Alongside the development of quantum algorithms and quantum complexity theory in recent years, quantum techniques have also proved instrumental in obtaining results in classical (nonquantum) areas. In this paper we survey these results and the quantum toolbox they use.
The anticipated applications of quantum computers span across science and industry, ranging from quantum chemistry and many-body physics to optimization, finance, and machine learning. Proposed quantum solutions in these areas typically combine multiple quantum algorithmic primitives into an overall quantum algorithm, which must then incorporate the methods of quantum error correction and fault tolerance to be implemented correctly on quantum hardware. As such, it can be difficult to assess how much a particular application benefits from quantum computing, as the various approaches are often sensitive to intricate technical details about the underlying primitives and their complexities. Here we present a survey of several potential application areas of quantum algorithms and their underlying algorithmic primitives, carefully considering technical caveats and subtleties. We outline the challenges and opportunities in each area in an "end-to-end" fashion by clearly defining the problem being solved alongside the input-output model, instantiating all "oracles," and spelling out all hidden costs. We also compare quantum solutions against state-of-the-art classical methods and complexity-theoretic limitations to evaluate possible quantum speedups. The survey is written in a modular, wiki-like fashion to facilitate navigation of the content. Each primitive and application area is discussed in a standalone section, with its own bibliography of references and embedded hyperlinks that direct to other relevant sections. This structure mirrors that of complex quantum algorithms that involve several layers of abstraction, and it enables rapid evaluation of how end-to-end complexities are impacted when subroutines are altered.
The study of multiprover interactive proof systems, of locally testable codes, and of property testing are deeply linked, conceptually if not formally, through their role in the proof of the PCP theorem in complexity theory. Recently there has been substantial progress on an analogous research programme in quantum complexity theory. Two years ago we characterized the power of multiprover interactive proof systems with provers sharing entanglement, showing that MIP^* = RE [Ji et al., 2020], a hugely surprising increase in power from the classical result MIP = NEXP of [Babai et al., 1991]. The following year Panteleev and Kalachev gave the first construction of quantum low-density parity-check codes (QLDPC) [Panteleev and Kalachev, 2022], thus marking a major step towards the possible realization of good quantum locally testable codes - the classical analogue of which was only constructed quite recently [Dinur et al., 2022]. And finally, less than a year ago Anshu, Breuckmann and Nirkhe used facts evidenced in the construction of good decoders for the new QLDPC codes to resolve the NLTS conjecture [Anshu et al., 2022], widely viewed as a crucial step on the way to a possible quantum PCP theorem. In the talk I will survey these results, making an effort to motivate and present them to the non-expert. I will explain the connections between them and point to where, in my opinion, our understanding is currently lacking. Along the way I will highlight a number of open problems whose resolution could lead to further progress on one of the most important research programmes in quantum complexity theory.