Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2610.35828

Interference-induced dynamical crossovers in quantum walks on disordered square lattices

Ramnarayan Bera, Arijit Roy, Soumyadip Ghosh, Soumen Roy

quant-phSubmitted Oct 26, 2026• Announced Oct 27, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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, $p$. 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 $f$. 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, $β(t)$. In comparison, quantum walks exhibit a monotonically decaying $β(t)$ beyond the initial transient regime, leading to the absence of quantum diffusion in two dimensions. We map the transport regimes in the $(f,p)$ plane and identify the contour for $β=1$, 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.

Comments
10 pages, 7 figures

Related papers

Discrete-Time Quantum Walk with Phase Disorder: Localization and Entanglement Entropy

Meng Zeng, Ee Hou Yong

Quantum Walk (QW) has very different transport properties to its classical counterpart due to interference effects. Here we study the discrete-time quantum walk (DTQW) with on-site static/dynamic phase disorder following either binary or uniform distribution in both one and two dimensions. For one dimension, we consider the Hadamard coin; for two dimensions, we consider either a 2-level Hadamard coin (Hadamard walk) or a 4-level Grover coin (Grover walk) for the rotation in coin-space. We study the transport properties e.g. inverse participation ratio (IPR) and the standard deviation of the density function (σ) as well as the coin-position entanglement entropy (EE), due to the two types of phase disorders and the two types of coins. Our numerical simulations show that the dimensionality, the type of coins, and whether the disorder is static or dynamic play a pivotal role and lead to interesting behaviors of the DTQW. The distribution of the phase disorder has very minor effects on the quantum walk.

Scientific Reports•Sep 14, 2017•39 citations

Characterization of anomalous diffusion in one-dimensional quantum walks

Abhaya S. Hegde, C. M. Chandrashekar

Abstract Quantum walks are known to propagate quadratically faster than their classical counterparts and are used to model dynamics in various quantum systems. The spread of the quantum walk in position space shows anomalous diffusion behavior. By controlling the action of quantum coin operation on the corresponding coin degree of freedom of the walker, one can demonstrate control over the diffusion behavior. In this work, we report different forms of coin operations on quantum walks exhibiting anomalous diffusion behavior. Homogeneous and accelerated quantum walks display superdiffusive behavior, whereas uncorrelated static and dynamic disorders in the evolution induce strong and weak localization of the particle indicating subdiffusive and normal diffusive behavior. The role played by the interference effects in the spreading of the walker has remained elusive and our aim in this work is to present the interplay between quantum coherence and mean squared displacement of the walker. We employ two reliable measures of coherence for conclusively establishing the role of quantum interference as the driving force behind the anomalous diffusive behavior in the dynamics of quantum walks.

arXiv:2112.14611•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Apr 28, 2022•0 citations

Stronger resilience to disorder in 2D quantum walks than in 1D

Amrita Mandal, Ujjwal Sen

We study the response of spreading behavior, of two-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks, to glassy disorder in the jump length. We consider different discrete probability distributions to mimic the disorder, and three types of coin operators, viz., Grover, Fourier, and Hadamard, to analyze the scale exponent of the disorder-averaged spreading. We find that the ballistic spreading of the clean walk is inhibited in presence of disorder, and the walk becomes sub-ballistic but remains super-diffusive. The resilience to disorder-induced inhibition is stronger in two-dimensional walks, for all the considered coin operations, in comparison to the same in one dimension. The quantum advantage of quantum walks is therefore more secure in two dimensions than in one.

arXiv:2312.16076•Dec 26, 2023•0 citations

Quantum walks with sequential aperiodic jumps

Marcelo A. Pires, Sı́lvio M. Duarte Queirós

We analyze a set of discrete-time quantum walks for which the displacements on a chain follow binary aperiodic jumps according to three paradigmatic sequences: Fibonacci, Thue-Morse, and Rudin-Shapiro. We use a generalized Hadamard coin, C[over ̂]_{H}, as well as a generalized Fourier coin, C[over ̂]_{K}. We verify the QW experiences a slowdown of the wave packet spreading, σ^{2}(t)∼t^{α}, by the aperiodic jumps whose exponent, α, depends on the type of aperiodicity. Additional aperiodicity-induced effects also emerge, namely, (1) while the superdiffusive regime (1<α<2) is predominant, α displays an unusual sensibility with the type of coin operator where the more pronounced differences emerge for the Rudin-Shapiro and random protocols and (2) even though the angle θ of the coin operator is homogeneous in space and time, there is a nonmonotonic dependence of α with θ. Fingerprints of the aperiodicity in the hoppings are also found when distributional measures such as the Shannon and von Neumann entropies, the Inverse Participation Ratio, the Jensen-Shannon dissimilarity, and the kurtosis are computed, which allow assessing informational and delocalization features arising from these protocols and understanding the impact of linear and nonlinear correlations of the jump sequence in a quantum walk as well. Finally, we argue the spin-lattice entanglement is enhanced by aperiodic jumps.

arXiv:1910.02254•Physical review. E•Jul 1, 2020•31 citations

Topological delocalization in the completely disordered two-dimensional quantum walk

János K. Asbóth, Arindam Mallick

We investigate numerically and theoretically the effect of spatial disorder on two-dimensional split-step discrete-time quantum walks with two internal ``coin'' states. Spatial disorder can lead to Anderson localization, inhibiting the spread of quantum walks, putting them at a disadvantage against their diffusively spreading classical counterparts. We find that spatial disorder of the most general type, i.e., position-dependent Haar random coin operators, does not lead to Anderson localization but to a diffusive spread instead. This is a delocalization, which happens because disorder places the quantum walk to a critical point between different anomalous Floquet-Anderson insulating topological phases. We base this explanation on the relationship of this general quantum walk to a simpler case more studied in the literature and for which disorder-induced delocalization of a topological origin has been observed. We review topological delocalization for the simpler quantum walk, using time evolution of the wave functions and level spacing statistics. We apply scattering theory to two-dimensional quantum walks and thus calculate the topological invariants of disordered quantum walks, substantiating the topological interpretation of the delocalization and finding signatures of the delocalization in the finite-size scaling of transmission. We show criticality of the Haar random quantum walk by calculating the critical exponent $\ensuremath{\eta}$ in three different ways and find $\ensuremath{\eta}\ensuremath{\approx}0.52$ as in the integer quantum Hall effect. Our results showcase how theoretical ideas and numerical tools from solid-state physics can help us understand spatially random quantum walks.

arXiv:2005.00203•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Dec 8, 2020•6 citations

Disordered quantum walks in one lattice dimension

Andre Ahlbrecht, Volkher B. Scholz, Albert H. Werner

We study a spin-$\frac{1}{2}$12-particle moving on a one-dimensional lattice subject to disorder induced by a random, space-dependent quantum coin. The discrete time evolution is given by a family of random unitary quantum walk operators, where the shift operation is assumed to be deterministic. Each coin is an independent identically distributed random variable with values in the group of two-dimensional unitary matrices. We derive sufficient conditions on the probability distribution of the coins such that the system exhibits dynamical localization. Put differently, the tunneling probability between two lattice sites decays rapidly for almost all choices of random coins and after arbitrary many time steps with increasing distance. Our findings imply that this effect takes place if the coin is chosen at random from the Haar measure, or some measure continuous with respect to it, but also for a class of discrete probability measures which support consists of two coins, one of them being the Hadamard coin.

arXiv:1101.2298•Journal of Mathematical Physics•Oct 1, 2011•85 citations
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.
Quantum Walk (QW) has very different transport properties to its classical counterpart due to interference effects. Here we study the discrete-time quantum walk (DTQW) with on-site static/dynamic phase disorder following either binary or uniform distribution in both one and two dimensions. For one dimension, we consider the Hadamard coin; for two dimensions, we consider either a 2-level Hadamard coin (Hadamard walk) or a 4-level Grover coin (Grover walk) for the rotation in coin-space. We study the transport properties e.g. inverse participation ratio (IPR) and the standard deviation of the density function (σ) as well as the coin-position entanglement entropy (EE), due to the two types of phase disorders and the two types of coins. Our numerical simulations show that the dimensionality, the type of coins, and whether the disorder is static or dynamic play a pivotal role and lead to interesting behaviors of the DTQW. The distribution of the phase disorder has very minor effects on the quantum walk.
Abstract Quantum walks are known to propagate quadratically faster than their classical counterparts and are used to model dynamics in various quantum systems. The spread of the quantum walk in position space shows anomalous diffusion behavior. By controlling the action of quantum coin operation on the corresponding coin degree of freedom of the walker, one can demonstrate control over the diffusion behavior. In this work, we report different forms of coin operations on quantum walks exhibiting anomalous diffusion behavior. Homogeneous and accelerated quantum walks display superdiffusive behavior, whereas uncorrelated static and dynamic disorders in the evolution induce strong and weak localization of the particle indicating subdiffusive and normal diffusive behavior. The role played by the interference effects in the spreading of the walker has remained elusive and our aim in this work is to present the interplay between quantum coherence and mean squared displacement of the walker. We employ two reliable measures of coherence for conclusively establishing the role of quantum interference as the driving force behind the anomalous diffusive behavior in the dynamics of quantum walks.
We study the response of spreading behavior, of two-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks, to glassy disorder in the jump length. We consider different discrete probability distributions to mimic the disorder, and three types of coin operators, viz., Grover, Fourier, and Hadamard, to analyze the scale exponent of the disorder-averaged spreading. We find that the ballistic spreading of the clean walk is inhibited in presence of disorder, and the walk becomes sub-ballistic but remains super-diffusive. The resilience to disorder-induced inhibition is stronger in two-dimensional walks, for all the considered coin operations, in comparison to the same in one dimension. The quantum advantage of quantum walks is therefore more secure in two dimensions than in one.
We analyze a set of discrete-time quantum walks for which the displacements on a chain follow binary aperiodic jumps according to three paradigmatic sequences: Fibonacci, Thue-Morse, and Rudin-Shapiro. We use a generalized Hadamard coin, C[over ̂]_{H}, as well as a generalized Fourier coin, C[over ̂]_{K}. We verify the QW experiences a slowdown of the wave packet spreading, σ^{2}(t)∼t^{α}, by the aperiodic jumps whose exponent, α, depends on the type of aperiodicity. Additional aperiodicity-induced effects also emerge, namely, (1) while the superdiffusive regime (1<α<2) is predominant, α displays an unusual sensibility with the type of coin operator where the more pronounced differences emerge for the Rudin-Shapiro and random protocols and (2) even though the angle θ of the coin operator is homogeneous in space and time, there is a nonmonotonic dependence of α with θ. Fingerprints of the aperiodicity in the hoppings are also found when distributional measures such as the Shannon and von Neumann entropies, the Inverse Participation Ratio, the Jensen-Shannon dissimilarity, and the kurtosis are computed, which allow assessing informational and delocalization features arising from these protocols and understanding the impact of linear and nonlinear correlations of the jump sequence in a quantum walk as well. Finally, we argue the spin-lattice entanglement is enhanced by aperiodic jumps.
We investigate numerically and theoretically the effect of spatial disorder on two-dimensional split-step discrete-time quantum walks with two internal ``coin'' states. Spatial disorder can lead to Anderson localization, inhibiting the spread of quantum walks, putting them at a disadvantage against their diffusively spreading classical counterparts. We find that spatial disorder of the most general type, i.e., position-dependent Haar random coin operators, does not lead to Anderson localization but to a diffusive spread instead. This is a delocalization, which happens because disorder places the quantum walk to a critical point between different anomalous Floquet-Anderson insulating topological phases. We base this explanation on the relationship of this general quantum walk to a simpler case more studied in the literature and for which disorder-induced delocalization of a topological origin has been observed. We review topological delocalization for the simpler quantum walk, using time evolution of the wave functions and level spacing statistics. We apply scattering theory to two-dimensional quantum walks and thus calculate the topological invariants of disordered quantum walks, substantiating the topological interpretation of the delocalization and finding signatures of the delocalization in the finite-size scaling of transmission. We show criticality of the Haar random quantum walk by calculating the critical exponent $\ensuremath{\eta}$ in three different ways and find $\ensuremath{\eta}\ensuremath{\approx}0.52$ as in the integer quantum Hall effect. Our results showcase how theoretical ideas and numerical tools from solid-state physics can help us understand spatially random quantum walks.
We study a spin-$\frac{1}{2}$12-particle moving on a one-dimensional lattice subject to disorder induced by a random, space-dependent quantum coin. The discrete time evolution is given by a family of random unitary quantum walk operators, where the shift operation is assumed to be deterministic. Each coin is an independent identically distributed random variable with values in the group of two-dimensional unitary matrices. We derive sufficient conditions on the probability distribution of the coins such that the system exhibits dynamical localization. Put differently, the tunneling probability between two lattice sites decays rapidly for almost all choices of random coins and after arbitrary many time steps with increasing distance. Our findings imply that this effect takes place if the coin is chosen at random from the Haar measure, or some measure continuous with respect to it, but also for a class of discrete probability measures which support consists of two coins, one of them being the Hadamard coin.