibits asymptotic stability of the anomalous diffusion exponent, β(t)β(t)β(t). In comparison, quantum walks exhibit a monotonically decaying β(t)β(t)β(t) beyond the initial transient regime, leading to the absence of quantum diffusion in two dimensions. We map the transport regimes in the (f,p)(f,p)(f,p) plane and identify the contour for β=1β=1β=1, which separates the subdiffusive and superdiffusive regimes. We also examine the effective diffusion coefficient, the inverse participation ratio, and the first two moments of edge transmission. We restrict ourselves to analyzing bulk propagation prior to finite-size boundary reflections. The results indicate that quantum transport depends significantly on coin-specific interference and cannot be fully described by transmission statistics alone.
The dynamics of a discrete-time quantum walk (DTQW) can be realized within a purely classical interacting particle system composed of some boxes and a large but finite number of balls, and can, in principle, be implemented in a tabletop experimental setting. The distribution of the balls evolves under stochastic, occupation-dependent update rules at each lattice site, producing quantum-walk dynamics without invoking a wavefunction. The update parameters are fixed by the parameters of coin and shift operations of the DTQW. This framework naturally yields a generalized active spin model and provides a minimal lattice-based microscopic understanding of the emergence of quantum-like dynamics in active matter systems. This interdisciplinary approach connects the classical models to the broad range of applications where DTQWs are successfully employed.
We introduce an analytically treatable discrete time quantum walk in a one-dimensional lattice which combines non-Markovianity and hyperballistic diffusion associated with a Gaussian whose variance ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{t}^{2}$ grows cubicly with time $\ensuremath{\sigma}\ensuremath{\propto}{t}^{3}$. These properties have have been numerically found in several systems, namely, tight-binding lattice models. For its rules, our model can be understood as the quantum version of the classical non-Markovian ``elephant random walk'' process for which the quantum coin operator only changes the value of the diffusion constant although, contrarily, to the classical coin.