arXiv:2610.34446

Ancilla-free optimal quantum adder

Junhong Nie, Jialiang Tang, Xiaoming Sun, Wei Zi

quant-phSubmitted Oct 25, 2026• Announced Oct 27, 2026• 0 citations

Abstract

We construct an exact $n$-bit quantum adder with $O(n)$ gates and $O(\log n)$ depth that requires no ancillary qubits. The circuit uses only $X$, CNOT, and Toffoli gates under all-to-all connectivity and is classically reversible. Our construction accelerates the controlled ladder underlying addition. Grouping the data into blocks and use existing control qubits as conditional workspace gives a recursive construction with $O(n\log\log n)$ gates and $O(\log n)$ depth. We then coordinate inter-block propagation via two short-path forest operations to cut the per-block workspace requirement, yielding a nonrecursive implementation with $O(n)$ gates. Both the gate count and circuit depth are asymptotically optimal.

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arXiv:2610.34446

Ancilla-free optimal quantum adder

Junhong Nie, Jialiang Tang, Xiaoming Sun, Wei Zi

quant-phSubmitted Oct 25, 2026• Announced Oct 27, 2026• 0 citations

arXiv HTML PDF

Abstract

We construct an exact

n

-bit quantum adder with

O(n)

gates and

O(\log n)

depth that requires no ancillary qubits. The circuit uses only

X

, CNOT, and Toffoli gates under all-to-all connectivity and is classically reversible. Our construction accelerates the controlled ladder underlying addition. Grouping the data into blocks and use existing control qubits as conditional workspace gives a recursive construction with

O(n\log\log n)

gates and

O(\log n)

depth. We then coordinate inter-block propagation via two short-path forest operations to cut the per-block workspace requirement, yielding a nonrecursive implementation with

O(n)

gates. Both the gate count and circuit depth are asymptotically optimal.

Related papers

Asymptotically Optimal Quantum Circuits for Comparators and Incrementers

Vivien Vandaele

We present quantum circuits for comparison and increment operations that achieve an asymptotically optimal gate count of $Θ(n)$ and depth of $Θ(\log n)$ over the Clifford+Toffoli gate set, while using a provably minimal number of qubits. We extend these results to classical-quantum comparators, yielding an improved classical-quantum adder with an optimal qubit count. Given the ubiquity of these operations as algorithmic building blocks, our constructions translate directly into reduced circuit complexity for many quantum algorithms. As a notable example, they can be used to improve a space-efficient circuit for Shor's factoring algorithm, reducing circuit depth from $\mathcal{O}(n^3)$ to $\mathcal{O}(n^2 \log^2 n)$ without increasing either the qubit count or the asymptotic gate complexity. Underpinning these results is a general theorem demonstrating how to trade ancilla qubits for control qubits with low overhead in both depth and gate count, providing a broadly applicable tool for quantum circuit design.We present quantum circuits for comparison and increment operations that achieve an asymptotically optimal gate count of $Θ(n)$ and depth of $Θ(\log n)$ over the Clifford+Toffoli gate set, while using a provably minimal number of qubits. We extend these results to classical-quantum comparators, yielding an improved classical-quantum adder with an optimal qubit count. Given the ubiquity of these operations as algorithmic building blocks, our constructions translate directly into reduced circuit complexity for many quantum algorithms. As a notable example, they can be used to improve a space-efficient circuit for Shor's factoring algorithm, reducing circuit depth from $\mathcal{O}(n^3)$ to $\mathcal{O}(n^2 \log^2 n)$ without increasing either the qubit count or the asymptotic gate complexity. Underpinning these results is a general theorem demonstrating how to trade ancilla qubits for control qubits with low overhead in both depth and gate count, providing a broadly applicable tool for quantum circuit design.

quant-pharXiv:2603.12917Mar 16, 20260 citations

A Classical-Quantum Adder with Constant Workspace and Linear Gates

Craig Gidney

In 2004, Cuccaro et al found a quantum-quantum adder with $O(n)$ gate cost and $O(1)$ ancilla qubits. Since then, it's been an open question whether classical-quantum adders can achieve the same asymptotic complexity. These costs are particularly relevant to modular arithmetic circuits, which often offset by the classically known modulus. In this paper, I construct an adder that uses 3 clean ancillae and $4n \pm O(1)$ Toffoli gates to add a classical offset into a quantum register. I also present an adder with a Toffoli cost of $3n \pm O(1)$ that uses 2 clean ancillae and $n-2$ dirty ancillae. I further show that applying the presented adders conditioned on a control qubit requires no additional workspace or Toffolis.In 2004, Cuccaro et al found a quantum-quantum adder with $O(n)$ gate cost and $O(1)$ ancilla qubits. Since then, it's been an open question whether classical-quantum adders can achieve the same asymptotic complexity. These costs are particularly relevant to modular arithmetic circuits, which often offset by the classically known modulus. In this paper, I construct an adder that uses 3 clean ancillae and $4n \pm O(1)$ Toffoli gates to add a classical offset into a quantum register. I also present an adder with a Toffoli cost of $3n \pm O(1)$ that uses 2 clean ancillae and $n-2$ dirty ancillae. I further show that applying the presented adders conditioned on a control qubit requires no additional workspace or Toffolis.

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The PPKN Gate: An Optimal 1-Toffoli Input-Preserving Full Adder for Quantum Arithmetic

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Efficient arithmetic operations are a prerequisite for practical quantum computing. Optimization efforts focus on two primary metrics: Quantum Cost (QC), determined by the number of non-linear gates, and Logical Depth, which defines the execution speed. Existing literature identifies the HNG gate as the standard for Input-Preserving Reversible Full Adders. HNG gate typically requires a QC of 12 and a logical depth of 5, in the area of classical reversible circuits. This paper proposes the PPKN Gate, a novel design that achieves the same inputpreserving functionality using only one Toffoli gate and five CNOT gates. With a Quantum Cost of 10 and a reduced logical depth of 4, the PPKN gate outperforms the standard HNG gate in both complexity and speed. Furthermore, we present a modular architecture for constructing an n-bit Ripple Carry Adder by cascading PPKN modules.Efficient arithmetic operations are a prerequisite for practical quantum computing. Optimization efforts focus on two primary metrics: Quantum Cost (QC), determined by the number of non-linear gates, and Logical Depth, which defines the execution speed. Existing literature identifies the HNG gate as the standard for Input-Preserving Reversible Full Adders. HNG gate typically requires a QC of 12 and a logical depth of 5, in the area of classical reversible circuits. This paper proposes the PPKN Gate, a novel design that achieves the same inputpreserving functionality using only one Toffoli gate and five CNOT gates. With a Quantum Cost of 10 and a reduced logical depth of 4, the PPKN gate outperforms the standard HNG gate in both complexity and speed. Furthermore, we present a modular architecture for constructing an n-bit Ripple Carry Adder by cascading PPKN modules.

quant-pharXiv:2512.12073Dec 16, 20250 citations

Exact Unitary Synthesis: Simultaneously Optimal in Size and Depth-Ancilla Tradeoff

Pei Yuan, Wei Zi, Shengyu Zhang

Unitary synthesis underlies universal quantum computation by translating unitary transformations into circuits of elementary gates. We show that for any budget $m\geq 0$ of ancilla, every $n$ -qubit unitary can be exactly implemented using a quantum circuit consisting of $O(4^n)$ CNOT and single-qubit gates in $O(n+4^n/(n+m))$ layers attaining the asymptotically optimal depth--ancilla tradeoff while simultaneously achieving optimal circuit size. The key idea is to encode computational basis states as wavefunctions sharing a Gaussian envelope, converting unitary action on amplitudes into coordinate transformations that admit shallow circuit implementations. The continuous encoding is then discretized, with approximation errors removed by exact residual correction. The depth-ancilla tradeoff follows by recursively applying the quantum Shannon decomposition, synthesizing its smaller unitary factors, and reusing ancillary qubits.Unitary synthesis underlies universal quantum computation by translating unitary transformations into circuits of elementary gates. We show that for any budget $m\geq 0$ of ancilla, every $n$-qubit unitary can be exactly implemented using a quantum circuit consisting of $O(4^n)$ CNOT and single-qubit gates in $O(n+4^n/(n+m))$ layers attaining the asymptotically optimal depth--ancilla tradeoff while simultaneously achieving optimal circuit size. The key idea is to encode computational basis states as wavefunctions sharing a Gaussian envelope, converting unitary action on amplitudes into coordinate transformations that admit shallow circuit implementations. The continuous encoding is then discretized, with approximation errors removed by exact residual correction. The depth-ancilla tradeoff follows by recursively applying the quantum Shannon decomposition, synthesizing its smaller unitary factors, and reusing ancillary qubits.

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Quantum circuit for multi-qubit Toffoli gate with optimal resource

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Resource consumption is an important issue in quantum information processing, particularly during the present NISQ era. In this paper, we investigate resource optimization of implementing multiple controlled operations, which are fundamental building blocks in the field of quantum computing and quantum simulation. We design new quantum circuits for the $n$ -Toffoli gate and general multi-controlled unitary, which have only $O(\log n)$ -depth and $O(n)$ -size, and only require $1$ ancillary qubit. To achieve these results, we explore the potential of ancillary qubits and discover a method to create new conditional clean qubits from existed ancillary qubits. These techniques can also be utilized to construct an efficient quantum circuit for incrementor, leading to an implementation of multi-qubit Toffoli gate with a depth of $O(\log^2n)$ and size of $O(n)$ without any ancillary qubits. Furthermore, we explore the power of ancillary qubits from the perspective of resource theory. We demonstrate that without the assistance of ancillary qubit, any quantum circuit implementation of multi-qubit Toffoli gate must employ exponential precision gates. This finding indicates a significant disparity in computational power of quantum circuits between using and not using ancillary qubits. Additionally, we discuss the comparison of the power of ancillary qubits and extra energy levels in quantum circuit design.Resource consumption is an important issue in quantum information processing, particularly during the present NISQ era. In this paper, we investigate resource optimization of implementing multiple controlled operations, which are fundamental building blocks in the field of quantum computing and quantum simulation. We design new quantum circuits for the $n$-Toffoli gate and general multi-controlled unitary, which have only $O(\log n)$-depth and $O(n)$-size, and only require $1$ ancillary qubit. To achieve these results, we explore the potential of ancillary qubits and discover a method to create new conditional clean qubits from existed ancillary qubits. These techniques can also be utilized to construct an efficient quantum circuit for incrementor, leading to an implementation of multi-qubit Toffoli gate with a depth of $O(\log^2n)$ and size of $O(n)$ without any ancillary qubits. Furthermore, we explore the power of ancillary qubits from the perspective of resource theory. We demonstrate that without the assistance of ancillary qubit, any quantum circuit implementation of multi-qubit Toffoli gate must employ exponential precision gates. This finding indicates a significant disparity in computational power of quantum circuits between using and not using ancillary qubits. Additionally, we discuss the comparison of the power of ancillary qubits and extra energy levels in quantum circuit design.

arXiv:2402.05053Feb 7, 20244 citations

We construct an exact

n

-bit quantum adder with

O(n)

gates and

O(\log n)

depth that requires no ancillary qubits. The circuit uses only

X

O(n\log\log n)

gates and

O(\log n)

depth. We then coordinate inter-block propagation via two short-path forest operations to cut the per-block workspace requirement, yielding a nonrecursive implementation with

O(n)

gates. Both the gate count and circuit depth are asymptotically optimal.

We present quantum circuits for comparison and increment operations that achieve an asymptotically optimal gate count of

Θ(n)

and depth of

Θ(\log n)

over the Clifford+Toffoli gate set, while using a provably minimal number of qubits. We extend these results to classical-quantum comparators, yielding an improved classical-quantum adder with an optimal qubit count. Given the ubiquity of these operations as algorithmic building blocks, our constructions translate directly into reduced circuit complexity for many quantum algorithms. As a notable example, they can be used to improve a space-efficient circuit for Shor's factoring algorithm, reducing circuit depth from

\mathcal{O}(n^3)

\mathcal{O}(n^2 \log^2 n)

without increasing either the qubit count or the asymptotic gate complexity. Underpinning these results is a general theorem demonstrating how to trade ancilla qubits for control qubits with low overhead in both depth and gate count, providing a broadly applicable tool for quantum circuit design.

In 2004, Cuccaro et al found a quantum-quantum adder with

O(n)

gate cost and

O(1)

ancilla qubits. Since then, it's been an open question whether classical-quantum adders can achieve the same asymptotic complexity. These costs are particularly relevant to modular arithmetic circuits, which often offset by the classically known modulus. In this paper, I construct an adder that uses 3 clean ancillae and

4n \pm O(1)

Toffoli gates to add a classical offset into a quantum register. I also present an adder with a Toffoli cost of

3n \pm O(1)

that uses 2 clean ancillae and

n-2

dirty ancillae. I further show that applying the presented adders conditioned on a control qubit requires no additional workspace or Toffolis.

We present a quantum algorithm for multiplying two

n

-bit integers with overall circuit depth and

T

-depth both bounded by

O(\log n)

, while using

O(n^2)

gates and ancillary qubits. Our construction generates partial products via indicator-controlled copying and adds them using a tree of reversible

3

-to-

2

adders followed by one quantum carry-lookahead adder. Building on the carry-save adders of Kim et al., we combine full input fanout, workspace reuse, and phase-corrected gate implementations to reduce

T

-depth. We provide explicit circuit constructions, proofs of correctness, and concrete closed-form resource bounds.

Unitary synthesis underlies universal quantum computation by translating unitary transformations into circuits of elementary gates. We show that for any budget

m\geq 0

of ancilla, every

n

-qubit unitary can be exactly implemented using a quantum circuit consisting of

O(4^n)

CNOT and single-qubit gates in

O(n+4^n/(n+m))

layers attaining the asymptotically optimal depth--ancilla tradeoff while simultaneously achieving optimal circuit size. The key idea is to encode computational basis states as wavefunctions sharing a Gaussian envelope, converting unitary action on amplitudes into coordinate transformations that admit shallow circuit implementations. The continuous encoding is then discretized, with approximation errors removed by exact residual correction. The depth-ancilla tradeoff follows by recursively applying the quantum Shannon decomposition, synthesizing its smaller unitary factors, and reusing ancillary qubits.

n

-Toffoli gate and general multi-controlled unitary, which have only

O(\log n)

-depth and

O(n)

-size, and only require

1

ancillary qubit. To achieve these results, we explore the potential of ancillary qubits and discover a method to create new conditional clean qubits from existed ancillary qubits. These techniques can also be utilized to construct an efficient quantum circuit for incrementor, leading to an implementation of multi-qubit Toffoli gate with a depth of

O(\log^2n)

and size of

O(n)

without any ancillary qubits. Furthermore, we explore the power of ancillary qubits from the perspective of resource theory. We demonstrate that without the assistance of ancillary qubit, any quantum circuit implementation of multi-qubit Toffoli gate must employ exponential precision gates. This finding indicates a significant disparity in computational power of quantum circuits between using and not using ancillary qubits. Additionally, we discuss the comparison of the power of ancillary qubits and extra energy levels in quantum circuit design.