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

SIAM Journal on Computing

Complexity Classification of Local Hamiltonian Problems

Toby S. Cubitt, Ashley Montanaro

Published Jan 1, 2016• 75 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The calculation of ground-state energies of physical systems can be formalized as the $k$-local Hamiltonian problem, which is a natural quantum analogue of classical constraint satisfaction problems. One way of making the problem more physically meaningful is to restrict the Hamiltonian in question by picking its terms from a fixed set $\mathcal{S}$ and scaling them by arbitrary weights. Examples of such special cases are the Heisenberg and Ising models from condensed-matter physics. In this work we characterize the complexity of this problem for all 2-local qubit Hamiltonians. Depending on the subset $\mathcal{S}$, the problem falls into one of the following categories: in $\mathsf{ P}$; $\mathsf{NP}$-complete; polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields; or $\mathsf{QMA}$-complete. The third of these classes has been shown to be $\mathsf{StoqMA}$-complete by Bravyi and Hastings. The characterization holds even if $\mathcal{S}$ does not contain any 1-local terms; for example, we prove for the first time $\mathsf{QMA}$-completeness of the Heisenberg and XY interactions in this setting. If $\mathcal{S}$ is assumed to contain all 1-local terms, which is the setting considered by previous work, we have a characterization that goes beyond 2-local interactions: for any constant $k$, all $k$-local qubit Hamiltonians whose terms are picked from a fixed set $\mathcal{S}$ correspond to problems either in $\mathsf{P}$; polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields; or $\mathsf{QMA}$-complete. These results are a quantum analogue of the maximization variant of Schaefer's dichotomy theorem for Boolean constraint satisfaction problems.

DOI
10.1137/140998287

Related papers

Complexity classification of local Hamiltonian problems

Toby S. Cubitt, Ashley Montanaro

The calculation of ground-state energies of physical systems can be formalised as the k-local Hamiltonian problem, which is the natural quantum analogue of classical constraint satisfaction problems. One way of making the problem more physically meaningful is to restrict the Hamiltonian in question by picking its terms from a fixed set S. Examples of such special cases are the Heisenberg and Ising models from condensed-matter physics. In this work we characterise the complexity of this problem for all 2-local qubit Hamiltonians. Depending on the subset S, the problem falls into one of the following categories: in P; NP-complete; polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields; or QMA-complete. The third of these classes has been shown to be StoqMA-complete by Bravyi and Hastings. The characterisation holds even if S does not contain any 1-local terms; for example, we prove for the first time QMA-completeness of the Heisenberg and XY interactions in this setting. If S is assumed to contain all 1-local terms, which is the setting considered by previous work, we have a characterisation that goes beyond 2-local interactions: for any constant k, all k-local qubit Hamiltonians whose terms are picked from a fixed set S correspond to problems either in P; polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields; or QMA-complete. These results are a quantum analogue of Schaefer's dichotomy theorem for boolean constraint satisfaction problems.

arXiv:1311.3161•Nov 13, 2013•9 citations

Complexity Classification of Local Hamiltonian Problems

Toby S. Cubitt, Ashley Montanaro

The calculation of ground-state energies of physical systems can be formalised as the k-local Hamiltonian problem, which is the natural quantum analogue of classical constraint satisfaction problems. One way of making the problem more physically meaningful is to restrict the Hamiltonian in question by picking its terms from a fixed set S. Examples of such special cases are the Heisenberg and Ising models from condensed-matter physics. In this work we characterise the complexity of this problem for all 2-local qubit Hamiltonians. Depending on the subset S, the problem falls into one of the following categories: in P, NP-complete, polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields, or QMA-complete. The third of these classes contains NP and is contained within StoqMA. The characterisation holds even if S does not contain any 1-local terms, for example, we prove for the first time QMA-completeness of the Heisenberg and XY interactions in this setting. If S is assumed to contain all 1-local terms, which is the setting considered by previous work, we have a characterisation that goes beyond 2-local interactions: for any constant k, all k-local qubit Hamiltonians whose terms are picked from a fixed set S correspond to problems either in P, polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields, or QMA-complete. These results are a quantum analogue of Schaefer's dichotomy theorem for boolean constraint satisfaction problems.

Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science•Oct 1, 2014•34 citations

On complexity of the quantum Ising model

Sergey B. Bravyi, Matthew B. Hastings

We study complexity of several problems related to the Transverse field Ising Model (TIM). First, we consider the problem of estimating the ground state energy known as the Local Hamiltonian Problem (LHP). It is shown that the LHP for TIM on degree-3 graphs is equivalent modulo polynomial reductions to the LHP for general k-local `stoquastic' Hamiltonians with any constant $k\ge 2$. This result implies that estimating the ground state energy of TIM on degree-3 graphs is a complete problem for the complexity class StoqMA - an extension of the classical class MA. As a corollary, we complete the complexity classification of 2-local Hamiltonians with a fixed set of interactions proposed recently by Cubitt and Montanaro. Secondly, we study quantum annealing algorithms for finding ground states of classical spin Hamiltonians associated with hard optimization problems. We prove that the quantum annealing with TIM Hamiltonians is equivalent modulo polynomial reductions to the quantum annealing with a certain subclass of k-local stoquastic Hamiltonians. This subclass includes all Hamiltonians representable as a sum of a k-local diagonal Hamiltonian and a 2-local stoquastic Hamiltonian.

arXiv:1410.0703•Oct 2, 2014•8 citations

Product-state approximations to quantum ground states

Fernando G. S. L. Brandão, Aram W. Harrow

The local Hamiltonian problem consists of estimating the ground-state energy (given by the minimum eigenvalue) of a local quantum Hamiltonian. It can be considered as a quantum generalization of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) and has a key role in quantum complexity theory, being the first and most natural QMA-complete problem known. An interesting regime for the local Hamiltonian problem is that of extensive error, where one is interested in estimating the mean ground-state energy to constant accuracy. The problem is NP-hard by the PCP theorem, but whether it is QMA-hard is an important open question in quantum complexity theory. A positive solution would represent a quantum analogue of the PCP theorem. A key feature that distinguishes quantum Hamiltonians from classical CSPs is that the solutions may involve complicated entangled states. In this paper, we demonstrate several large classes of Hamiltonians for which product (i.e. unentangled) states can approximate the ground state energy to within a small extensive error.

arXiv:1310.0017•ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC)•May 28, 2013•31 citations

On Efficiently Solvable Cases of Quantum k-SAT

Marco Aldi, Niel de Beaudrap, Sevag Gharibian +1 more

Abstract Estimating ground state energies of local Hamiltonian models is a central problem in quantum physics. The question of whether a given local Hamiltonian is frustration-free, meaning the ground state is the simultaneous ground state of all local interaction terms, is known as the Quantum k-SAT (k-QSAT) problem. In analogy to its classical Boolean constraint satisfaction counterpart, the NP-complete problem k-SAT, Quantum k-SAT is $$\hbox {QMA}_1$$ QMA 1 -complete (for $$k\ge 3$$ k ≥ 3 , and where $$\hbox {QMA}_1$$ QMA 1 is a quantum generalization of NP with one-sided error), and thus likely intractable. But whereas k-SAT has been well-studied for special tractable cases, as well as from a “parameterized complexity” perspective, much less is known in similar settings for k-QSAT. Here, we study the open problem of computing satisfying assignments to k-QSAT instances which have a “dimer covering” or “matching”; such systems are known to be frustration-free, but it remains open whether one can efficiently compute a ground state. Our results fall into three directions, all of which relate to the “dimer covering” setting: (1) We give a polynomial-time classical algorithm for k-QSAT when all qubits occur in at most two interaction terms or clauses. (2) We give a “parameterized algorithm” for k-QSAT instances from a certain non-trivial class, which allows us to obtain exponential speedups over brute force methods in some cases. This is achieved by reducing the problem to solving for a single root of a single univariate polynomial. An explicit family of hypergraphs, denoted Crash, for which such a speedup is obtained is introduced. (3) We conduct a structural graph theoretic study of 3-QSAT interaction graphs which have a “dimer covering”. We remark that the results of (2), in particular, introduce a number of new tools to the study of Quantum SAT, including graph theoretic concepts such as transfer filtrations and blow-ups from algebraic geometry.

arXiv:1712.09617•Communications in Mathematical Physics•Dec 24, 2020•5 citations

The complexity of antiferromagnetic interactions and 2D lattices

Stephen Piddock, Ashley Montanaro

Estimation of the minimum eigenvalue of a quantum Hamiltonian can be formalised as the Local Hamiltonian problem. We study the natural special case of the Local Hamiltonian problem where the same 2-local interaction, with differing weights, is applied across each pair of qubits. First we consider antiferromagnetic/ferromagnetic interactions, where the weights of the terms in the Hamiltonian are restricted to all be of the same sign. We show that for symmetric 2-local interactions with no 1-local part, the problem is either QMA-complete or in StoqMA. In particular the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg and antiferromagnetic XY interactions are shown to be QMA-complete. We also prove StoqMA-completeness of the antiferromagnetic transverse field Ising model. Second, we study the Local Hamiltonian problem under the restriction that the interaction terms can only be chosen to lie on a particular graph. We prove that nearly all of the QMA-complete 2-local interactions remain QMA-complete when restricted to a 2D square lattice. Finally we consider both restrictions at the same time and discover that, with the exception of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interaction, all of the interactions which are QMA-complete with positive coefficients remain QMA-complete when restricted to a 2D triangular lattice.

arXiv:1506.04014•Quantum Information and Computation•May 1, 2017•28 citations
The calculation of ground-state energies of physical systems can be formalized as the kkk-local Hamiltonian problem, which is a natural quantum analogue of classical constraint satisfaction problems. One way of making the problem more physically meaningful is to restrict the Hamiltonian in question by picking its terms from a fixed set S\mathcal{S}S and scaling them by arbitrary weights. Examples of such special cases are the Heisenberg and Ising models from condensed-matter physics. In this work we characterize the complexity of this problem for all 2-local qubit Hamiltonians. Depending on the subset S\mathcal{S}S, the problem falls into one of the following categories: in P\mathsf{ P}P; NP\mathsf{NP}NP-complete; polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields; or QMA\mathsf{QMA}QMA-complete. The third of these classes has been shown to be StoqMA\mathsf{StoqMA}StoqMA-complete by Bravyi and Hastings. The characterization holds even if S\mathcal{S}S does not contain any 1-local terms; for example, we prove for the first time QMA\mathsf{QMA}QMA-completeness of the Heisenberg and XY interactions in this setting. If S\mathcal{S}S is assumed to contain all 1-local terms, which is the setting considered by previous work, we have a characterization that goes beyond 2-local interactions: for any constant kkk, all kkk-local qubit Hamiltonians whose terms are picked from a fixed set S\mathcal{S}S correspond to problems either in P\mathsf{P}P; polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields; or QMA\mathsf{QMA}QMA-complete. These results are a quantum analogue of the maximization variant of Schaefer's dichotomy theorem for Boolean constraint satisfaction problems.
The calculation of ground-state energies of physical systems can be formalised as the k-local Hamiltonian problem, which is the natural quantum analogue of classical constraint satisfaction problems. One way of making the problem more physically meaningful is to restrict the Hamiltonian in question by picking its terms from a fixed set S. Examples of such special cases are the Heisenberg and Ising models from condensed-matter physics. In this work we characterise the complexity of this problem for all 2-local qubit Hamiltonians. Depending on the subset S, the problem falls into one of the following categories: in P; NP-complete; polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields; or QMA-complete. The third of these classes has been shown to be StoqMA-complete by Bravyi and Hastings. The characterisation holds even if S does not contain any 1-local terms; for example, we prove for the first time QMA-completeness of the Heisenberg and XY interactions in this setting. If S is assumed to contain all 1-local terms, which is the setting considered by previous work, we have a characterisation that goes beyond 2-local interactions: for any constant k, all k-local qubit Hamiltonians whose terms are picked from a fixed set S correspond to problems either in P; polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields; or QMA-complete. These results are a quantum analogue of Schaefer's dichotomy theorem for boolean constraint satisfaction problems.
The calculation of ground-state energies of physical systems can be formalised as the k-local Hamiltonian problem, which is the natural quantum analogue of classical constraint satisfaction problems. One way of making the problem more physically meaningful is to restrict the Hamiltonian in question by picking its terms from a fixed set S. Examples of such special cases are the Heisenberg and Ising models from condensed-matter physics. In this work we characterise the complexity of this problem for all 2-local qubit Hamiltonians. Depending on the subset S, the problem falls into one of the following categories: in P, NP-complete, polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields, or QMA-complete. The third of these classes contains NP and is contained within StoqMA. The characterisation holds even if S does not contain any 1-local terms, for example, we prove for the first time QMA-completeness of the Heisenberg and XY interactions in this setting. If S is assumed to contain all 1-local terms, which is the setting considered by previous work, we have a characterisation that goes beyond 2-local interactions: for any constant k, all k-local qubit Hamiltonians whose terms are picked from a fixed set S correspond to problems either in P, polynomial-time equivalent to the Ising model with transverse magnetic fields, or QMA-complete. These results are a quantum analogue of Schaefer's dichotomy theorem for boolean constraint satisfaction problems.
We study complexity of several problems related to the Transverse field Ising Model (TIM). First, we consider the problem of estimating the ground state energy known as the Local Hamiltonian Problem (LHP). It is shown that the LHP for TIM on degree-3 graphs is equivalent modulo polynomial reductions to the LHP for general k-local `stoquastic' Hamiltonians with any constant k≥2k\ge 2k≥2. This result implies that estimating the ground state energy of TIM on degree-3 graphs is a complete problem for the complexity class StoqMA - an extension of the classical class MA. As a corollary, we complete the complexity classification of 2-local Hamiltonians with a fixed set of interactions proposed recently by Cubitt and Montanaro. Secondly, we study quantum annealing algorithms for finding ground states of classical spin Hamiltonians associated with hard optimization problems. We prove that the quantum annealing with TIM Hamiltonians is equivalent modulo polynomial reductions to the quantum annealing with a certain subclass of k-local stoquastic Hamiltonians. This subclass includes all Hamiltonians representable as a sum of a k-local diagonal Hamiltonian and a 2-local stoquastic Hamiltonian.
The local Hamiltonian problem consists of estimating the ground-state energy (given by the minimum eigenvalue) of a local quantum Hamiltonian. It can be considered as a quantum generalization of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) and has a key role in quantum complexity theory, being the first and most natural QMA-complete problem known. An interesting regime for the local Hamiltonian problem is that of extensive error, where one is interested in estimating the mean ground-state energy to constant accuracy. The problem is NP-hard by the PCP theorem, but whether it is QMA-hard is an important open question in quantum complexity theory. A positive solution would represent a quantum analogue of the PCP theorem. A key feature that distinguishes quantum Hamiltonians from classical CSPs is that the solutions may involve complicated entangled states. In this paper, we demonstrate several large classes of Hamiltonians for which product (i.e. unentangled) states can approximate the ground state energy to within a small extensive error.
Abstract Estimating ground state energies of local Hamiltonian models is a central problem in quantum physics. The question of whether a given local Hamiltonian is frustration-free, meaning the ground state is the simultaneous ground state of all local interaction terms, is known as the Quantum k-SAT (k-QSAT) problem. In analogy to its classical Boolean constraint satisfaction counterpart, the NP-complete problem k-SAT, Quantum k-SAT is QMA1\hbox {QMA}_1QMA1​ QMA 1 -complete (for k≥3k\ge 3k≥3 k ≥ 3 , and where QMA1\hbox {QMA}_1QMA1​ QMA 1 is a quantum generalization of NP with one-sided error), and thus likely intractable. But whereas k-SAT has been well-studied for special tractable cases, as well as from a “parameterized complexity” perspective, much less is known in similar settings for k-QSAT. Here, we study the open problem of computing satisfying assignments to k-QSAT instances which have a “dimer covering” or “matching”; such systems are known to be frustration-free, but it remains open whether one can efficiently compute a ground state. Our results fall into three directions, all of which relate to the “dimer covering” setting: (1) We give a polynomial-time classical algorithm for k-QSAT when all qubits occur in at most two interaction terms or clauses. (2) We give a “parameterized algorithm” for k-QSAT instances from a certain non-trivial class, which allows us to obtain exponential speedups over brute force methods in some cases. This is achieved by reducing the problem to solving for a single root of a single univariate polynomial. An explicit family of hypergraphs, denoted Crash, for which such a speedup is obtained is introduced. (3) We conduct a structural graph theoretic study of 3-QSAT interaction graphs which have a “dimer covering”. We remark that the results of (2), in particular, introduce a number of new tools to the study of Quantum SAT, including graph theoretic concepts such as transfer filtrations and blow-ups from algebraic geometry.
Estimation of the minimum eigenvalue of a quantum Hamiltonian can be formalised as the Local Hamiltonian problem. We study the natural special case of the Local Hamiltonian problem where the same 2-local interaction, with differing weights, is applied across each pair of qubits. First we consider antiferromagnetic/ferromagnetic interactions, where the weights of the terms in the Hamiltonian are restricted to all be of the same sign. We show that for symmetric 2-local interactions with no 1-local part, the problem is either QMA-complete or in StoqMA. In particular the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg and antiferromagnetic XY interactions are shown to be QMA-complete. We also prove StoqMA-completeness of the antiferromagnetic transverse field Ising model. Second, we study the Local Hamiltonian problem under the restriction that the interaction terms can only be chosen to lie on a particular graph. We prove that nearly all of the QMA-complete 2-local interactions remain QMA-complete when restricted to a 2D square lattice. Finally we consider both restrictions at the same time and discover that, with the exception of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interaction, all of the interactions which are QMA-complete with positive coefficients remain QMA-complete when restricted to a 2D triangular lattice.