It is shown that certain natural quantum logic gates, {\it i.e.} unitary time evolution matrices for spin-\frac{1}{2} quantum spins, can be represented as sums, with appropriate phases, over classical logic gates, in a direct analogy with the Feynman path integral representation of quantum mechanics. On the other hand, it is shown that a natural quantum gate obtained by analytically continuing the transfer matrix of the anisotropic nearest-neighbour Ising model to imaginary time, does not admit such a representation.
It is shown that certain natural quantum logic gates, {\it i.e.} unitary time evolution matrices for spin-\frac{1}{2} quantum spins, can be represented as sums, with appropriate phases, over classical logic gates, in a direct analogy with the Feynman path integral representation of quantum mechanics. On the other hand, it is shown that a natural quantum gate obtained by analytically continuing the transfer matrix of the anisotropic nearest-neighbour Ising model to imaginary time, does not admit such a representation.
Quantum spin systems may provide physical realizations of quantum gate arrays. It is shown that certain natural unitary time evolution matrices for spin- quantum spins, interpreted in this context as quantum gate arrays, can be represented as coherent sums, with appropriate phases, over classical logic gate arrays, in a direct analogy with the Feynman path integral representation of quantum mechanics. On the other hand, it is shown that a natural quantum gate obtained by analytically continuing the transfer matrix of the anisotropic nearest-neighbour Ising model to imaginary time, does not admit such a representation.
It is straightforward to compute the transition amplitudes of a quantum circuit using the sum-over-paths methodology when the gates in the circuit are balanced, where a balanced gate is one for which all non-zero transition amplitudes are of equal magnitude. Here we consider the question of whether, for such circuits, the relative phases of different discrete-time paths through the configuration space can be defined in terms of a classical action, as they are for continuous-time paths. We show how to do so for certain kinds of quantum circuits, namely, Clifford circuits where the elementary systems are continuous-variable systems or discrete systems of odd-prime dimension. These types of circuit are distinguished by having phase-space representations that serve to define their classical counterparts. For discrete systems, the phase-space coordinates are also discrete variables. We show that for each gate in the generating set, one can associate a symplectomorphism on the phase-space and to each of these one can associate a generating function, defined on two copies of the configuration space. For discrete systems, the latter association is achieved using tools from algebraic geometry. Finally, we show that if the action functional for a discrete-time path through a sequence of gates is defined using the sum of the corresponding generating functions, then it yields the correct relative phases for the path-sum expression. These results are likely to be relevant for quantizing physical theories where time is fundamentally discrete, characterizing the classical limit of discrete-time quantum dynamics, and proving complexity results for quantum circuits.
As physical systems, qubits must evolve from input to output state. We describe a simple scheme in which the effect of a quantum gate is described by the action of an effective Hamiltonian acting for some characteristic time. This model shows that the action of common unary gates is to induce Bloch sphere trajectories along lines of latitude relative to an eigenvector of the gate. Such trajectories would immediately move a `rebit', initially confined to a line of latitude, off this line and acquire a complex phase. The role of the complex phase in bringing about the entanglement of two qubits is also highlighted. It is then asked whether such dynamics could be modelled using real QM. It is shown that the continuous evolution required for such dynamics can only be provided by members of the special orthogonal group of the vector space. Since the matrices representing many quantum gates of interest have determinant -1, no real special orthogonal operators can model their evolution if the dimension of the real vector space is the same as that of the complex space. Next we look at the mapping from a complex vector space of dimension N to a real space of dimension 2N that is often used to construct `real' QM. It is shown that this is just an isomorphic mapping from the scalar representation of complex numbers to their 2×2 matrix equivalents, so that the resulting matrices are actually represent complex matrices. Finally, we investigate the endomorphism of real vector spaces of dimension N=2n, where n∈Z+, suitable for the modelling of n−1 qubits. We confirm that the mapping from C2n−1→R2n only maps elements of End(C2n−1) to a restricted subspace of End(R2n) that reproduces the `real' representation of complex matrices.
The Grassmann representation for the system of qubits, is considered. The treatment is based on natural description of the qubits system as fermions and uses coherent states of fermions. The quantum logic gates are represented in two forms - by symbols of operations and by partial differential operators on the symbols of the states. The considered representation of quantum logic is called as superlogic. The examples are given for classical logic operations of negation, conjunction, disjunction and for reversible three-bit Toffoli gate and its quantum generalization - three-qbit Deutsch gate. The representation for composite gates is also considered. Path integral represenatation in Grassmann algebra for quantum automaton with qubits memory is described. In particular for the autonomous automaton corresponding to the special case of general dynamic system this description differ from path integral representation in commutative memory phase space by the specific nonliner term in superaction.
Many problems in applied mathematics and physics are formulated most naturally in terms of matrices, and can be solved by computing functions of these matrices. For example, in quantum mechanics, the coherent dynamics of physical systems is described by the matrix exponential of their Hamiltonian. In state of the art experiments, one can now observe such unitary evolution of many-body systems, which is of fundamental interest in the study of many-body quantum phenomena. On the other hand the theoretical simulation of such non-equilibrium many-body dynamics is very challenging. In this thesis, we develop a symbolic approach to matrix functions and quantum dynamics based on a novel algebraic structure we identify for sets of walks on graphs. We begin by establishing the graph theoretic equivalent to the fundamental theorem of arithmetic: all the walks on any finite digraph uniquely factorise into products of prime elements. These are the simple paths and simple cycles, walks forbidden from visiting any vertex more than once. We give an algorithm that efficiently factorises individual walks and obtain a recursive formula to factorise sets of walks. This yields a universal continued fraction representation for the formal series of all walks on digraphs. It only involves simple paths and simple cycles and is thus called a path-sum. In the second part, we recast matrix functions into path-sums. We present explicit results for a matrix raised to a complex power, the matrix exponential, matrix inverse, and matrix logarithm. We introduce generalised matrix powers which extend desirable properties of the Drazin inverse to all powers of a matrix. In the third part, we derive an intermediary form of path-sum, called walk-sum, relying solely on physical considerations. Walk-sum describes the dynamics of a quantum system as resulting from the coherent superposition of its histories, a discrete analogue to the Feynman path-integrals. Using walk-sum we simulate the dynamics of quantum random walks and of Rydberg-excited Mott insulators. Using path-sum, we demonstrate many-body Anderson localisation in an interacting disordered spin system. We give two observable signatures of this phenomenon: localisation of the system magnetisation and of the linear magnetic response function. Lastly we return to the study of sets of walks. We show that one can construct as many representations of series of walks as there are ways to define a walk product such that the factorisation of a walk always exist and is unique. Illustrating this result we briefly present three further methods to evaluate functions of matrices. Regardless of the method used, we show that graphs are uniquely characterised, up to an isomorphism, by the prime walks they sustain.
Although quantum mechanics is generally considered to be fundamentally incompatible with classical logic, it is argued here that the gap is not as great as it seems. Any classical, discrete, time reversible system can be naturally described using a quantum Hubert space, operators, and a Schrödinger equation. The quantum states generated this way resemble the ones in the real world so much that one wonders why this could not be used to interpret all of quantum mechanics this way. Indeed, such an interpretation leads to the most natural explanation as to why a wave function appears to "collapse" when a measurement is made, and why probabilities obey the Born rule. Because it is real quantum mechanics that we generate, Bell's inequalities should not be an obstacle.