The standard setting of quantum computation for continuous problems uses deterministic queries and the only source of randomness for quantum algorithms is through measurement. This setting is related to the worst case setting on a classical computer in the sense that the number of qubits needed to solve a continuous problem must be at least equal to the logarithm of the worst case information complexity of this problem. Since the number of qubits must be finite, we cannot solve continuous problems on a quantum computer with infinite worst case information complexity. This can even happen for continuous problems with small randomized complexity on a classical computer. A simple example is integration of bounded continuous functions. To overcome this bad property that limits the power of quantum computation for continuous problems, we study the quantum setting in which randomized queries are allowed. This type of query is used in Shor's algorithm. The quantum setting with randomized queries is related to the randomized classical setting in the sense that the number of qubits needed to solve a continuous problem must be at least equal to the logarithm of the randomized information complexity of this problem.
We study randomized and quantum query (a.k.a. decision tree) complexity for all total Boolean functions, with emphasis to derandomization and dequantization (removing quantumness from algorithms). Firstly, we show that $D(f) = O(Q_1(f)^3)$ for any total function $f$, where $D(f)$ is the minimal number of queries made by a deterministic query algorithm and $Q_1(f)$ is the number of queries made by any quantum query algorithm (decision tree analog in quantum case) with one-sided constant error; both algorithms compute function $f$. Secondly, we show that for all total Boolean functions $f$ holds…
We describe a quantum black-box network computing the majority of N bits with zero-sided error eps using only 2N/3 + O(sqrt{N (log log N + log 1/eps)}) queries: the algorithm returns the correct answer with probability at least 1 - eps, and "I don't know" otherwise. Our algorithm is given as a randomized "XOR decision tree" for which the number of queries on any input is strongly concentrated around a value of at most 2N/3. We provide a nearly matching lower bound of 2N/3 - O(sqrt(N)) on the expected number of queries on a worst-case input in the randomized XOR decision tree model with zero-si…
The query model offers a concrete setting where quantum algorithms are provably superior to randomized algorithms. Beautiful results by Bernstein-Vazirani, Simon, Aaronson, and others presented partial Boolean functions that can be computed by quantum algorithms making much fewer queries compared to their randomized analogs. To date, separations of $O(1)$ vs. $\sqrt{N}$ between quantum and randomized query complexities remain the state-of-the-art (where $N$ is the input length), leaving open the question of whether $O(1)$ vs. $N^{1/2+Ω(1)}$ separations are possible? We answer this question in …
We study the complexity of approximating the smallest eigenvalue of a univariate Sturm-Liouville problem on a quantum computer. This general problem includes the special case of solving a one-dimensional Schroedinger equation with a given potential for the ground state energy. The Sturm-Liouville problem depends on a function q, which, in the case of the Schroedinger equation, can be identified with the potential function V. Recently Papageorgiou and Wozniakowski proved that quantum computers achieve an exponential reduction in the number of queries over the number needed in the classical wors…
We study the query complexity of Weak Parity: the problem of computing the parity of an n-bit input string, where one only has to succeed on a 1/2+eps fraction of input strings, but must do so with high probability on those inputs where one does succeed. It is well-known that n randomized queries and n/2 quantum queries are needed to compute parity on all inputs. But surprisingly, we give a randomized algorithm for Weak Parity that makes only O(n/log^0.246(1/eps)) queries, as well as a quantum algorithm that makes only O(n/sqrt(log(1/eps))) queries. We also prove a lower bound of Omega(n/log(1…
We study the query complexity of determining if a graph is connected with global queries. The first model we look at is matrix-vector multiplication queries to the adjacency matrix. Here, for an $n$-vertex graph with adjacency matrix $A$, one can query a vector $x \in \{0,1\}^n$ and receive the answer $Ax$. We give a randomized algorithm that can output a spanning forest of a weighted graph with constant probability after $O(\log^4(n))$ matrix-vector multiplication queries to the adjacency matrix. This complements a result of Sun et al.\ (ICALP 2019) that gives a randomized algorithm that can …
Coherent state photon sources are widely used in quantum information processing. In many applications, such as quantum key distribution (QKD), a coherent state is functioned as a mixture of Fock states by assuming its phase is continuously randomized. In practice, such a crucial assumption is often not satisfied and, therefore, the security of existing QKD experiments is not guaranteed. To bridge this gap, we provide a rigorous security proof of QKD with discrete-phase-randomized coherent state sources. Our results show that the performance of the discrete-phase randomization case is close to …
The Feynman-Kac path integration problem was studied in the worst case setting by Plaskota et al. (J. Comp. Phys. 164 (2000) 335) for the univariate case and by Kwas and Li (J. Comp. 19 (2003) 730) for the multivariate case with d space variables. In this paper we consider the multivariate Feynman-Kac path integration problem in the randomized and quantum settings. For smooth multivariate functions, it was proven in Kwas and Li (2003) that the classical worst case complexity suffers from the curse of dimensionality in d. We show that in both the randomized and quantum settings the curse of dim…
Let $G$ be an $n$-vertex graph with $m$ edges. When asked a subset $S$ of vertices, a cut query on $G$ returns the number of edges of $G$ that have exactly one endpoint in $S$. We show that there is a bounded-error quantum algorithm that determines all connected components of $G$ after making $O(\log(n)^6)$ many cut queries. In contrast, it follows from results in communication complexity that any randomized algorithm even just to decide whether the graph is connected or not must make at least $Ω(n/\log(n))$ many cut queries. We further show that with $O(\log(n)^8)$ many cut queries a quantum …
Continuous-variable state moments from randomized homodyne and heterodyne measurements
Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学量子技术中心）；MajuLab, CNRS-UNS-NUS-NTU International Joint Research Unit（马久实验室，CNRS-UNS-NUS-NTU国际联合研究单位）
Thanks to the single-photon interference at a third untrusted party, the twin-field quantun key distribution (TF-QKD) protocol and its variants can beat the well-known rate-loss bound without quantum repeaters, and related experiments have been implemented recently. Generally, quantum states in these schemes should be randomly switched between the code mode and test mode. To adopt the standard decoy-state method, phases of coherent state sources in the test mode are assumed to be continuously randomized. However, such a crucial assumption cannot be well satisfied in experimental implementation…
We study the complexity of determining the edge connectivity of a simple graph with cut queries. We show that (i) there is a bounded-error randomized algorithm that computes edge connectivity with $O(n)$ cut queries, and (ii) there is a bounded-error quantum algorithm that computes edge connectivity with $Õ(\sqrt{n})$ cut queries. We prove these results using a new technique called "star contraction" to randomly contract edges of a graph while preserving non-trivial minimum cuts. In star contraction vertices randomly contract an edge incident on a small set of randomly chosen vertices. In cont…
We study the first-order convex optimization problem, where we have black-box access to a (not necessarily smooth) function $f:\mathbb{R}^n \to \mathbb{R}$ and its (sub)gradient. Our goal is to find an $ε$-approximate minimum of $f$ starting from a point that is distance at most $R$ from the true minimum. If $f$ is $G$-Lipschitz, then the classic gradient descent algorithm solves this problem with $O((GR/ε)^{2})$ queries. Importantly, the number of queries is independent of the dimension $n$ and gradient descent is optimal in this regard: No deterministic or randomized algorithm can achieve be…
Characterization of experimental systems is an essential step in developing and improving quantum hardware. A collection of protocols known as Randomized Benchmarking (RB) was developed in the past decade, which provides an efficient way to measure error rates in quantum systems. In a recent paper (arxiv:2010.07974), a general framework for RB was proposed, which encompassed most of the known RB protocols and overcame the limitation on error models in previous works. However, even this general framework has a restriction: it can only be applied to a finite group of gates. This does not meet th…
We study the approximation of the smallest eigenvalue of a Sturm-Liouville problem in the classical and quantum settings. We consider a univariate Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problem with a nonnegative function $q$ from the class $C^2([0,1])$ and study the minimal number $n(\e)$ of function evaluations or queries that are necessary to compute an $\e$-approximation of the smallest eigenvalue. We prove that $n(\e)=Θ(\e^{-1/2})$ in the (deterministic) worst case setting, and $n(\e)=Θ(\e^{-2/5})$ in the randomized setting. The quantum setting offers a polynomial speedup with {\it bit} queries and a…
Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution removes all detector-side attacks in quantum cryptography, and in the meantime doubles the secure distance. The source side, however, is still vulnerable to various attacks. In particular, the continuous phase randomization assumption on the source side is normally not fulfilled in experimental implementation and may potentially open a loophole. In this work, we first show that indeed there are loopholes for imperfect phase randomization in measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution by providing a concrete attack. Then we pro…
The continuous-time query model is a variant of the discrete query model in which queries can be interleaved with known operations (called "driving operations") continuously in time. Interesting algorithms have been discovered in this model, such as an algorithm for evaluating nand trees more efficiently than any classical algorithm. Subsequent work has shown that there also exists an efficient algorithm for nand trees in the discrete query model; however, there is no efficient conversion known for continuous-time query algorithms for arbitrary problems. We show that any quantum algorithm in t…
We create classical (non-quantum) dynamic data structures supporting queries for recommender systems and least-squares regression that are comparable to their quantum analogues. De-quantizing such algorithms has received a flurry of attention in recent years; we obtain sharper bounds for these problems. More significantly, we achieve these improvements by arguing that the previous quantum-inspired algorithms for these problems are doing leverage or ridge-leverage score sampling in disguise; these are powerful and standard techniques in randomized numerical linear algebra. With this recognition…
We study the problem of \emph{local search} on a graph. Given a real-valued black-box function f on the graph's vertices, this is the problem of determining a local minimum of f--a vertex v for which f(v) is no more than f evaluated at any of v's neighbors. In 1983, Aldous gave the first strong lower bounds for the problem, showing that any randomized algorithm requires $Ω(2^{n/2 - o(1)})$ queries to determine a local minima on the n-dimensional hypercube. The next major step forward was not until 2004 when Aaronson, introducing a new method for query complexity bounds, both strengthened this …
Aaronson and Ambainis (SICOMP `18) showed that any partial function on $N$ bits that can be computed with an advantage $δ$ over a random guess by making $q$ quantum queries, can also be computed classically with an advantage $δ/2$ by a randomized decision tree making ${O}_q(N^{1-\frac{1}{2q}}δ^{-2})$ queries. Moreover, they conjectured the $k$-Forrelation problem -- a partial function that can be computed with $q = \lceil k/2 \rceil$ quantum queries -- to be a suitable candidate for exhibiting such an extremal separation. We prove their conjecture by showing a tight lower bound of $\widetildeΩ…
The problem of finding a local minimum of a black-box function is central for understanding local search as well as quantum adiabatic algorithms. For functions on the Boolean hypercube {0,1}^n, we show a lower bound of Omega(2^{n/4}/n) on the number of queries needed by a quantum computer to solve this problem. More surprisingly, our approach, based on Ambainis' quantum adversary method, also yields a lower bound of Omega(2^{n/2}/n^2) on the problem's classical randomized query complexity. This improves and simplifies a 1983 result of Aldous. Finally, in both the randomized and quantum cases, …
Phase-randomized optical homodyne detection is a well-known technique for performing quantum state tomography. So far, it has been mainly considered a sophisticated tool for laboratory experiments but unsuitable for practical applications. In this work, we change the perspective and employ this technique to set up a practical continuous-variable quantum random number generator. We exploit a phase-randomized local oscillator realized with a gain-switched laser to bound the min-entropy and extract true randomness from a completely uncharacterized input, potentially controlled by a malicious adve…
Local Search problem, which finds a local minimum of a black-box function on a given graph, is of both practical and theoretical importance to combinatorial optimization, complexity theory and many other areas in theoretical computer science. In this paper, we study the problem in the randomized and quantum query models and give new lower and upper bound techniques in both models. The lower bound technique works for any graph that contains a product graph as a subgraph. Applying it to the Boolean hypercube {0,1}^n and the constant dimensional grids [n]^d, two particular product graphs that rec…
Quantum processes involving single-photon states are of broad interest in particular for quantum communication. Extending to continuous values a recent proposal by Yuan et al \cite{YUAN16}, we show that single-photon quantum processes can be characterized using phase randomized coherent states (PRCS) as inputs. As a proof of principle, we present the experimental investigation of single-photon tomography using PRCS. The probability distribution of field quadratures measurements for single-photon states can be accurately derived from the PRCS data. As a consequence, the Wigner function and the …
