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International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science

QUANTUM COMPUTATION WITH RESTRICTED AMPLITUDES

Harumichi Nishimura

Published Oct 1, 2003• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the power of quantum computers with restricted transition amplitudes. In 1997 Adleman, DeMarrais, and Huang showed that quantum Turing machines (QTMs) with the amplitudes from [Formula: see text] are computationally equivalent to ones with the polynomial-time computable amplitudes as machines implementing bounded-error polynomial-time algorithms. We show that QTMs with the amplitudes from [Formula: see text] is polynomial-time equivalent to deterministic Turing machines as machines implementing exact algorithms, i.e., algorithms that output correct answers with certainty. By extending this result, it is shown that exact quantum computers with rational biased coins are equivalent to classical computers. Moreover, we discuss the computational power of exact quantum computers with multiple types of coins. We also show that, from the viewpoint of zero-error polynomial-time algorithms, [Formula: see text] is not more powerful than [Formula: see text] as the set of amplitudes taken by QTMs; however, it is sufficient to solve the factoring problem.

DOI
10.1142/s0129054103002059

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In this paper, we explore the power of quantum computers with restricted transition amplitudes. In 1997 Adleman, DeMarrais, and Huang showed that quantum Turing machines (QTMs) with the amplitudes from [Formula: see text] are computationally equivalent to ones with the polynomial-time computable amplitudes as machines implementing bounded-error polynomial-time algorithms. We show that QTMs with the amplitudes from [Formula: see text] is polynomial-time equivalent to deterministic Turing machines as machines implementing exact algorithms, i.e., algorithms that output correct answers with certainty. By extending this result, it is shown that exact quantum computers with rational biased coins are equivalent to classical computers. Moreover, we discuss the computational power of exact quantum computers with multiple types of coins. We also show that, from the viewpoint of zero-error polynomial-time algorithms, [Formula: see text] is not more powerful than [Formula: see text] as the set of amplitudes taken by QTMs; however, it is sufficient to solve the factoring problem.
In this paper some theoretical and (potentially) practical aspects of quantum computing are considered. Using the tools of transcendental number theory it is demonstrated that quantum Turing machines (QTM) with rational amplitudes are sufficient to define the class of bounded error quantum polynomial time (BQP) introduced by Bernstein and Vazirani [Proc. 25th ACM Symposium on Theory of Computation, 1993, pp. 11--20, SIAM J. Comput., 26 (1997), pp. 1277--1339]. On the other hand, if quantum Turing machines are allowed unrestricted amplitudes (i.e., arbitrary complex amplitudes), then the corresponding BQP class has uncountable cardinality and contains sets of all Turing degrees. In contrast, allowing unrestricted amplitudes does not increase the power of computation for error-free quantum polynomial time (EQP). Moreover, with unrestricted amplitudes, BQP is not equal to EQP. The relationship between quantum complexity classes and classical complexity classes is also investigated. It is shown that when quantum Turing machines are restricted to have transition amplitudes which are algebraic numbers, BQP, EQP, and nondeterministic quantum polynomial time (NQP) are all contained in PP, hence in ${\rm P}^{#{\rm P}}$ and PSPACE. A potentially practical issue of designing "machine independent" quantum programs is also addressed. A single ("almost universal") quantum algorithm based on Shor's method for factoring integers is developed which would run correctly on almost all quantum computers, even if the underlying unitary transformations are unknown to the programmer and the device builder.
In this paper we study quantum computation from a complexity theoretic viewpoint. Our first result is the existence of an efficient universal quantum Turing machine in Deutsch's model of a quantum Turing machine (QTM) [Proc. Roy. Soc. London Ser. A, 400 (1985), pp. 97--117]. This construction is substantially more complicated than the corresponding construction for classical Turing machines (TMs); in fact, even simple primitives such as looping, branching, and composition are not straightforward in the context of quantum Turing machines. We establish how these familiar primitives can be implemented and introduce some new, purely quantum mechanical primitives, such as changing the computational basis and carrying out an arbitrary unitary transformation of polynomially bounded dimension. We also consider the precision to which the transition amplitudes of a quantum Turing machine need to be specified. We prove that O(log⁡T)O(\log T)O(logT) bits of precision suffice to support a T step computation. This justifies the claim that the quantum Turing machine model should be regarded as a discrete model of computation and not an analog one. We give the first formal evidence that quantum Turing machines violate the modern (complexity theoretic) formulation of the Church--Turing thesis. We show the existence of a problem, relative to an oracle, that can be solved in polynomial time on a quantum Turing machine, but requires superpolynomial time on a bounded-error probabilistic Turing machine, and thus not in the class $\BPP$. The class $\BQP$ of languages that are efficiently decidable (with small error-probability) on a quantum Turing machine satisfies $\BPP \subseteq \BQP \subseteq \Ptime^{\SP}$. Therefore, there is no possibility of giving a mathematical proof that quantum Turing machines are more powerful than classical probabilistic Turing machines (in the unrelativized setting) unless there is a major breakthrough in complexity theory.
Deutsch proposed two sorts of models of quantum computers, quantum Turing machines (QTMs) and quantum circuit families (QCFs). In this paper we explore the computational powers of these models and re-examine the claim of the computational equivalence of these models often made in the literature without detailed investigations. For this purpose, we formulate the notion of the codes of QCFs and the uniformity of QCFs by the computability of the codes. Various complexity classes are introduced for QTMs and QCFs according to constraints on the error probability of algorithms or transition amplitudes. Their interrelations are examined in detail. For Monte Carlo algorithms, it is proved that the complexity classes based on uniform QCFs are identical with the corresponding classes based on QTMs. However, for Las Vegas algorithms, it is still open whether the two models are equivalent. We indicate the possibility that they are not equivalent. In addition, we give a complete proof of the existence of a universal QTM simulating multi-tape QTMs efficiently. We also examine the simulation of various types of QTMs such as multi-tape QTMs, single tape QTMs, stationary, normal form QTMs (SNQTMs), and QTMs with the binary tapes. As a result, we show that these QTMs are computationally equivalent one another as computing models implementing not only Monte Carlo algorithms but exact (or error-free) ones.
Abstract. In this paper we study quantum computation from a complexity theoretic viewpoint. Our rst result is the existence of an ecient universal quantum Turing machine in Deutsch’s model of a quantum Turing machine (QTM) [Proc. Roy. Soc. London Ser. A, 400 (1985), pp. 97{117]. This construction is substantially more complicated than the corresponding construction for classical Turing machines (TMs); in fact, even simple primitives such as looping, branching, and composition are not straightforward in the context of quantum Turing machines. We establish how these familiar primitives can be implemented and introduce some new, purely quantum mechanical primitives, such as changing the computational basis and carrying out an arbitrary unitary transformation of polynomially bounded dimension. We also consider the precision to which the transition amplitudes of a quantum Turing machine need to be specied. We prove that O(log T) bits of precision suce to support a T step computation. This justies the claim that the quantum Turing machine model should be regarded as a discrete model of computation and not an analog one. We give the rst formal evidence that quantum Turing machines violate the modern (complexity theoretic) formulation of the Church{Turing thesis. We show the existence of a problem, relative to an oracle, that can be solved in polynomial time on a quantum Turing machine, but requires superpolynomial time on a bounded-error probabilistic Turing machine, and thus not in the class BPP. The class BQP of languages that are eciently decidable (with small error-probability) on a quantum Turing machine satises BPP ⊆ BQP ⊆ P]P. Therefore, there is no possibility of giving a mathematical proof that quantum Turing machines are more powerful than classical probabilistic Turing machines (in the unrelativized setting) unless there is a major breakthrough in complexity theory.
In order to establish the computational equivalence between quantum Turing machines (QTMs) and quantum circuit families (QCFs) using Yao's quantum circuit simulation of QTMs, we previously introduced the class of uniform QCFs based on an infinite set of elementary gates, which has been shown to be computationally equivalent to polynomial-time QTMs (with appropriate restriction of amplitudes) up to bounded error simulation. This result implies that the complexity class BQP introduced by Bernstein and Vazirani for QTMs equal their counterparts for uniform QCFs. However, the complexity classes ZQP and EQP for QTMs do not appear to equal their counterparts for uniform QCFs. In this paper, we introduce a subclass of uniform QCFs, finitely generated uniform QCFs, based on finite number of elementary gates and show that the finitely generated uniform QCF is perfectly equivalent to the polynomial-time QTM; they can exactly simulate each other. This naturally implies that BQP as well as ZQP and EQP equal the corresponding complexity classes of the finitely generated uniform QCF.
A model of quantum computation based on unitary matrix operations was introduced by Feynman and Deutsch. It has been asked whether the power of this model exceeds that of classical Turing machines. We show here that a significant class of these quantum computations can be simulated classically in polynomial time. In particular we show that two-bit operations characterized by 4 \times 4 matrices in which the sixteen entries obey a set of five polynomial relations can be composed according to certain rules to yield a class of circuits that can be simulated classically in polynomial time. This contrasts with the known universality of two-bit operations, and demonstrates that efficient quantum computation of restricted classes is reconcilable with the Polynomial Time Turing Hypothesis. In other words it is possible that quantum phenomena can be used in a scalable fashion to make computers but that they do not have superpolynomial speedups compared to Turing machines for any problem. The techniques introduced bring the quantum computational model within the realm of algebraic complexity theory. In a manner consistent will one view of quantum physics, the wave function is simulated deterministically, and randomization arises only in the course of making measurements. The results generalize the quantum model in that they do not require the matrices to be unitary. In a different direction these techniques also yield deterministic polynomial time algorithms for the decision and parity problems for certain classes of read-twice Boolean formulae. All our results are based on the use of gates that are defined in terms of their graph matching properties.