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ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC)

Computing with highly mixed states (extended abstract)

Andris Ambainis, Leonard J. Schulman, Umesh V. Vazirani

Published May 1, 2000• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We consider quantum computing in the one-qubit model where the starting state of a quantum computer consists of k qubits in a pure state and n − k qubits in a maximally mixed state. We ask the following question: is there a general method for simulating an arbitrary m-qubit pure state quantum computation by a quantum computation in the k-qubit model? We show that, under certain constraints, this is impossible, unless m = O(k + log n). 1.

DOI
10.1145/335305.335403

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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Aug 5, 2003•4 citations
We consider quantum computing in the one-qubit model where the starting state of a quantum computer consists of k qubits in a pure state and n − k qubits in a maximally mixed state. We ask the following question: is there a general method for simulating an arbitrary m-qubit pure state quantum computation by a quantum computation in the k-qubit model? We show that, under certain constraints, this is impossible, unless m = O(k + log n). 1.
Deterministic quantum computation with one quantum bit (DQC1) [E. Knill and R. Laflamme, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5672 (1998)] is a model of quantum computing where the input is restricted to containing a single qubit in a pure state and has all other qubits in a completely mixed state. Only the single pure qubit is measured at the end of the computation. While it is known that DQC1 can efficiently solve several problems for which no known classical efficient algorithms exist, the question of whether DQC1 is really more powerful than classical computation remains open. In this Letter, we introduce a slightly modified version of DQC1, which we call DQC1(k), where k output qubits are measured, and show that DQC1(k) cannot be classically efficiently simulated for any k≥3 unless the polynomial hierarchy collapses at the third level.
Device initialization is a difficult challenge in some proposed realizations of quantum computers, and as such, must be treated as a computational resource. The degree of initialization can be quantified by k , the number of clean qubits in the initial state of the register. In this article, we show that unless m ∈ O ( k + log n ), oblivious (gate-by-gate) simulation of an ideal m -qubit quantum circuit by an n -qubit circuit with k clean qubits is impossible. Effectively, this indicates that there is no avoiding physical initialization of a quantity of qubits proportional to that required by the best ideal quantum circuit.
We demonstrate that, in the case of Shor's algorithm for factoring, highly mixed states will allow efficient quantum computation, indeed factorization can be achieved efficiently with just one initial pure qubit and a supply of initally maximally mixed qubits (S. Parker and M. B. Plenio, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 3049 (2000)) . This leads us to ask how this affects the entanglement in the algorithm. We thus investigate the behaviour of entanglement in Shor's algorithm for small numbers of qubits by classical computer simulation of the quantum computer at different stages of the algorithm. We find that entanglement is an intrinsic part of the algorithm and that the entanglement through the algorithm appears to be closely related the amount of mixing. Furthermore, if the computer is in a highly mixed state any attempt to remove entanglement by further mixing of the algorithm results in a significant decrease in it's efficiency.
We demonstrate that, in the case of Shor's algorithm for factoring, highly mixed states will allow efficient quantum computation, indeed factorization can be achieved efficiently with just one initial pure qubit and a supply of initially maximally mixed qubits (Parker, S. and Plenio, M. B., 2000, Phys. Rev. Lett., 85, 3049). This leads us to ask how this affects the entanglement in the algorithm. We thus investigate the behaviour of entanglement in Shor's algorithm for small numbers of qubits by classical computer simulation of the quantum computer at different stages of the algorithm. We find that entanglement is an intrinsic part of the algorithm and that the entanglement through the algorithm appears to be closely related to the amount of mixing. Furthermore, if the computer is in a highly mixed state any attempt to remove entanglement by further mixing of the algorithm results in a significant decrease in its efficiency.
Future quantum information processing devices will require the use of exotic quantum states, such as specially crafted entangled states, to achieve certain desired computations on demand. Thus far, synthesis schemes for such states have been devised on a case-by-case basis using ad hoc techniques. In this paper we present a systematic method for finding a quantum circuit that can synthesize any pure or mixed n-qubit state. We then give examples of the use of our algorithm for finding synthesis pathways for especially exotic quantum states such as maximal mixed states. It is not known how to prepare general instances of such states by other means. Thus our quantum state synthesis algorithm should be of use not only in quantum information processing, but also in experimental quantum physics.