In this thesis we provide new upper and lower bounds on the quantum query complexity of a diverse set of problems. Specifically, we study quantum algorithms for Hamiltonian simulation, matrix multiplication, oracle identification, and graph-property recognition. \n \nFor the Hamiltonian simulation problem, we provide a quantum algorithm with query complexity sublogarithmic in the inverse error, an exponential improvement over previous methods. Our algorithm is based on a new quantum algorithm for implementing unitary matrices that can be written as linear combinations of efficiently implementable unitary gates. This algorithm uses a new form of ``oblivious amplitude amplification'' that can be applied even though the reflection about the input state is unavailable. \n \nIn the oracle identification problem, we are given oracle access to an unknown N-bit string x promised to belong to a known set of size M, and our task is to identify x. We present the first quantum algorithm for the problem that is optimal in its dependence on N and M. Our algorithm is based on ideas from classical learning theory and a new composition theorem for solutions of the filtered gamma_2-norm semidefinite program. \n \nWe then study the quantum query complexity of matrix multiplication and related problems over rings, semirings, and the Boolean semiring in particular. Our main result is an output-sensitive algorithm for Boolean matrix multiplication that multiplies two n x n Boolean matrices with query complexity O(n sqrt{l}), where l is the sparsity of the output matrix. The algorithm is based on a reduction to the graph collision problem and a new algorithm for graph collision. \n \nFinally, we study the quantum query complexity of minor-closed graph properties and show that most minor-closed properties---those that cannot be characterized by a finite set of forbidden subgraphs---have quantum query complexity Theta(n^{3/2}) and those that do have such a characterization can be solved strictly faster, with o(n^{3/2}) queries. Our lower bound is based on a detailed analysis of the structure of minor-closed properties with respect to forbidden topological minors and forbidden subgraphs. Our algorithms are a novel application of the quantum walk search framework and give improved upper bounds for several subgraph-finding problems.
Computing set joins of two inputs is a common task in database theory. Recently, Van Gucht, Williams, Woodruff and Zhang [PODS 2015] considered the complexity of such problems in the natural model of (classical) two-party communication complexity and obtained tight bounds for the complexity of several important distributed set joins. In this paper we initiate the study of the *quantum* communication complexity of distributed set joins. We design a quantum protocol for distributed Boolean matrix multiplication, which corresponds to computing the composition join of two databases, showing that the product of two n×n Boolean matrices, each owned by one of two respective parties, can be computed with O(nℓ3/4) qubits of communication, where ℓ denotes the number of non-zero entries of the product. Since Van Gucht et al. showed that the classical communication complexity of this problem is Θ(nℓ), our quantum algorithm outperforms classical protocols whenever the output matrix is sparse. We also show a quantum lower bound and a matching classical upper bound on the communication complexity of distributed matrix multiplication over F2. Besides their applications to database theory, the communication complexity of set joins is interesting due to its connections to direct product theorems in communication complexity. In this work we also introduce a notion of *all-pairs* product theorem, and relate this notion to standard direct product theorems in communication complexity.