International Journal of Quantum Information

Given a quantum Hamiltonian and its evolution time, the corresponding unitary evolution operator can be constructed in many different ways, corresponding to different trajectories between the desired end-points and different series expansions. A choice among these possibilities can then be made to obtain the best computational complexity and control over errors. It is shown how a construction based on Grover's algorithm scales linearly in time and logarithmically in the error bound, and is exponentially superior in error complexity to the scheme based on the straightforward application of the Lie–Trotter formula. The strategy is then extended first to simulation of any Hamiltonian that is a linear combination of two projection operators, and then to any local efficiently computable Hamiltonian. The key feature is to construct an evolution in terms of the largest possible steps instead of taking small time steps. Reflection operations and Chebyshev expansions are used to efficiently control the total error on the overall evolution, without worrying about discretization errors for individual steps. We also use a digital implementation of quantum states that makes linear algebra operations rather simple to perform.

We propose multi-party quantum summation protocols based on single particles, in which participants are allowed to compute the summation of their inputs without the help of a trusted third party and preserve the privacy of their inputs. Only one participant who generates the source particles needs to perform unitary operations and only single particles are needed in the beginning of the protocols.

Spike Hamiltonians arise from optimization instances for which the adiabatic algorithm provably out performs classical simulated annealing. In this work, we study the efficiency of the adiabatic algorithm for solving the “the Hamming weight with a spike” problem by analyzing the scaling of the spectral gap at the critical point for various sizes of the barrier. Our main result is a rigorous lower bound on the minimum spectral gap for the adiabatic evolution when the bit-symmetric cost function has a thin but polynomially high barrier, which is based on a comparison argument and an improved variational ansatz for the ground state. We also adapt the discrete WKB method for the case of abruptly changing potentials and compare it with the predictions of the spin coherent instanton method which was previously used by Farhi, Goldstone and Gutmann. Finally, our improved ansatz for the ground state leads to a method for predicting the location of avoided crossings in the excited energy states of the thin spike Hamiltonian, and we use a recursion relation to understand the ordering of some of these avoided crossings as a step towards analyzing the previously observed diabatic cascade phenomenon.

Quantum noise severely affects the security and reliability of quantum communication system. In this paper, we study the effect of quantum noise on quantum multiparty communication protocols. Taking a two-qubit joint remote state preparation (JRSP) scheme as an example, we point out that there are some calculation mistakes in a former JRSP scheme [X.W. Guan, X.B. Chen, L.C. Wang and Y.X. Yang, Int. J. Theor. Phys. 53(4) (2014) 2236.]. The revised output states and fidelities in two types of noise are presented, respectively. More importantly, we present a more general form for describing the effect of noise on multi-qubit system, which is fit for the case where different types of noise act on the system consecutively. The process of the JRSP scheme in two types of noise is discussed, respectively. It is shown that the noisy effect in the general case is much stronger than the former one for the most part. Our study will be helpful for analyzing the effect of quantum noise on quantum multiparty communication system.

One specific subset of quantum algorithms is Grovers Ordered Search Problem (OSP), the quantum counterpart of the classical binary search algorithm, which utilizes oracle functions to produce a specified value within an ordered database. Classically, the optimal algorithm is known to have a ${log}_{2}N$ complexity; however, Grovers algorithm has been found to have an optimal complexity between the lower bound of $((lnN-1)∕\pi \approx 0.221{log}_{2}N)$ and the upper bound of $0.433{log}_{2}N$. We sought to lower the known upper bound of the OSP. With Farhi et al. MITCTP 2815 (1999), arXiv:quant-ph/9901059], we see that the OSP can be resolved into a translational invariant algorithm to create quantum query algorithm restraints. With these restraints, one can find Laurent polynomials for various $k$ — queries — and $N$ — database sizes — thus finding larger recursive sets to solve the OSP and effectively reducing the upper bound. These polynomials are found to be convex functions, allowing one to make use of convex optimization to find an improvement on the known bounds. According to Childs et al. [Phys. Rev. A 75 (2007) 032335], semidefinite programming, a subset of convex optimization, can solve the particular problem represented by the constraints. We were able to implement a program abiding to their formulation of a semidefinite program (SDP), leading us to find that it takes an immense amount of storage and time to compute. To combat this setback, we then formulated an approach to improve results of the SDP using matrix sparsity. Through the development of this approach, along with an implementation of a rudimentary solver, we demonstrate how matrix sparsity reduces the amount of time and storage required to compute the SDP — overall ensuring further improvements will likely be made to reach the theorized lower bound.

To evade the well-known impossibility of unconditionally secure quantum two-party computations, previous quantum private comparison protocols have to adopt a third party. Here, we study how far we can go with two parties only. We propose a very feasible and efficient protocol. Intriguingly, although the average amount of information leaked cannot be made arbitrarily small, we find that this average will not exceed 14 bits for any length of the bit-string being compared.

We analyze the dynamics of both entanglement and quantum discord (QD) in a system of two non-interacting flux-qubits initially prepared in a Bell's state and subjected to either static or random telegraph noises (RTNs). Both independent and common sources of system-environment coupling are considered either in the Markovian or non-Markovian regime and the results are compared to those of ordinary qubits. Under suitable conditions, both entanglement and QD are more robust in flux-qubit systems than classical ones. In the Markovian regime where the decay is monotonic, they are both stronger in different environment coupling than in common coupling, while the opposite is found in the non-Markovian regime where the dynamics is stressed by sudden death and revival phenomena, more robust in qubits than in flux-qubits under dynamical RTN. Weakness of revival amplitudes is interpreted as a noise spectrum-related induced interaction affecting quantum features of the system, while energy level non-degeneracy (at zero-splitting) of flux-qubits induces a phase factor that set conditions under which entangled states can be experimentally witnessed in flux-qubit systems. Note that the energy levels non-degeneracy has no particular effect on other entanglement measures apart from entanglement witnesses.