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Physical Review A

Construction of a universal quantum computer

Antonio A. Lagana, Max A. Lohe, Lorenz von Smekal

Published May 18, 2009• 9 citations

Abstract

We construct a universal quantum computer following Deutsch's original proposal of a universal quantum Turing machine (UQTM). Like Deutsch's UQTM, our machine can emulate any classical Turing machine and can execute any algorithm that can be implemented in the quantum gate array framework but under the control of a quantum program, and hence is universal. We present the architecture of the machine, which consists of a memory tape and a processor and describe the observables that comprise the registers of the processor and the instruction set, which includes a set of operations that can approximate any unitary operation to any desired accuracy and hence is quantum computationally universal. We present the unitary evolution operators that act on the machine to achieve universal computation and discuss each of them in detail and specify and discuss explicit program halting and concatenation schemes. We define and describe a set of primitive programs in order to demonstrate the universal nature of the machine. These primitive programs facilitate the implementation of more complex algorithms and we demonstrate their use by presenting a program that computes the NAND function, thereby also showing that the machine can compute any classically computable function.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.79.052322

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We construct a universal quantum computer following Deutsch's original proposal of a universal quantum Turing machine (UQTM). Like Deutsch's UQTM, our machine can emulate any classical Turing machine and can execute any algorithm that can be implemented in the quantum gate array framework but under the control of a quantum program, and hence is universal. We present the architecture of the machine, which consists of a memory tape and a processor and describe the observables that comprise the registers of the processor and the instruction set, which includes a set of operations that can approximate any unitary operation to any desired accuracy and hence is quantum computationally universal. We present the unitary evolution operators that act on the machine to achieve universal computation and discuss each of them in detail and specify and discuss explicit program halting and concatenation schemes. We define and describe a set of primitive programs in order to demonstrate the universal nature of the machine. These primitive programs facilitate the implementation of more complex algorithms and we demonstrate their use by presenting a program that computes the NAND function, thereby also showing that the machine can compute any classically computable function.

We study the observation of quantum Turing machines by allowing interactions between a quantum machine and its environment during the computation, whereas a quantum Turing machine --original model introduced by Deutsch-- remains isolated. We show that the introduction of observations leads to a weakening of the well formedness conditions of quantum Turing machines such that any (reversible or not) classical Turing machine is a special instance of a quantum machine. Moreover, observation of quantum Turing machines provides a formal solution to the halting process problem: the impossibility to know whether a given quantum Turing machine has actually reached its halting state. It also provides a more realistic abstract architecture of a quantum computer while most of the physical proposals of quantum computers are based on an hybrid classical-quantum architecture. However, we show that a natural formalisation of an observable quantum Turing machines leads to an over-powerful model solving undecidable problems. As a consequence, we introduce a restricted version of observable quantum Turing machines and we show that, under this restriction, any observable quantum Turing machine can be efficiently simulated by a quantum Turing machine. Finally, we discuss the potential application of the observable quantum Turing machine in the quest of a universal quantum Turing machine while recent papers have pointed out that a classical control is a key feature of a universal quantum machine.

This thesis covers two main topics in quantum computing: universal quantum computation and quantum search. We first demonstrate how a quantum harmonic oscillator can be used to implement the universal set of quantum gates and thereby serve as one possible building block for a universal quantum computer. We then address the core and primary focus of this thesis, the theoretical construction of a machine that can compute every computable function, that is, a universal (i.e.programmable) quantum computer. We thereby settle the questions that have been raised over the years regarding the validity of the UQTM proposed by Deutsch in 1985. We then demonstrate how to interface the universal quantum computer to external quantum devices by developing programs that implement well-known oracle based algorithms, including the well-known Grover search algorithm, using networked quantum oracle devices. Finally, we develop a partial search oracle and explore symmetry based partial search algorithms utilizing this oracle.

Deutsch, Feynman, and Manin viewed quantum computing as a kind of universal physical simulation procedure. Much of the writing about quantum Turing machines has shown how these machines can simulate an arbitrary unitary transformation on a finite number of qubits. This interesting problem has been addressed most famously in a paper by Deutsch, and later by Bernstein and Vazirani. Quantum Turing machines form a class closely related to deterministic and probabilistic Turing machines and one might hope to find a universal machine in this class. A universal machine is the basis of a notion of programmability. The extent to which universality has in fact been established by the pioneers in the field is examined and a key notion in theoretical computer science (universality) is scrutinised. In a forthcoming paper, the authors will also consider universality in the quantum gate model.

We present the SQRAM architecture for quantum computing, which is based on Knill's QRAM model. We detail a suitable instruction set, which implements a universal set of quantum gates, and demonstrate the operation of the SQRAM with Deutsch's quantum algorithm. The compilation of high-level quantum programs for the SQRAM machine is considered; we present templates for quantum assembly code and a method for decomposing matrices for complex quantum operations. The SQRAM simulator and compiler are discussed, along with directions for future work.

It is reasonable to assume that quantum computations take place under the control of the classical world. For modelling this standard situation, we introduce a Classically-controlled Quantum Turing Machine (CQTM) which is a Turing machine with a quantum tape for acting on quantum data, and a classical transition function for a formalized classical control. In CQTM, unitary transformations and quantum measurements are allowed. We show that any classical Turing machine is simulated by a CQTM without loss of efficiency. Furthermore, we show that any k -tape CQTM is simulated by a 2-tape CQTM with a quadratic loss of efficiency. The gap between classical and quantum computations which was already pointed out in the framework of measurement-based quantum computation (see [S. Perdrix, Ph. Jorrand, Measurement-Based Quantum Turing Machines and their Universality, arXiv, quant-ph/0404146 , 2004]) is confirmed in the general case of classically-controlled quantum computation. In order to appreciate the similarity between programming classical Turing machines and programming CQTM, some examples of CQTM will be given in the full version of the paper. Proofs of lemmas and theorems are omitted in this extended abstract.