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Ground State Spin Calculus

Jacob Biamonte

Published Jan 1, 2010• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We present an intuitive compositional theory from which one is able to predict and also to control the ground state manifold (and higher energy excitations) of interacting spin systems governed by variants of tunable Ising models, hence giving precise control over the apriori additive structure of Hamiltonian composition. This compositional theory is given in terms of string diagrams: these results were made possible by mapping a variant of the Boolean F2-calculus onto spins and synthesizing modern ideas appearing in Category Theory, Coalgebras, Classical Network Theory and Graphical Calculus. Specifically, we present an algebraic method which allows one to explicitly engineer several energy levels including the low-energy subspace of interacting spin systems. We call this new framework: Ground State Spin Calculus, and in the first instance, the theory requires interactions of up to third order (3body). By introducing ancillary qubits, we present a novel approach allowing k-body interactions to be captured exactly using only two-body Hamiltonians [Biamonte, Phys. Rev. A 77(5), 052331 (2008)]. Our reduction method has no dependence on perturbation theory or the associated large spectral gap and allows for problem instance solutions to be embedded into the ground energy state of Ising spin systems. This could have important applications for future technology as adiabatic quantum evolution might be used to place such a computational system into it’s ground state.

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Determining properties of ground states of spin Hamiltonians remains a topic of central relevance connecting disciplines of mathematical, theoretical and applied physics. In the last few decades, ground state properties of physical systems have been increasingly considered as computational resources. This thesis develops parts of the mathematical apparatus to create (program) ground states relevant for quantum and classical computation. The core findings presented in this thesis (now over a decade old) including that (i) logic operations (gates) can be embedded into the low-energy sector of Ising spins whereas three (and higher) body Ising interaction terms can be mimicked through the minimisation of 2- and 1-body Ising terms yet require the introduction of slack spins; (ii) Perturbation theory gadgets enable the emulation of interactions not present in a given Hamiltonian, e.g.~$YY$ interactions can be realized from $ZZ$, $XX$, the thesis contains a result from 2007 showing that physically relevant two-body model Hamiltonian's have a QMA-hard ground state energy decision problem. Merged with other results, this established that these models provide a universal resource for ground state quantum computation. More recent findings include the proof that an idealised version of the contemporary variational approach to quantum algorithms enables a universal model of quantum computation. Other related results are also presented as they relate to ground state quantum computation and the minimisation of Hamiltonians by quantum circuits. The topics covered include: Ising model reductions, stochastic versus quantum processes on graphs, quantum gates and circuits as tensor networks, variational quantum algorithms and Hamiltonian gadgets.

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Mapping the Ising model onto two-dimensional Rubidium atom arrays

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We describe an architecture to map the Ising model problem onto the dynamics of two-dimensional neutral trapped atom arrays. Specifically, we show that the NP-complete Ising model decision problem on $n$ variables can be reduced to deciding whether, for $O(n^2)$ Rubidium atoms in two dimensions, interacting via Rydberg excitations, there exists a state with energy below a certain threshold. This provides an alternative proof of the NP-hardness of two dimensional Rydberg dynamics with a single species in the regime where long-range interactions are negligible. Therefore, we can encode NP-complete problems onto the ground state of Rydberg atom arrays and use quantum optimization techniques such as quantum adiabatic algorithms and variational algorithms to estimate the ground state. Furthermore, as the Ising model describes many-body phenomena in statistical physics, we can probe a plethora of emergent phenomena via quantum simulators. Our result is based on the Lechner-Hauke-Zoller (LHZ) scheme that enables the encoding of an all-to-all connected Ising model onto systems with local-only interactions. We improve the scheme in the following ways to make the it feasible for near-term Rydberg simulators: (1) Implementations of the scheme in literature that use qubits suffer from a double-counting error causing inconsistencies in the strength of the interactions. Identical interactions must have different strengths based on their spatial location. We describe and resolve this error without impacting the $O(n^2)$ scaling of the atom array by introducing additional ancillary qubits. (2) We introduce new formalism and simpler proofs via novel approaches regarding the validity of the LHZ scheme and its variants. These proofs lend more easily to complexity-theoretic arguments regarding the hardness of Rydberg dynamics. (3) Finally, we circumvent the LHZ scheme constraint of requiring four-body interactions, qutrits, or multiple species of atoms by providing an implementation that uses only Rubidium atoms to encode both physical and ancillary qubits. To engineer the required interactions, the atoms are coupled to different Rydberg energy levels. We also provide a brief review of classical and quantum computation, quantum computing platforms, near-term quantum experiments, and Rydberg physics.

•Jun 18, 2020•0 citations
We present an intuitive compositional theory from which one is able to predict and also to control the ground state manifold (and higher energy excitations) of interacting spin systems governed by variants of tunable Ising models, hence giving precise control over the apriori additive structure of Hamiltonian composition. This compositional theory is given in terms of string diagrams: these results were made possible by mapping a variant of the Boolean F2-calculus onto spins and synthesizing modern ideas appearing in Category Theory, Coalgebras, Classical Network Theory and Graphical Calculus. Specifically, we present an algebraic method which allows one to explicitly engineer several energy levels including the low-energy subspace of interacting spin systems. We call this new framework: Ground State Spin Calculus, and in the first instance, the theory requires interactions of up to third order (3body). By introducing ancillary qubits, we present a novel approach allowing k-body interactions to be captured exactly using only two-body Hamiltonians [Biamonte, Phys. Rev. A 77(5), 052331 (2008)]. Our reduction method has no dependence on perturbation theory or the associated large spectral gap and allows for problem instance solutions to be embedded into the ground energy state of Ising spin systems. This could have important applications for future technology as adiabatic quantum evolution might be used to place such a computational system into it’s ground state.
An algebraic method has been developed which allows one to engineer several energy levels including the low-energy subspace of interacting spin systems. By introducing ancillary qubits, this approach allows k\mathit{k}k-body interactions to be captured exactly using two-body Hamiltonians. Our method works when all terms in the Hamiltonian share the same basis and has no dependence on perturbation theory or the associated large spectral gap. Our methods allow problem instance solutions to be embedded into the ground energy state of Ising spin systems. Adiabatic evolution might then be used to place a computational system into its ground state.
An algebraic method has been developed which allows one to engineer several energy levels including the low-energy subspace of interacting spin systems. By introducing ancillary qubits, this approach allows k-body interactions to be captured exactly using 2-body Hamiltonians. Our method works when all terms in the Hamiltonian share the same basis and has no dependence on perturbation theory or the associated large spectral gap. Our methods allow problem instance solutions to be embedded into the ground energy state of Ising spin systems. Adiabatic evolution might then be used to place a computational system into it's ground state.
Designing and optimizing cost functions and energy landscapes is a problem encountered in many fields of science and engineering. These landscapes and cost functions can be embedded and annealed in experimentally controllable spin Hamiltonians. Using an approach based on group theory and symmetries, we examine the embedding of Boolean logic gates into the ground-state subspace of such spin systems. We describe parameterized families of diagonal Hamiltonians and symmetry operations which preserve the ground-state subspace encoding the truth tables of Boolean formulas. The ground-state embeddings of adder circuits are used to illustrate how gates are combined and simplified using symmetry. Our work is relevant for experimental demonstrations of ground-state embeddings found in both classical optimization as well as adiabatic quantum optimization.
Given the knowledge of its kinematical class, a quantum system is completely characterized by the specification of a ground state. This provides a quantum formulation more general than the potential-based approach, handling situations where the ground state is a smooth function whereas the potential would be singular. Many results may be obtained directly from the ground state without needing to reconstruct the associated potential. Representations of the quantum algebra, generated by the ground state, describe all quantum states of the system and this approach is also useful as a tool to model observed physical phenomena and to find out what interactions are at play. The basic formalism and a variety of examples are included to illustrate the power of the ground state approach as a modelling tool for quantum systems.
Determining properties of ground states of spin Hamiltonians remains a topic of central relevance connecting disciplines of mathematical, theoretical and applied physics. In the last few decades, ground state properties of physical systems have been increasingly considered as computational resources. This thesis develops parts of the mathematical apparatus to create (program) ground states relevant for quantum and classical computation. The core findings presented in this thesis (now over a decade old) including that (i) logic operations (gates) can be embedded into the low-energy sector of Ising spins whereas three (and higher) body Ising interaction terms can be mimicked through the minimisation of 2- and 1-body Ising terms yet require the introduction of slack spins; (ii) Perturbation theory gadgets enable the emulation of interactions not present in a given Hamiltonian, e.g.~YYYYYY interactions can be realized from ZZZZZZ, XXXXXX, the thesis contains a result from 2007 showing that physically relevant two-body model Hamiltonian's have a QMA-hard ground state energy decision problem. Merged with other results, this established that these models provide a universal resource for ground state quantum computation. More recent findings include the proof that an idealised version of the contemporary variational approach to quantum algorithms enables a universal model of quantum computation. Other related results are also presented as they relate to ground state quantum computation and the minimisation of Hamiltonians by quantum circuits. The topics covered include: Ising model reductions, stochastic versus quantum processes on graphs, quantum gates and circuits as tensor networks, variational quantum algorithms and Hamiltonian gadgets.
We describe an architecture to map the Ising model problem onto the dynamics of two-dimensional neutral trapped atom arrays. Specifically, we show that the NP-complete Ising model decision problem on nnn variables can be reduced to deciding whether, for O(n2)O(n^2)O(n2) Rubidium atoms in two dimensions, interacting via Rydberg excitations, there exists a state with energy below a certain threshold. This provides an alternative proof of the NP-hardness of two dimensional Rydberg dynamics with a single species in the regime where long-range interactions are negligible. Therefore, we can encode NP-complete problems onto the ground state of Rydberg atom arrays and use quantum optimization techniques such as quantum adiabatic algorithms and variational algorithms to estimate the ground state. Furthermore, as the Ising model describes many-body phenomena in statistical physics, we can probe a plethora of emergent phenomena via quantum simulators. Our result is based on the Lechner-Hauke-Zoller (LHZ) scheme that enables the encoding of an all-to-all connected Ising model onto systems with local-only interactions. We improve the scheme in the following ways to make the it feasible for near-term Rydberg simulators: (1) Implementations of the scheme in literature that use qubits suffer from a double-counting error causing inconsistencies in the strength of the interactions. Identical interactions must have different strengths based on their spatial location. We describe and resolve this error without impacting the O(n2)O(n^2)O(n2) scaling of the atom array by introducing additional ancillary qubits. (2) We introduce new formalism and simpler proofs via novel approaches regarding the validity of the LHZ scheme and its variants. These proofs lend more easily to complexity-theoretic arguments regarding the hardness of Rydberg dynamics. (3) Finally, we circumvent the LHZ scheme constraint of requiring four-body interactions, qutrits, or multiple species of atoms by providing an implementation that uses only Rubidium atoms to encode both physical and ancillary qubits. To engineer the required interactions, the atoms are coupled to different Rydberg energy levels. We also provide a brief review of classical and quantum computation, quantum computing platforms, near-term quantum experiments, and Rydberg physics.