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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Formal verification of communication protocols using quantized Horn clauses

Radhakrishnan Balu

Published May 25, 2016• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The stochastic nature of quantum communication protocols naturally lends itself for expression via probabilistic logic languages. In this work we describe quantized computation using Horn clauses and base the semantics on quantum probability. Turing computable Horn clauses are very convenient to work with and the formalism can be extended to general form of first order languages. Towards this end we build a Hilbert space of H-interpretations and a corresponding non commutative von Neumann algebra of bounded linear operators. We demonstrate the expressive power of the language by casting quantum communication protocols as Horn clauses.

DOI
10.1117/12.2222590

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The stochastic nature of quantum communication protocols naturally lends itself for expression via probabilistic logic languages. In this work we describe quantized computation using Horn clauses and base the semantics on quantum probability. Turing computable Horn clauses are very convenient to work with and the formalism can be extended to general form of first order languages. Towards this end we build a Hilbert space of H-interpretations and a corresponding non commutative von Neumann algebra of bounded linear operators. We demonstrate the expressive power of the language by casting quantum communication protocols as Horn clauses.
In our previous work [1] we described quantized computation using Horn clauses and based the semantics, dubbed as entanglement semantics as a generalization of denotational and distribution semantics, and founded it on quantum probability by exploiting the key insight classical random variables have quantum decompositions. Towards this end we built a Hilbert space of H-interpretations and a corresponding non commutative von Neu- mann algebra of bounded linear operators [2]. In this work we extend the formalism using second-quantized Horn clauses that describe processes such as Heisenberg evolutions in optical circuits, quantum walks, and quantum filters in a formally verifiable way. We base our system on a measure theoretic approach to handle infinite dimensional systems and demonstrate the expressive power of the formalism by casting an algebra used to describe interconnected quantum systems (QNET) [5] in this language. The variables of a Horn clause bounded by universal or existential quantifiers can be used to describe parameters of optical components such as beam splitter scattering paths, cavity detuning from resonance, strength of a laser beam, or input and output ports of these components. Prominent clauses in this non commutative framework are Weyl predicates, that are operators on a Boson Fock space in the language of quantum stochastic calculus, martingales and conjugate Brownian motions compactly representing statistics of quantum field fluctuations. We formulate the- orem proving as a quantum stochastic process, more precisely a martingale, in Heisenberg picture of quantum mechanics, a sequence of goals to be proved, on the Herbrand base.
In our previous work we described quantized computation using Horn clauses and based the semantics, dubbed as entanglement semantics as a generalization of denotational and distribution semantics, and founded it on quantum probability by exploiting the key insight classical random variables have quantum decompositions. Towards this end we built a Hilbert space of H-interpretations and a corresponding non commutative von Neumann algebra of bounded linear operators. In this work we extend the formalism using second-quantized Horn clauses that describe processes such as Heisenberg evolutions in optical circuits, quantum walks, and quantum filters in a formally verifiable way. Our goal is to build a model of computation based on logic via Currry-Howard correspondence. Towards this end we can think of completely positive *-unital maps of Horn clauses as function types representing modus ponens (equation (19)). Recursions that result from inductive reasoning has a quantum analogue in terms of sequence of *-homomorphisms induced by completely positive *-unital maps (equation (18)). We base our system on a measure theoretic approach to handle infinite dimensional systems and demonstrate the expressive power of the formalism by casting an algebra used to describe interconnected quantum systems (QNET) in this language. The variables of a Horn clause bounded by universal or existential quantifiers can be used to describe parameters of optical components such as beam splitter scattering paths, cavity detuning from resonance, strength of a laser beam, or input and output ports of these components. Prominent clauses in this non commutative framework are Weyl predicates, that are operators on a Boson Fock space in the language of quantum stochastic calculus, martingales and conjugate Brownian motions compactly representing statistics of quantum field fluctuations. We formulate theorem proving as a quantum stochastic process in Heisenberg picture of quantum mechanics, a sequence of goals to be proved, using backward chaining.
We describe a quantum mechanics based logic programming language that supports Horn clauses, random variables, and covariance matrices to express and solve problems in probabilistic logic. The Horn clauses of the language wrap random variables, including infinite valued, to express probability distributions and statistical correlations, a powerful feature to capture relationship between distributions that are not independent. The expressive power of the language is based on a mechanism to implement statistical ensembles and to solve the underlying SAT instances using quantum mechanical machinery. We exploit the fact that classical random variables have quantum decompositions to build the Horn clauses. We establish the semantics of the language in a rigorous fashion by considering an existing probabilistic logic language called PRISM with classical probability measures defined on the Herbrand base and extending it to the quantum context. In the classical case H-interpretations form the sample space and probability measures defined on them lead to consistent definition of probabilities for well formed formulae. In the quantum counterpart, we define probability amplitudes on Hinterpretations facilitating the model generations and verifications via quantum mechanical superpositions and entanglements. We cast the well formed formulae of the language as quantum mechanical observables thus providing an elegant interpretation for their probabilities. We discuss several examples to combine statistical ensembles and predicates of first order logic to reason with situations involving uncertainty.
We explore a simple approach to quantum logic based on hybrid and dynamic modal logic, where the set of states is given by some Hilbert space. In this setting, a notion of quantum clause is proposed in a similar way the notion of Horn clause is advanced in first-order logic, that is, to give logical properties for use in logic programming and formal specification. We propose proof rules for reasoning about quantum clauses and we investigate soundness and compactness properties that correspond to this proof calculus. Then we prove a Birkhoff completeness result for the fragment of hybrid-dynamic quantum logic determined by quantum clauses.
The development of Quantum Communication Protocols sparked the interest in quantum extensions of process calculi. However, existing semantic models, typically based on probability distributions and probabilistic transition systems, often fail to adequately capture the nuances of Quantum Mechanics. They can spuriously distinguish between systems that quantum theory deems identical, and allow for physically unfeasible non-deterministic capabilities. Furthermore, their reliance on concrete quantum states makes automated verification computationally intractable due to the infinite, continuous nature of the state space. To overcome these challenges, this thesis proposes to model quantum protocols in a novel manner, by leveraging both the mathematical language of Quantum Theory and the verification techniques of Computer Science. The main objective is to develop a verification framework that is both physically sound and amenable to symbolic, tractable analysis. This is achieved through the development of two novel models of quantum concurrent systems. The first major contribution is a new semantic model that respects quantum indistinguishability by construction. Quantum theory teaches us that probabilistic mixtures of quantum states should not be modelled as probability distributions. We thus introduce Density Distributions, where processes are weighted by density operators rather than scalar probabilities. We define an operational semantics based on these distributions and introduce Quantum Labelled Bisimilarity, the first behavioural equivalence to be a congruence under physically admissible scheduling policies. We show that our equivalence coincides with a purely observational, context-based, saturated bisimilarity, thus proving its adequacy in terms of discriminating power. The second core contribution is an elementary framework for the symbolic verification of quantum protocols. To abstract away from concrete quantum inputs, we develop a mathematical theory of Conditional Quantum Effects, a novel generalization of quantum effects capable of representing conditional probabilities arising from quantum measurements. Building on this foundation, we define Effect-weighted Labelled Transition Systems (eLTSs), an input-independent model for concurrent quantum systems. We propose a "Heisenberg-style" symbolic semantics that maps any quantum protocol to a single eLTS. We prove that symbolic bisimilarity on these eLTSs is fully abstract with respect to ground probabilistic bisimilarity: two symbolic systems are equivalent if and only if they yield equivalent pLTSs under all possible quantum inputs.
The main contribution of the present paper is the introduction of a simple yet expressive hybrid-dynamic logic for describing quantum programs. This version of quantum logic can express quantum measurements and unitary evolutions of states in a natural way based on concepts advanced in (hybrid and dynamic) modal logics. We then study Horn clauses in the hybrid-dynamic quantum logic proposed, and develop a series of results that lead to an initial semantics theorem for sets of clauses that are satisfiable. This shows that a significant fragment of hybrid-dynamic quantum logic has good computational properties, and can serve as a basis for defining executable languages for specifying quantum programs. We set the foundations of logic programming in this fragment by proving a variant of Herbrand's theorem, which reduces the semantic entailment of a logic-programming query by a program to the search of a suitable substitution.