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arXiv:quant-ph/0210161 · Physical Review A

Quantum walks driven by many coins

Todd A. Brun, Hilary A. Carteret, Andris Ambainis

Published May 30, 2003• 186 citations
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Abstract

Quantum random walks have been much studied recently, largely due to their highly nonclassical behavior. In this paper, we study one possible route to classical behavior for the discrete quantum random walk on the line: the use of multiple quantum ``coins'' (or more generally, coins of higher dimension) in order to diminish the effects of interference between paths. We find solutions to this system in terms of the single-coin random walk, and compare the asymptotic limit of these solutions to numerical simulations. We find exact analytical expressions for the time dependence of the first two moments, and show that in the long-time limit the ``quantum-mechanical'' behavior of the one-coin walk persists, even if each coin is flipped only twice. We further show that this is generic for a very broad class of possible walks, and that this behavior disappears only in the limit of a new coin for every step of the walk.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.67.052317

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Quantum random walks have been much studied recently, largely due to their highly nonclassical behavior. In this paper, we study one possible route to classical behavior for the discrete quantum random walk on the line: the use of multiple quantum coins'' (or more generally, coins of higher dimension) in order to diminish the effects of interference between paths. We find solutions to this system in terms of the single-coin random walk, and compare the asymptotic limit of these solutions to numerical simulations. We find exact analytical expressions for the time dependence of the first two moments, and show that in the long-time limit the quantum-mechanical'' behavior of the one-coin walk persists, even if each coin is flipped only twice. We further show that this is generic for a very broad class of possible walks, and that this behavior disappears only in the limit of a new coin for every step of the walk.
The quantum random walk has been much studied recently, largely due to its highly nonclassical behavior. In this paper, we study one possible route to classical behavior for the discrete quantum walk on the line: the presence of decoherence in the quantum ``coin'' which drives the walk. We find exact analytical expressions for the time dependence of the first two moments of position, and show that in the long-time limit the variance grows linearly with time, unlike the unitary walk. We compare this to the results of direct numerical simulation, and see how the form of the position distribution changes from the unitary to the usual classical result as we increase the strength of the decoherence.
We look at two possible routes to classical behavior for the discrete quantum random walk on the integers: decoherence in the quantum "coin" which drives the walk, or the use of higher-dimensional (or multiple) coins to dilute the effects of interference. We use the position variance as an indicator of classical behavior and find analytical expressions for this in the long-time limit; we see that the multicoin walk retains the "quantum" quadratic growth of the variance except in the limit of a new coin for every step, while the walk with decoherence exhibits "classical" linear growth of the variance even for weak decoherence.
Quantum walks have significantly different properties compared to classical random walks, which have potential applications in quantum computation and quantum simulation. We study Hadamard quantum walks with coins undergoing different quantum noisy channels and deduce the analytical expressions of the first two moments of position in the long-time limit. Numerical simulations have been done, the results are compared with the analytical results, and they match extremely well. We show that the variance of the position distributions of the walks grows linearly with time when enough steps are taken and the linear coefficient is affected by the strength of the quantum noisy channels.
We study a two-dimensional quantum walk with only one walker alternatively walking along the horizontal and vertical directions driven by a single two-side coin. We find the analytical expressions of the first two moments of the walker’s position distribution in the long-time limit, which indicates that the variance of the position distribution grows quadratically with walking steps, showing a ballistic spreading typically for quantum walks. Besides, we analyze the correlation by calculating the quantum mutual information and the measurement-induced disturbance respectively as the outcome of the walk in one dimension is correlated to the other with the coin as a bridge. It is shown that the quantum correlation between walker spaces increases gradually with the walking steps.
Quantum walks have emerged as an interesting approach to quantum information processing, exhibiting many unique properties compared to the analogous classical random walk. Here we introduce a model for a discrete-time quantum walk with memory by endowing the walker with multiple recycled coins and using a physical memory function via a history dependent coin flip. By numerical simulation we observe several phenomena. First in one dimension, walkers with memory have persistent quantum ballistic speed up over classical walks just as found in previous studies of multicoined walks with trivial memory function. However, measurement of the multicoin state can dramatically shift the mean of the spatial distribution. Second, we consider spatial entanglement in a two-dimensional quantum walk with memory and find that memory destroys entanglement between the spatial dimensions, even when entangling coins are employed. Finally, we explore behavior in the presence of spatial randomness and find that in the time regime where single-coined walks localize, multicoined walks do not and in fact a memory function can speed up the walk relative to a multicoin walker with no memory. We explicitly show how to construct linear optics circuits implementing the walks, and discuss prospects for classical simulation.