Quantum circuits cannot control unknown operations

DOI10.1088/1367-2630/16/9/093026MaRDI QIDQ3386973zbMATHOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Mateus Araújo, Adrien Feix, Fábio M. Costa, Časlav Brukner

Publication date 12 January 2021

Published in New Journal of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1309.7976

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Quantum computation (81P68) Quantum gates (81P65)

Abstract: One of the essential building blocks of classical computer programs is the "if" clause, which executes a subroutine depending on the value of a control variable. Similarly, several quantum algorithms rely on applying a unitary operation conditioned on the state of a control system. Here we show that this control cannot be performed by a quantum circuit if the unitary is completely unknown. However, this no-go theorem does not prevent implementing quantum control of unknown unitaries in practice, as any physical implementation of an unknown unitary provides additional information that makes the control possible. We then argue that one should extend the quantum circuit formalism to capture this possibility in a straightforward way. This is done by allowing unknown unitaries to be applied to subspaces and not only to subsystems.

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Cites work

• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1579275 (Why is no real title available?)
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5863326 (Why is no real title available?)
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Cited in

(11)

• Quantum communication through devices with indefinite input-output direction
• Quantum algorithms for similarity measurement based on Euclidean distance
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• Quantum algorithms for learning Walsh spectra of multi-output Boolean functions
• Quantum plug n' play: modular computation in the quantum regime
• General tracking control of arbitrary \(N\)-level quantum systems using piecewise time-independent potentials
• Optimal quantum networks and one-shot entropies

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