To study quantum computation, it might be helpful to generalize structures from language and automata theory to the quantum case. To that end, we propose quantum versions of finite-state and push-down automata, and regular and context-free grammars. We find analogs of several classical theorems, including pumping lemmas, closure properties, rational and algebraic generating functions, and Greibach normal form. We also show that there are quantum context-free languages that are not context-free.
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(1), pp. 299-311, 2002], 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 dy…
We prove that the combinatorics generated by the quantum random walk on Z can be interpreted from the reading of periodic orbits of the classical chaotic map $x \mapsto 2x mod 1$.
We present herein an introduction to implementing 2-color cellular automata on quantum annealing systems, such as the D-Wave quantum computer. We show that implementing nearest-neighbor cellular automata is possible. We present an implementation of Wolfram's cellular automata Rule 110, which has previously been shown to be a universal Turing machine, as a QUBO suitable for use on quantum annealing systems. We demonstrate back-propagation of cellular automata rule sets to determine initial cell states for a desired later system state. We show 2-D 2-color cellular automata, such as Conway's Game…
We provide algebraic criteria for the unitarity of linear quantum cellular automata, i.e. one dimensional quantum cellular automata. We derive these both by direct combinatorial arguments, and by adding constraints into the model which do not change the quantum cellular automata's computational power. The configurations we consider have finite but unbounded size.
Motivated by the recent work of Patel et al., this paper clarifies a connection between coined quantum walks and quantum cellular automata in a general setting. As a consequence, their result is naturally derived from the connection.
Quantum cellular automata are important tools in understanding quantum dynamics, thanks to their simple and effective list of rules. Here we investigate explicitly how coherence is built and lost in the evolution of one-dimensional automata subject to noise. Our analysis illustrates the interplay between unitary and noisy dynamics, and draws considerations on their behaviour in the pseudo-frequency domain.
After leading to a new axiomatic derivation of quantum theory, the new informational paradigm is entering the domain of quantum field theory, suggesting a quantum automata framework that can be regarded as an extension of quantum field theory to including an hypothetical Planck scale, and with the usual quantum field theory recovered in the relativistic limit of small wave-vectors. Being derived from simple principles (linearity, unitarity, locality, homogeneity, isotropy, and minimality of dimension), the automata theory is quantum ab-initio, and does not assume Lorentz covariance and mechani…
Studies of quantum computer implementations suggest cellular quantum computer architectures. These architectures can simulate the evolution of quantum cellular automata, which can possibly simulate both quantum and classical physical systems and processes. It is however known that except for the trivial case, unitary evolution of one-dimensional homogeneous quantum cellular automata with one qubit per cell is not possible. Quantum cellular automata that comprise two qubits per cell are defined and their evolution is studied using a quantum computer simulator. The evolution is unitary and its l…
In this paper the notion of quantum finite one-counter automata (QF1CA) is introduced. Introduction of the notion is similar to that of the 2-way quantum finite state automata by A.Kondacs and J.Watrous. The well-formedness conditions for the automata are specified ensuring unitarity of evolution. A special kind of QF1CA, called simple, that satisfies the well-formedness conditions is introduced. That allows to specify rules for constructing such automata more naturally and simpler than in general case. Possible models of language recognition by QF1CA are considered. The recognition of some la…
It is shown that irreversible classical cellular automata can be performed by quantum algorithm using additional ancilla registers. The algorithm for cellular automata states analysis has been proposed. This algorithm is based on the elements of Grover's algorithm - the inversion of amplitude of searched states and unitary transform of inversion about the average. The inversion of searched states amplitudes can be performed by quantum Toffoli gate.
We define quantum cellular automata as infinite quantum lattice systems with discrete time dynamics, such that the time step commutes with lattice translations and has strictly finite propagation speed. In contrast to earlier definitions this allows us to give an explicit characterization of all local rules generating such automata. The same local rules also generate the global time step for automata with periodic boundary conditions. Our main structure theorem asserts that any quantum cellular automaton is structurally reversible, i.e., that it can be obtained by applying two blockwise unitar…
We present a simple construction of quantum automata which achieve an exponential advantage over classical finite automata. Our automata use \frac{4}ε \log 2p + O(1) states to recognize a language that requires p states classically. The construction is both substantially simpler and achieves a better constant in the front of \log p than the previously known construction of Ambainis and Freivalds (quant-ph/9802062). Similarly to Ambainis and Freivalds, our construction is by a probabilistic argument. We consider the possibility to derandomize it and present some results in this direction.
In this paper we develop little further the theory of quantum finite automata (QFA). There are already few properties of QFA known, that deterministic and probabilistic finite automata do not have e.g. they cannot recognize all regular languages. In this paper we show, that class of languages recognizable by QFA is not closed under union, even not under any Boolean operation, where both arguments are significant.
Clifford quantum cellular automata (CQCAs) are a special kind of quantum cellular automata (QCAs) that incorporate Clifford group operations for the time evolution. Despite being classically simulable, they can be used as basic building blocks for universal quantum computation. This is due to the connection to translation-invariant stabilizer states and their entanglement properties. We will give a self-contained introduction to CQCAs and investigate the generation of entanglement under CQCA action. Furthermore, we will discuss finite configurations and applications of CQCAs.
We study reversible quantum cellular automata with the restriction that these are also Clifford operations. This means that tensor products of Pauli operators (or discrete Weyl operators) are mapped to tensor products of Pauli operators. Therefore Clifford quantum cellular automata are induced by symplectic cellular automata in phase space. We characterize these symplectic cellular automata and find that all possible local rules must be, up to some global shift, reflection invariant with respect to the origin. In the one dimensional case we also find that every uniquely determined and translat…
Recent advances on quantum foundations achieved the derivation of free quantum field theory from general principles, without referring to mechanical notions and relativistic invariance. From the aforementioned principles a quantum cellular automata (QCA) theory follows, whose relativistic limit of small wave-vector provides the free dynamics of quantum field theory. The QCA theory can be regarded as an extended quantum field theory that describes in a unified way all scales ranging from an hypothetical discrete Planck scale up to the usual Fermi scale. The present paper reviews the elementary …
We investigate the possibility to have electron-pairs in dephasing-free subspace (DFS), by means of the quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA) and single-spin rotations, to carry out a high-fidelity and deterministic universal quantum computation. We show that our QCA device with electrons tunneling two dimensionally is very suitable for DFS encoding, and argue that our design favors a scalable quantum computation robust to collective dephasing errors.
To study relationship between quantum finite automata and probabilistic finite automata, we introduce a notion of probabilistic reversible automata (PRA, or doubly stochastic automata). We find that there is a strong relationship between different possible models of PRA and corresponding models of quantum finite automata. We also propose a classification of reversible finite 1-way automata.
We study the recognition of R-trivial idempotent (R1) languages by various models of "decide-and-halt" quantum finite automata (QFA) and probabilistic reversible automata (DH-PRA). We introduce bistochastic QFA (MM-BQFA), a model which generalizes both Nayak's enhanced QFA and DH-PRA. We apply tools from algebraic automata theory and systems of linear inequalities to give a complete characterization of R1 languages recognized by all these models. We also find that "forbidden constructions" known so far do not include all of the languages that cannot be recognized by measure-many QFA.
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 …
This paper proposed a quantum analogue of classical queue automata by using the definition of the quantum Turing machine and quantum finite-state automata. However, quantum automata equipped with storage medium of a stack has been considered, but the concept of quantum queue automata has not been introduced so far. The classical Turing machines can be simulated by classical queue automata. Motivated by the efficiency of the quantum Turing machine and nature of classical queue automata, we have introduced the notion of quantum queue automata using unitary criteria. Our contributions are as foll…
In the literature, there exist several interesting hybrid models of finite automata which have both quantum and classical states. We call them semi-quantum automata. In this paper, we compare the descriptional power of these models with that of DFA. Specifically, we present a uniform method that gives a lower bound on the size of the three existing main models of semi-quantum automata, and this bound shows that semi-quantum automata can be at most exponentially more concise than DFA. Compared with a recent work (Bianchi, Mereghetti, Palano, Theoret. Comput. Sci., 551(2014), 102-115), our metho…
Some of the most interesting and important results concerning quantum finite automata are those showing that they can recognize certain languages with (much) less resources than corresponding classical finite automata \cite{Amb98,Amb09,AmYa11,Ber05,Fre09,Mer00,Mer01,Mer02,Yak10,ZhgQiu112,Zhg12}. This paper shows three results of such a type that are stronger in some sense than other ones because (a) they deal with models of quantum automata with very little quantumness (so-called semi-quantum one- and two-way automata with one qubit memory only); (b) differences, even comparing with probabilis…
Quantum finite automata were introduced by C.Moore, J.P. Crutchfield, and by A.Kondacs and J.Watrous. This notion is not a generalization of the deterministic finite automata. Moreover, it was proved that not all regular languages can be recognized by quantum finite automata. A.Ambainis and R.Freivalds proved that for some languages quantum finite automata may be exponentially more concise rather than both deterministic and probabilistic finite automata. In this paper we introduce the notion of quantum finite multitape automata and prove that there is a language recognized by a quantum finite …
We show a representation of Quantum Computers defines Quantum Turing Machines with associated Quantum Grammars. We then create examples of Quantum Grammars. Lastly we develop an algebraic approach to high level Quantum Languages using Quantum Assembly language and Quantum C language as examples.
We introduce 2-way finite automata with quantum and classical states (2qcfa's). This is a variant on the 2-way quantum finite automata (2qfa) model which may be simpler to implement than unrestricted 2qfa's; the internal state of a 2qcfa may include a quantum part that may be in a (mixed) quantum state, but the tape head position is required to be classical. We show two languages for which 2qcfa's are better than classical 2-way automata. First, 2qcfa's can recognize palindromes, a language that cannot be recognized by 2-way deterministic or probabilistic finite automata. Second, in polynomial…
We construct a hierarchy of regular languages such that the current language in the hierarchy can be accepted by 1-way quantum finite automata with a probability smaller than the corresponding probability for the preceding language in the hierarchy. These probabilities converge to 1/2.
Quantum computing is a new model of computation, based on quantum physics. Quantum computers can be exponentially faster than conventional computers for problems such as factoring. Besides full-scale quantum computers, more restricted models such as quantum versions of finite automata have been studied. In this paper, we survey various models of quantum finite automata and their properties. We also provide some open questions and new directions for researchers. Keywords: quantum finite automata, probabilistic finite automata, nondeterminism, bounded error, unbounded error, state complexity, de…
We apply the methods of lattice field theories to the quantization of cellular automata. We discuss the quantization of five main categories of cellular automata: bosonic, fermionic, supersymmetric, spin and quantum dot using path integral and operator formalisms of lattice field theories. We show that the quantization of supersymmetric cellular automata is related to recently discussed string bit models of Thorn and Bergman and represents a link of cellular automata theory to fundamental physics. We discuss spin and quantum dot cellular automata for their importance in experimental realizatio…
Quantum finite automata, as well as quantum pushdown automata (QPA) were first introduced by C. Moore and J. P. Crutchfield. In this paper we introduce the notion of QPA in a non-equivalent way, including unitarity criteria, by using the definition of quantum finite automata of Kondacs and Watrous. It is established that the unitarity criteria of QPA are not equivalent to the corresponding unitarity criteria of quantum Turing machines. We show that QPA can recognize every regular language. Finally we present some simple languages recognized by QPA, not recognizable by deterministic pushdown au…
We study 1-way quantum finite automata (QFAs). First, we compare them with their classical counterparts. We show that, if an automaton is required to give the correct answer with a large probability (over 0.98), then the power of 1-way QFAs is equal to the power of 1-way reversible automata. However, quantum automata giving the correct answer with smaller probabilities are more powerful than reversible automata. Second, we show that 1-way QFAs can be very space-efficient. Namely, we construct a 1-way QFA which is exponentially smaller than any equivalent classical (even randomized) finite auto…
We present five examples where quantum finite automata (QFAs) outperform their classical counterparts. This may be useful as a relatively simple technique to introduce quantum computation concepts to computer scientists. We also describe a modern QFA model involving superoperators that is able to simulate all known QFA and classical finite automaton variants.
In this note, we present an infinite family of promise problems which can be solved exactly by just tuning transition amplitudes of a two-state quantum finite automata operating in realtime mode, whereas the size of the corresponding classical automata grow without bound.
Very much as its classical counterpart, quantum cellular automata are expected to be a great tool for simulating complex quantum systems. Here we introduce a partitioned model of quantum cellular automata and show how it can simulate, with the same amount of resources (in terms of effective Hilbert space dimension), various models of quantum walks. All the algorithms developed within quantum walk models are thus directly inherited by the quantum cellular automata. The latter, however, has its structure based on local interactions between qubits, and as such it can be more suitable for present …
We find an application in quantum finite automata for the ideas and results of [JL21] and [JL22]. We reformulate quantum finite automata with multiple-time measurements using the algebraic notion of near-ring. This gives a unified understanding towards quantum computing and deep learning. When the near-ring comes from a quiver, we have a nice moduli space of computing machines with metric that can be optimized by gradient descent.
There exists an index theory to classify strictly local quantum cellular automata in one dimension. We consider two classification questions. First, we study to what extent this index theory can be applied in higher dimensions via dimensional reduction, finding a classification by the first homology group of the manifold modulo torsion. Second, in two dimensions, we show that an extension of this index theory (including torsion) fully classifies quantum cellular automata, at least in the absence of fermionic degrees of freedom. This complete classification in one and two dimensions by index th…
In recent years, the modeling interest has increased significantly from the molecular level to the atomic and quantum scale. The field of computational chemistry plays a significant role in designing computational models for the operation and simulation of systems ranging from atoms and molecules to industrial-scale processes. It is influenced by a tremendous increase in computing power and the efficiency of algorithms. The representation of chemical reactions using classical automata theory in thermodynamic terms had a great influence on computer science. The study of chemical information pro…
Quantum cellular automata consist in arrays of identical finite-dimensional quantum systems, evolving in discrete-time steps by iterating a unitary operator G. Moreover the global evolution G is required to be causal (it propagates information at a bounded speed) and translation-invariant (it acts everywhere the same). Quantum cellular automata provide a model/architecture for distributed quantum computation. More generally, they encompass most of discrete-space discrete-time quantum theory. We give an overview of their theory, with particular focus on structure results; computability and univ…
