Estimating the eigenvalues of a unitary transformation U by standard phase estimation requires the implementation of controlled-U-gates which are not available if U is only given as a black box. We show that a simple trick allows to measure eigenvalues of U\otimesU^\deggar even in this case. Running the algorithm several times allows therefore to estimate the autocorrelation function of the density of eigenstates of U. This can be applied to find periodicities in the energy spectrum of a quantum system with unknown Hamiltonian if it can be coupled to a quantum computer.
Estimating the eigenvalues of a unitary transformation U by standard phase estimation requires the implementation of controlled-U-gates which are not available if U is only given as a black box. We show that a simple trick allows to measure eigenvalues of U\otimesU^\deggar even in this case. Running the algorithm several times allows therefore to estimate the autocorrelation function of the density of eigenstates of U. This can be applied to find periodicities in the energy spectrum of a quantum system with unknown Hamiltonian if it can be coupled to a quantum computer.
Estimating the eigenvalues of a unitary transformation U by standard phase estimation requires the implementation of controlled-U-gates which are not available if U is only given as a black box. We show that a simple trick allows to measure eigenvalues of U\otimes U^\dagger even in this case. Running the algorithm several times allows therefore to estimate the autocorrelation function of the density of eigenstates of U. This can be applied to find periodicities in the energy spectrum of a quantum system with unknown Hamiltonian if it can be coupled to a quantum computer.
The well-known algorithm for quantum phase estimation requires that the considered unitary is available as a conditional transformation depending on the quantum state of an ancilla register. We present an algorithm converting an unknown n-qubit pair-interaction Hamiltonian into a conditional one such that standard phase estimation can be applied to measure the energy. Our essential assumption is that the considered system can be brought into interaction with a quantum computer. For large n the algorithm could still be applicable for estimating the density of energy states and might therefore be useful for finding energy gaps in solid states.
Phase estimation is used in many quantum algorithms, particularly in order to estimate energy eigenvalues for quantum systems. When using a single qubit as the probe (used to control the unitary we wish to estimate the eigenvalue of), it is not possible to measure the phase with a minimum mean-square error. In standard methods, there would be a logarithmic (in error) number of control qubits needed in order to achieve this minimum error. Here, we show how to perform this measurement using only two control qubits, thereby reducing the qubit requirements of the quantum algorithm. To achieve this task, we prepare the optimal control state one qubit at a time, at the same time as applying the controlled unitaries and inverse quantum Fourier transform. As each control qubit is measured, it is reset to |0⟩ then entangled with the other control qubit, so only two control qubits are needed.
Quantum algorithms for estimating the eigenvalues of matrices, including the phase estimation algorithm, serve as core subroutines in a wide range of quantum algorithms, including those in quantum chemistry and quantum machine learning. The standard quantum eigenvalue (phase) estimation algorithm accepts a Hermitian (unitary) matrix and a state in an unknown superposition of its eigenstates as input, and coherently records the estimates for real eigenvalues (eigenphases) in an ancillary register. Extension of quantum eigenvalue and phase estimation algorithms to the case of non-normal input matrices is obstructed by several factors such as non-orthogonality of eigenvectors, existence of generalized eigenvectors and the fact that eigenvalues may lie anywhere on the complex plane. In this work, we propose a novel approach for estimating the eigenvalues of non-normal matrices based on preparation of a state that we call the "resolvent state". We construct the first efficient algorithm for estimating the phases of the unimodular eigenvalues of a given non-unitary matrix. We then construct an efficient algorithm for estimating the real eigenvalues of a given non-Hermitian matrix, achieving complexities that match the best known results while operating under significantly relaxed assumptions on the non-real part of the spectrum. The resolvent-based approach that we introduce also extends to estimating eigenvalues that lie on a parametrized complex curve, subject to explicitly stated conditions, thereby paving the way for a new paradigm of parametric eigenvalue estimation.
Quantum phase estimation (QPE) is fundamental to quantum algorithms for eigenvalue problems, chemistry simulation, and number-theoretic applications. However, canonical QPE implementations employ controlled unitary operations and quantum Fourier transform, incurring substantial circuit depth and control overhead that severely limit applicability on nearterm quantum hardware. This work develops a novel class of control-free phase estimation algorithms that eliminate both controlled unitaries and QFT by leveraging signal processing principles. Our approach applies uncontrolled powers of the unitary U = e −iHτ to an eigenstate or eigenstate-rich state, measures in multiple bases to capture interference patterns, and reconstructs eigenphases via classical post-processing techniques including Prony's method, compressed sensing, and harmonic inversion. We establish that for eigenstates or states with sparse eigendecomposition, our algorithms achieve phase estimation precision ϵ using Õ(1/ϵ) applications of U , matching standard QPE query complexity up to logarithmic factors while dramatically reducing circuit depth and eliminating control overhead. We provide detailed error analysis characterizing robustness to measurement noise, finite sampling, and state preparation errors. Applications to electronic structure estimation in small molecules and variational quantum eigensolvers demonstrate the practical viability of control-free QPE on both NISQ and early fault-tolerant quantum computers. Our results suggest that signal-processing-based phase estimation may offer more efficient implementations of quantum algorithms on realistic hardware.
The subject of this thesis, quantum estimation theory, is inspired by recent developments, both practical and theoretical, in the new field of quantum information and computation. The main task of quantum estimation theory, the subject of this thesis, is that given many identical copies of an unknown quantum system one wants to guess or estimate what the system is. This is done by performing an measurement and analyzing the data obtained from it.
A quantum state is represented by a density matrix. In some cases one does not need to know the whole density matrix, sometimes a partial characterization is enough. Chapter 2 of this thesis is about optimally estimating the spectrum, i.e. the eigenvalues, of a density matrix. This is useful, for example, for estimating the entanglement of a bipartite pure state. The results of chapter 2 tell us that one can optimally estimate bipartite entanglement with LOCC measurements on one of the two parties.
Unitary operations transform density matrices to density matrices. They are the gates of quantum information processing. Suppose one has one such unitary operation but one does not know what it does. In order to characterize it one needs to know how it transforms any input state. In order to know how a particular state is transformed, one can prepare that state, feed it to the unitary many times, and measure the output. One state is, of course, not enough. It turns out that the unitary can be completely characterized with a finite set of states, this is known as quantum process tomography. Unfortunately, in many cases it is difficult to have available in the lab all the input states needed to perform quantum process tomography. It is here where entanglement comes to the rescue. One pair of maximally entangled qubits, where one of them is used as input for the unitary gate and the other is left untouched, is sufficient. All the information about the unknown gate is contained in the joint output state. This is the problem treated in chapter 3. Now the output state needs to be measured. Again, one could measure the two qubits separately (LOCC) or jointly (collective measurement). Is there anything to gain by performing joint measurements? The answer is yes, optimal collective measurements are at least 3 times more accurate than any LOCC measurement.
Chapter 4 treats the problem of estimating commuting unitary gates. There it is shown that this extra information makes it unnecessary to use an entangled input state and to use collective measurements at the output.
In chapters 3 and 4 it is assumed that only one copy of the unitary gate is available. If, however, more than one copy (say N ) are available at the same time one could use an N-fold entangled state as input. If no entanglement is used, classical statistics tells us that the error of the estimation is proportional to 1/√N. In the literature, it has been shown that by using an entangled state in the input one can achieve an error proportional to 1/N. However, this has been shown only for qubit gates. In chapter 5 important steps are taken in the direction of showing the same thing for a general unitary gate, but this remains an open problem.