The ultimate objective of this paper is to create a stepping stone to the development of new quantum algorithms. The strategy chosen is to begin by focusing on the class of abelian quantum hidden subgroup algorithms, i.e., the class of abelian algorithms of the Shor/Simon genre. Our strategy is to make this class of algorithms as mathematically transparent as possible. By the phrase "mathematically transparent" we mean to expose, to bring to the surface, and to make explicit the concealed mathematical structures that are inherently and fundamentally a part of such algorithms. In so doing, we create symbolic abelian quantum hidden subgroup algorithms that are analogous to the those symbolic algorithms found within such software packages as Axiom, Cayley, Maple, Mathematica, and Magma.
As a spin-off of this effort, we create three different generalizations of Shor's quantum factoring algorithm to free abelian groups of finite rank. We refer to these algorithms as wandering (or vintage Z_Q) Shor algorithms. They are essentially quantum algorithms on free abelian groups A of finite rank n which, with each iteration, first select a random cyclic direct summand Z of the group A and then apply one iteration of the standard Shor algorithm to produce a random character of the "approximating" finite group A=Z_Q, called the group probe. These characters are then in turn used to find either the order P of a maximal cyclic subgroup Z_P of the hidden quotient group H_phi, or the entire hidden quotient group H_phi. An integral part of these wandering quantum algorithms is the selection of a very special random transversal, which we refer to as a Shor transversal. The algorithmic time complexity of the first of these wandering Shor algorithms is found to be O(n^2(lgQ)^3(lglgQ)^(n+1)).
In this paper we show that certain special cases of the hidden subgroup problem can be solved in polynomial time by a quantum algorithm. These special cases involve finding hidden normal subgroups of solvable groups and permutation groups, finding hidden subgroups of groups with small commutator subgroup and of groups admitting an elementary Abelian normal 2-subgroup of small index or with cyclic factor group.
We present a quantum algorithm for solving the hidden subgroup problem in the general linear group over a finite field where the hidden subgroup is promised to be a conjugate of the group of the invertible lower triangular matrices. The complexity of the algorithm is polynomial when size of the base field is not much smaller than the degree.
Quantum algorithms for factoring and discrete logarithm have previously been generalized to finding hidden subgroups of finite Abelian groups. This paper explores the possibility of extending this general viewpoint to finding hidden subgroups of noncommutative groups. We present a quantum algorithm for the special case of dihedral groups which determines the hidden subgroup in a linear number of calls to the input function. We also explore the difficulties of developing an algorithm to process the data to explicitly calculate a generating set for the subgroup. A general framework for the nonco…
The optimization of measurements for the state distinction problem has recently been applied to the theory of quantum algorithms with considerable successes, including efficient new quantum algorithms for the non-abelian hidden subgroup problem. Previous work has identified the optimal single copy measurement for the hidden subgroup problem over abelian groups as well as for the non-abelian problem in the setting where the subgroups are restricted to be all conjugate to each other. Here we describe the optimal single copy measurement for the hidden subgroup problem when all of the subgroups of…
We consider the hidden subgroup problem on the semi-direct product of cyclic groups $\Z_{N}\rtimes\Z_{p}$ with some restriction on $N$ and $p$. By using the homomorphic properties, we present a class of semi-direct product groups in which the structures of subgroups can be easily classified. Furthermore, we show that there exists an efficient quantum algorithm for the hidden subgroup problem on the class.
We are concerned with the Hidden Subgroup Problem for finite groups. We present a simplified analysis of a quantum algorithm proposed by Hallgren, Russell and Ta-Shma as well as a detailed proof of a lower bound on the probability of success of the algorithm.
In a recent paper, Kuperberg described the first subexponential time algorithm for solving the dihedral hidden subgroup problem. The space requirement of his algorithm is super-polynomial. We describe a modified algorithm whose running time is still subexponential and whose space requirement is only polynomial.
We give an algorithm to solve the quantum hidden subgroup problem for maximal cyclic non-normal subgroups of the affine group of a finite field (if the field has order $q$ then the group has order $q(q-1)$) with probability $1-\varepsilon$ with (polylog) complexity $O(\log(q)^{R}\log(\varepsilon)^{2})$ where $R<\infty.$
We consider the dihedral hidden subgroup problem as the problem of distinguishing hidden subgroup states. We show that the optimal measurement for solving this problem is the so-called pretty good measurement. We then prove that the success probability of this measurement exhibits a sharp threshold as a function of the density nu=k/log N, where k is the number of copies of the hidden subgroup state and 2N is the order of the dihedral group. In particular, for nu<1 the optimal measurement (and hence any measurement) identifies the hidden subgroup with a probability that is exponentially small i…
One of the central issues in the hidden subgroup problem is to bound the sample complexity, i.e., the number of identical samples of coset states sufficient and necessary to solve the problem. In this paper, we present general bounds for the sample complexity of the identification and decision versions of the hidden subgroup problem. As a consequence of the bounds, we show that the sample complexity for both of the decision and identification versions is $Θ(\log|\HH|/\log p)$ for a candidate set $\HH$ of hidden subgroups in the case that the candidate subgroups have the same prime order $p$, w…
Schur duality decomposes many copies of a quantum state into subspaces labeled by partitions, a decomposition with applications throughout quantum information theory. Here we consider applying Schur duality to the problem of distinguishing coset states in the standard approach to the hidden subgroup problem. We observe that simply measuring the partition (a procedure we call weak Schur sampling) provides very little information about the hidden subgroup. Furthermore, we show that under quite general assumptions, even a combination of weak Fourier sampling and weak Schur sampling fails to ident…
It is well known that quantum computers can efficiently find a hidden subgroup $H$ of a finite Abelian group $G$. This implies that after only a polynomial (in $\log |G|$) number of calls to the oracle function, the states corresponding to different candidate subgroups have exponentially small inner product. We show that this is true for noncommutative groups also. We present a quantum algorithm which identifies a hidden subgroup of an arbitrary finite group $G$ in only a linear (in $\log |G|$) number of calls to the oracle function. This is exponentially better than the best classical algorit…
The arguments given in this paper suggest that Grover's and Shor's algorithms are more closely related than one might at first expect. Specifically, we show that Grover's algorithm can be viewed as a quantum algorithm which solves a non-abelian hidden subgroup problem (HSP). But we then go on to show that the standard non-abelian quantum hidden subgroup (QHS) algorithm can not find a solution to this particular HSP. This leaves open the question as to whether or not there is some modification of the standard non-abelian QHS algorithm which is equivalent to Grover's algorithm.
Extraspecial groups form a remarkable subclass of p-groups. They are also present in quantum information theory, in particular in quantum error correction. We give here a polynomial time quantum algorithm for finding hidden subgroups in extraspecial groups. Our approach is quite different from the recent algorithms presented in [17] and [2] for the Heisenberg group, the extraspecial p-group of size p3 and exponent p. Exploiting certain nice automorphisms of the extraspecial groups we define specific group actions which are used to reduce the problem to hidden subgroup instances in abelian grou…
In the theory of algebraic groups, parabolic subgroups form a crucial building block in the structural studies. In the case of general linear groups over a finite field $F_q$, given a sequence of positive integers $n_1, ..., n_k$, where $n=n_1+...+n_k$, a parabolic subgroup of parameter $(n_1, ..., n_k)$ in $GL_n(F_q)$ is a conjugate of the subgroup consisting of block lower triangular matrices where the $i$th block is of size $n_i$. Our main result is a quantum algorithm of time polynomial in $\log q$ and $n$ for solving the hidden subgroup problem in $GL_n(F_q)$, when the hidden subgroup is …
We approach the hidden subgroup problem by performing the so-called pretty good measurement on hidden subgroup states. For various groups that can be expressed as the semidirect product of an abelian group and a cyclic group, we show that the pretty good measurement is optimal and that its probability of success and unitary implementation are closely related to an average-case algebraic problem. By solving this problem, we find efficient quantum algorithms for a number of nonabelian hidden subgroup problems, including some for which no efficient algorithm was previously known: certain metacycl…
Recently Bacon, Childs and van Dam showed that the ``pretty good measurement'' (PGM) is optimal for the Hidden Subgroup Problem on the dihedral group D_n in the case where the hidden subgroup is chosen uniformly from the n involutions. We show that, for any group and any subgroup H, the PGM is the optimal one-register experiment in the case where the hidden subgroup is a uniformly random conjugate of H. We go on to show that when H forms a Gel'fand pair with its parent group, the PGM is the optimal measurement for any number of registers. In both cases we bound the probability that the optimal…
Many quantum algorithms, including Shor's celebrated factoring and discrete log algorithms, proceed by reduction to a hidden subgroup problem, in which a subgroup H of a group G must be determined from a quantum state y uniformly supported on a left coset of H. These hidden subgroup problems are then solved by Fourier sampling: the quantum Fourier transform of y is computed and measured. When the underlying group is non-Abelian, two important variants of the Fourier sampling paradigm have been identified: the weak standard method, where only representation names are measured, and the strong st…
We present an explicit measurement in the Fourier basis that solves an important case of the Hidden Subgroup Problem, including the case to which Graph Isomorphism reduces. This entangled measurement uses $k=\log_2 |G|$ registers, and each of the $2^k$ subsets of the registers contributes some information. While this does not, in general, yield an efficient algorithm, it generalizes the relationship between Subset Sum and the HSP in the dihedral group, and sheds some light on how quantum algorithms for Graph Isomorphism might work.
An overview of quantum computing and in particular the Hidden Subgroup Problem are presented from a mathematical viewpoint. Detailed proofs are supplied for many important results from the literature, and notation is unified, making it easier to absorb the background necessary to begin research on the Hidden Subgroup Problem. Proofs are provided which give very concrete algorithms and bounds for the finite abelian case with little outside references, and future directions are provided for the nonabelian case. This summary is current as of October 2004.
Amongst the most remarkable successes of quantum computation are Shor's efficient quantum algorithms for the computational tasks of integer factorisation and the evaluation of discrete logarithms. In this article we review the essential ingredients of these algorithms and draw out the unifying generalization of the so-called abelian hidden subgroup problem. This involves an unexpectedly harmonious alignment of the formalism of quantum physics with the elegant mathematical theory of group representations and fourier transforms on finite groups. Finally we consider the non-abelian hidden subgrou…
In this paper we show how to construct two continuous variable and one continuous functional quantum hidden subgroup (QHS) algorithms. These are respectively quantum algorithms on the additive group of reals R, the additive group R/Z of the reals R mod 1, i.e., the circle, and the additive group Paths of L^2 paths x:[0,1]-->R^n in real n-space R^n. Also included is a curious discrete QHS algorithm which is dual to Shor's algorithm.
We present a quantum algorithm which identifies with certainty a hidden subgroup of an arbitrary finite group G in only a polynomial (in log |G|) number of calls to the oracle. This is exponentially better than the best classical algorithm. However our quantum algorithm requires exponential time, as in the classical case. Our algorithm utilizes a new technique for constructing error-free algorithms for non-decision problems on quantum computers.
We present efficient quantum algorithms for the hidden subgroup problem (HSP) on the semidirect product of cyclic groups $\Z_{p^r}\rtimes_ϕ\Z_{p^2}$, where $p$ is any odd prime number and $r$ is any integer such that $r>4$. We also address the HSP in the group $\Z_{N}\rtimes_ϕ\Z_{p^2}$, where $N$ is an integer with a special prime factorization. These quantum algorithms are exponentially faster than any classical algorithm for the same purpose.
A quantum computer can efficiently find the order of an element in a group, factors of composite integers, discrete logarithms, stabilisers in Abelian groups, and `hidden' or `unknown' subgroups of Abelian groups. It is already known how to phrase the first four problems as the estimation of eigenvalues of certain unitary operators. Here we show how the solution to the more general Abelian `hidden subgroup problem' can also be described and analysed as such. We then point out how certain instances of these problems can be solved with only one control qubit, or `flying qubits', instead of entir…
We advocate a new approach of addressing hidden structure problems and finding efficient quantum algorithms. We introduce and investigate the Hidden Symmetry Subgroup Problem (HSSP), which is a generalization of the well-studied Hidden Subgroup Problem (HSP). Given a group acting on a set and an oracle whose level sets define a partition of the set, the task is to recover the subgroup of symmetries of this partition inside the group. The HSSP provides a unifying framework that, besides the HSP, encompasses a wide range of algebraic oracle problems, including quadratic hidden polynomial problem…
The quantum Fourier transform (QFT) has emerged as the primary tool in quantum algorithms which achieve exponential advantage over classical computation and lies at the heart of the solution to the abelian hidden subgroup problem, of which Shor's celebrated factoring and discrete log algorithms are a special case. We begin by addressing various computational issues surrounding the QFT and give improved parallel circuits for both the QFT over a power of 2 and the QFT over an arbitrary cyclic group. These circuits are based on new insight into the relationship between the discrete Fourier transf…
In this paper we extend the algorithm for extraspecial groups in \cite{iss07}, and show that the hidden subgroup problem in nil-2 groups, that is in groups of nilpotency class at most 2, can be solved efficiently by a quantum procedure. The algorithm presented here has several additional features. It contains a powerful classical reduction for the hidden subgroup problem in nilpotent groups of constant nilpotency class to the specific case where the group is a $p$-group of exponent $p$ and the subgroup is either trivial or cyclic. This reduction might also be useful for dealing with groups of …
We give efficient quantum algorithms for the problems of Hidden Translation and Hidden Subgroup in a large class of non-abelian solvable groups including solvable groups of constant exponent and of constant length derived series. Our algorithms are recursive. For the base case, we solve efficiently Hidden Translation in $\Z_{p}^{n}$, whenever $p$ is a fixed prime. For the induction step, we introduce the problem Translating Coset generalizing both Hidden Translation and Hidden Subgroup, and prove a powerful self-reducibility result: Translating Coset in a finite solvable group $G$ is reducible…
To accelerate the algorithms for the dihedral hidden subgroup problem, we present a new algorithm based on algorithm SV(shortest vector). A subroutine is given to get a transition quantum state by constructing a phase filter function, then the measurement basis are derived based on the technique for solving low density subset problem. Finally, the parity of slope is revealed by the measurements on the transition quantum state. This algorithm takes O(n) quantum space and O(n^2) classical space, which is superior to existing algorithms, for a relatively small n(n<6400),it takes (n^0.5)*(log(max …
We give an algorithm for the hidden subgroup problem for the dihedral group $D_N$, or equivalently the cyclic hidden shift problem, that supersedes our first algorithm and is suggested by Regev's algorithm. It runs in $\exp(O(\sqrt{\log N}))$ quantum time and uses $\exp(O(\sqrt{\log N}))$ classical space, but only $O(\log N)$ quantum space. The algorithm also runs faster with quantumly addressable classical space than with fully classical space. In the hidden shift form, which is more natural for this algorithm regardless, it can also make use of multiple hidden shifts. It can also be extended…
We show that several problems that figure prominently in quantum computing, including Hidden Coset, Hidden Shift, and Orbit Coset, are equivalent or reducible to Hidden Subgroup for a large variety of groups. We also show that, over permutation groups, the decision version and search version of Hidden Subgroup are polynomial-time equivalent. For Hidden Subgroup over dihedral groups, such an equivalence can be obtained if the order of the group is smooth. Finally, we give nonadaptive program checkers for Hidden Subgroup and its decision version.
It has recently been shown that quantum computers can efficiently solve the Heisenberg hidden subgroup problem, a problem whose classical query complexity is exponential. This quantum algorithm was discovered within the framework of using pretty-good measurements for obtaining optimal measurements in the hidden subgroup problem. Here we show how to solve the Heisenberg hidden subgroup problem using arguments based instead on the symmetry of certain hidden subgroup states. The symmetry we consider leads naturally to a unitary transform known as the Clebsch-Gordan transform over the Heisenberg g…
We present a polynomial-time quantum algorithm for the Hidden Subgroup Problem over $\mathbb{D}_{2^n}$. The usual approach to the Hidden Subgroup Problem relies on harmonic analysis in the domain of the problem, and the best known algorithm using this approach has time complexity in $2^{\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{n})}$. By focusing on structure encoded in the codomain of the problem, we develop a polynomial-time algorithm which uses this structure to direct a "walk" down the subgroup lattice of $\mathbb{D}_{2^n}$ terminating at the hidden subgroup.
We present a quantum algorithm for the dihedral hidden subgroup problem with time and query complexity $O(\exp(C\sqrt{\log N}))$. In this problem an oracle computes a function $f$ on the dihedral group $D_N$ which is invariant under a hidden reflection in $D_N$. By contrast the classical query complexity of DHSP is $O(\sqrt{N})$. The algorithm also applies to the hidden shift problem for an arbitrary finitely generated abelian group. The algorithm begins with the quantum character transform on the group, just as for other hidden subgroup problems. Then it tensors irreducible representations of…
One of the most promising and versatile approaches to creating new quantum algorithms is based on the quantum hidden subgroup (QHS) paradigm, originally suggested by Alexei Kitaev. This class of quantum algorithms encompasses the Deutsch-Jozsa, Simon, Shor algorithms, and many more. In this paper, our strategy for finding new quantum algorithms is to decompose Shor's quantum factoring algorithm into its basic primitives, then to generalize these primitives, and finally to show how to reassemble them into new QHS algorithms. Taking an "alphabetic building blocks approach," we use these primitiv…
We show that measuring any two quantum states by a random POVM, under a suitable definition of randomness, gives probability distributions having total variation distance at least a universal constant times the Frobenius distance between the two states, with high probability. This result gives us the first sufficient condition and an information-theoretic solution for the following quantum state distinction problem: given an a priori known ensemble of quantum states, is there a single POVM that gives reasonably large total variation distance between every pair of states from the ensemble? Our …
Many quantum algorithms, including Shor's celebrated factoring and discrete log algorithms, proceed by reduction to a Hidden Subgroup problem, in which an unknown subgroup H of a group G must be determined from a uniform superposition on a left coset of H. These hidden subgroup problems are typically solved by Fourier sampling. When G is nonabelian, two important variants of Fourier sampling have been identified: the weak standard method, where only representation names are measured, and the strong standard method, where full measurement (i.e., the row and column of the representation, in a su…
We characterize the algebraic structure of semi-direct product of cyclic groups, $\Z_{N}\rtimes\Z_{p}$, where $p$ is an odd prime number which does not divide $q-1$ for any prime factor $q$ of $N$, and provide a polynomial-time quantum computational algorithm solving hidden symmetry subgroup problem of the groups.
We employ concepts and tools from the theory of finite permutation groups in order to analyse the Hidden Subgroup Problem via Quantum Fourier Sampling (QFS) for the symmetric group. We show that under very general conditions both the weak and the random-strong form (strong form with random choices of basis) of QFS fail to provide any advantage over classical exhaustive search. In particular we give a complete characterisation of polynomial size subgroups, and of primitive subgroups, that can be distinguished from the identity subgroup with the above methods. Furthermore, assuming a plausible g…
Almost all of the most successful quantum algorithms discovered to date exploit the ability of the Fourier transform to recover subgroup structure of functions, especially periodicity. The fact that Fourier transforms can also be used to capture shift structure has received far less attention in the context of quantum computation. In this paper, we present three examples of ``unknown shift'' problems that can be solved efficiently on a quantum computer using the quantum Fourier transform. We also define the hidden coset problem, which generalizes the hidden shift problem and the hidden subgrou…
The hidden subgroup problem (HSP) plays an important role in quantum computation, because many quantum algorithms that are exponentially faster than classical algorithms can be casted in the HSP structure. In this paper, we present a new polynomial-time quantum algorithm that solves the HSP over the group $\Z_{p^r} \rtimes \Z_{q^s}$, when $p^r/q= \up{poly}(\log p^r)$, where $p$, $q$ are any odd prime numbers and $r, s$ are any positive integers. To find the hidden subgroup, our algorithm uses the abelian quantum Fourier transform and a reduction procedure that simplifies the problem to find cy…
The Hidden Subgroup Problem is used in many quantum algorithms such as Simon's algorithm and Shor's factoring and discrete log algorithms. A polynomial time solution is known in case of abelian groups, and normal subgroups of arbitrary finite groups. The general case is still open. An efficient solution of the problem for symmetric group $S_n$ would give rise to an efficient quantum algorithm for Graph Isomorphism Problem. We formulate a hidden sub-hypergroup problem for finite hypergroups and solve it for finite commutative hypergroups. The given algorithm is efficient if the corresponding QF…
We give an overview of the Hidden Subgroup Problem (HSP) as of July 2010, including new results discovered since the survey of arXiv:quant-ph/0411037v1. We recall how the problem provides a framework for efficient quantum algorithms and present the standard methods based on coset sampling. We study the Dihedral and Symmetric HSPs and how they relate to hard problems on lattices and graphs. Finally, we conclude with the known solutions and techniques, describe connections with efficient algorithms as well as miscellaneous variants of HSP. We also bring various contributions to the topic. We sho…
An equal superposition query with |0> in the response register is used in the "standard method" of single-query algorithms for the hidden subgroup problem (HSP). Here we introduce a different query, the character query, generalizing the well-known phase kickback trick. This query maximizes the success probability of subgroup identification under a uniform prior, for the HSP in which the oracle functions take values in a finite abelian group. We then apply our results to the case when the subgroups are drawn from a set of conjugate subgroups and obtain a success probability greater than that fo…
In this paper we discuss the Hidden Subgroup Problem (HSP) in relation to post-quantum group-based cryptography. We review the relationship between HSP and other computational problems discuss an optimal solution method, and review the known results about the quantum complexity of HSP. We also overview some platforms for group-based cryptosystems. Notably, efficient algorithms for solving HSP in such infinite group platforms are not yet known.
We consider a natural generalization of an abelian Hidden Subgroup Problem where the subgroups and their cosets correspond to graphs of linear functions over a finite field F with d elements. The hidden functions of the generalized problem are not restricted to be linear but can also be m-variate polynomial functions of total degree n>=2. The problem of identifying hidden m-variate polynomials of degree less or equal to n for fixed n and m is hard on a classical computer since Omega(sqrt{d}) black-box queries are required to guarantee a constant success probability. In contrast, we present a q…
