Quantum finite automata derive their strength by exploiting interference in complex valued probability amplitudes. Of particular interest is the 2-way model of Ambainis and Watrous that has both quantum and classical states (2QCFA) [A. Ambainis and J. Watrous, Two-way finite automata with quantum and classical state, Theoretical Computer Science, 287 (2002) 1, 299-311], since it combines the advantage of the power of interference in a constant-sized quantum system with a 2-way head. This paper is a step towards finding the least powerful model which is purely classical and can mimic the dynamics of quantum phase. We consider weighted automata with the Cortes-Mohri definition of language recognition [C. Cortes and M. Mohri, Context-Free Recognition with Weighted Automata, Grammars 3 (2000) 2/3, 133-150] as a candidate model for simulating 2QCFA. Given any 2QCFA that (i) uses the accept-reject-continue observable, (ii) recognizes a language with one-sided error and (iii) the entries of whose unitary matrices are algebraic complex numbers, we show a method of constructing a weighted automaton over $C$ that simulates it efficiently.
Quantum finite automata derive their strength by exploiting interference in complex valued probability amplitudes. Of particular interest is the 2-way model of Ambainis and Watrous that has both quantum and classical states (2QCFA) [A. Ambainis and J. Watrous, Two-way finite automata with quantum and classical state, Theoretical Computer Science, 287 (2002) 1, 299-311], since it combines the advantage of the power of interference in a constant-sized quantum system with a 2-way head. This paper is a step towards finding the least powerful model which is purely classical and can mimic the dynamics of quantum phase. We consider weighted automata with the Cortes-Mohri definition of language recognition [C. Cortes and M. Mohri, Context-Free Recognition with Weighted Automata, Grammars 3 (2000) 2/3, 133-150] as a candidate model for simulating 2QCFA. Given any 2QCFA that (i) uses the accept-reject-continue observable, (ii) recognizes a language with one-sided error and (iii) the entries of whose unitary matrices are algebraic complex numbers, we show a method of constructing a weighted automaton over C that simulates it efficiently.
Quantum computing has generated a lot of interested in the past two decades. Research into powerful models of quantum computation has yielded important and elegant results like an efficient algorithm for factoring and a quadratic speed-up for unordered search. At the same time, given the current difficulty in the physical implementation of these general purpose models, considerable effort has also been made in estimating the power of weaker models of quantum computation: models that have a small quantum component.
The first part of this thesis is an investigation into the power of interference in quantum computing. While interference in probability amplitudes is a central feature even in powerful models, it is the only extra resource available to quantum finite automata. Of particular interest is interference in automata that have both classical and quantum states (2QCFA) as proposed by Ambainis and Watrous, since it inquires into the power of a classical deterministic finite automaton when augmented with a quantum component of constant size. Our contributions in this part are as follows:
• To abstract out the phenomenon of interference in quantum computing, we propose a model called the 2-way Optical Interference Automata (2OIA). The model consists of a 2DFA augmented with a simple optical arrangement. We show different ways of harnessing the power of interference in the form of algorithms on this model to recognize some non-trivial languages. We then go on to show a language recognizable by a Turing machine using O(n2) space but by no 2OIA.
• A natural classical model for comparison with 2QCFA is the weighted automaton, since it has the potential to capture interference in sum of path weights. Using the Cortes-Mohri definition of language recognition, we give an efficient simulation of 2QCFAwith algebraic amplitudes by weighted automata over the complex semi ring.
• We introduce quantum non-determinism to the Measure-Once 1-way Quantum Finite Automata of Moore and Crutchfield and Kondacs and Watrous and show that even then, the model can recognize only regular languages with bounded error.
• We propose a group theoretic generalization of counter automata that allows a notion of counter reversal complexity. To obtain this generalization, we combine concepts from classical counter automata theory with results in 2QCFA. We examine specific instances of this generalization and compare their ii iii powers. We also show an instance recognizing a language that is not recognized by conventional 2-way counter automata. Finally, we show a strict hierarchy among the 1-way versions of the instances Discussed.
The second part of the thesis deals with Quantum Adiabatic Optimization algorithms. A common trick for designing faster quantum adiabatic algorithms is to apply the adiabatic condition locally at every instant. However it is often difficult to determine the instantaneous gap between the lowest two eigen values, which is an essential ingredient in the adiabatic condition. We present a simple linear algebraic technique…
The two-way finite automaton with quantum and classical states (2QCFA), defined by Ambainis and Watrous, is a model of quantum computation whose quantum part is extremely limited; however, as they showed, 2QCFA are surprisingly powerful: a 2QCFA, with a single qubit, can recognize, with bounded error, the language Leq={ambm:m∈N} in expected polynomial time and the language Lpal={w∈{a,b}∗:w is a palindrome} in expected exponential time. We further demonstrate the power of 2QCFA by showing that they can recognize the word problems of many groups. In particular 2QCFA, with a single qubit and algebraic number transition amplitudes, can recognize, with bounded error, the word problem of any finitely generated virtually abelian group in expected polynomial time, as well as the word problems of a large class of linear groups in expected exponential time. This latter class (properly) includes all groups with context-free word problem. We also exhibit results for 2QCFA with any constant number of qubits. As a corollary, we obtain a direct improvement on the original Ambainis and Watrous result by showing that Leq can be recognized by a 2QCFA with better parameters. As a further corollary, we show that 2QCFA can recognize certain non-context-free languages in expected polynomial time. In a companion paper, we prove matching lower bounds, thereby showing that the class of languages recognizable with bounded error by a 2QCFA in expected subexponential time is properly contained in the class of languages recognizable with bounded error by a 2QCFA in expected exponential time.
Two-way finite automata with quantum and classical states (2QCFA’s), introduced by Ambainis and Watrous, extend deterministic two-way finite automata with a constant-size quantum register and provide a natural hybrid model of computation. In this paper, we introduce two-way nondeterministic finite automata with quantum and classical states (2QCNFA’s), extending this framework to the nondeterministic setting. We show that 2QCNFA’s are closed under union, intersection, and marked concatenation, and that they can recognize certain comparison languages whose status for 2QCFA’s remains open. We further initiate the study of decision problems for this model by proving that 2QCNFA’s can recognize the set of invalid computations of a deterministic Turing machine, which implies that the universality problem is undecidable. In addition, we investigate descriptional complexity, showing that there is no approximation algorithm for minimization between 2QCNFA’s and classical models such as DFA’s and context-free grammars, and that the corresponding trade-offs are non-recursive.
The 2-way quantum finite automaton introduced by Kondacs and Watrous [Proceedings of the 38th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science, 1997, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 66--75] can accept nonregular languages with bounded error in polynomial time. If we restrict the head of the automaton to moving classically and to moving only in one direction, the acceptance power of this 1-way quantum finite automaton is reduced to a proper subset of the regular languages. In this paper we study two different models of 1-way quantum finite automata. The first model, termed measure-once quantum finite automata, was introduced by Moore and Crutchfield [Theoret. Comput. Sci., 237 (2000), pp. 275--306], and the second model, termed measure-many quantum finite automata, was introduced by Kondacs and Watrous [Proceedings of the38th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science, 1997, IEEE Computer Society, pp. 66--75]. We characterize the measure-once model when it is restricted to accepting with bounded error and show that, without that restriction, it can solve the word problem over the free group. We also show that it can be simulated by a probabilistic finite automaton and describe an algorithm that determines if two measure-once automata are equivalent. We prove several closure properties of the classes of languages accepted by measure-many automata, including inverse homomorphisms, and provide a new necessary condition for a language to be accepted by the measure-many model with bounded error. Finally, we show that piecewise testable sets can be accepted with bounded error by a measure-many quantum finite automaton, introducing new construction techniques for quantum automata in the process.
After the first treatments of quantum finite state automata by Moore and Crutchfield and by Kondacs and Watrous, a number of papers study the power of quantum finite state automata and their variants. This paper introduces a model of two-way quantum one-counter automata (2Q1CAs), combining the model of two-way quantum finite state automata (2QFAs) by Kondacs and Watrous and the model of one-way quantum one-counter automata (1Q1CAs) by Kravtsev. We give the definition of 2Q1CAs with well-formedness conditions. It is proved that 2Q1CAs are at least as powerful as classical two-way deterministic one-counter automata (2D1CAs), that is, every language L recognizable by 2D1CAs is recognized by 2Q1CAs with no error. It is also shown that several non-context-free languages including {a^n b^{n^2}} and {a^n b^{2^n}} are recognizable by 2Q1CAs with bounded error.
Two-way finite automata with quantum and classical states (2QCFA) were introduced by Ambainis and Watrous, and it was shown that 2QCFA have superiority over two-way probabilistic finite automata (2PFA) for recognizing some non-regular languages such as the language Leq = {anbn ∣ n ∈ N} and the palindrome language Lpal = {w ∈ {a,b}* ∣ w=wR}, where xR is x in the reverse order. It is interesting to find more languages like these that witness the superiority of 2QCFA over 2PFA. In this paper, we consider the language Lm = {xcy ∣ ∑ = {a,b,c},x,y ∈ {a,b}*, ∣x∣ = ∣y∣} that is similar to the middle language Lmiddle = {xay ∣ x,y ∈ {a,b}*, ∣x∣ = ∣y∣}. We prove that the language Lm show that Lm can be recognized by 2PFA with bounded error, but only in exponential expected time. Thus Lm is another witness of the fact that 2QCFA are more powerful than their classical counterparts.