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Algorithms · Quantum query algorithm

Matrix rank by a span program

Given oracle access to the integer entries of an n×m matrix A, determine the rank of A.

Attested & literatureUpdated

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  • Record typeLiterature reference
  • Speedup class (secondary source)Polynomial
  • Primary source on the speedupNot checked against the primary source yet
  • Reported costO(√(r(n-r+1)) L T) queries to the entries of an n×m integer matrix A under a promise that the rank of A is at least r, where L is the root-mean-square of the reciprocals of the r largest singular values of A and T is a factor set by the sparsity of A: T = O(√(nm)) for general A, and T = O(k log(n+m)) when A has at most k nonzero entries in any row or column. The Zoo gives the classical cost as order nm queries. Every figure here is the Zoo's; the paper's own abstract states no query count.
  • Papers2

Belovs' paper opens from the statement that span programs have recently been shown to be equivalent to quantum query algorithms, calls it an open problem whether that equivalence can be used to come up with new quantum algorithms, and addresses that problem by providing span programs for some linear algebra problems. It develops a notion of a high level span program, which abstracts away the loading of input vectors into a span program, and gives such a high level span program for the rank problem. Its closing section reduces a high level span program to an ordinary span program, which known quantum query algorithms can then evaluate. The Zoo describes the result as an algorithm that can use fewer queries than the classical order-nm cost given a promise that the rank of the matrix is at least r, with the count depending on the r largest singular values of A and on how sparse A is. This record's speedup class, "Polynomial", is a secondary source's classification of the oracular algorithms it files this under — not a claim its primary paper makes. Not checked against the primary source yet. Reported cost: O(√(r(n-r+1)) L T) queries to the entries of an n×m integer matrix A under a promise that the rank of A is at least r, where L is the root-mean-square of the reciprocals of the r largest singular values of A and T is a factor set by the sparsity of A: T = O(√(nm)) for general A, and T = O(k log(n+m)) when A has at most k nonzero entries in any row or column. The Zoo gives the classical cost as order nm queries. Every figure here is the Zoo's; the paper's own abstract states no query count..

References

  • Span-program-based quantum algorithm for the rank problem

    Aleksandrs Belovs · 2011

    Primary source. It provides span programs for some linear algebra problems, develops the notion of a high level span program that abstracts from loading input vectors into a span program, gives a high level span program for the rank problem, and reduces it to an ordinary span program solvable by known quantum query algorithms. The abstract states no query count, so the cost claim recorded here comes from the Zoo entry rather than from this paper; consult the paper itself for the analysis behind it.

  • Span programs and quantum query complexity: The general adversary bound is nearly tight for every boolean function

    Ben W. Reichardt · 2009

    Companion source for the equivalence the primary paper opens from. Belovs' abstract states that span programs have recently been shown to be equivalent to quantum query algorithms without naming a source for it, and this paper states that equivalence as a result of its own. It turns the general adversary bound, a semi-definite program that lower-bounds quantum query complexity, into an upper bound: one SDP outputs for any boolean function a span program of optimal witness size, that optimal witness size is shown to coincide with the general adversary bound, and a quantum algorithm evaluates span programs with only a logarithmic query overhead on the witness size. The paper states the resulting universality in both directions, that a good quantum query algorithm for a problem implies a good span program and vice versa, and it reports a corollary of an optimal quantum algorithm for evaluating balanced formulas over any finite boolean gate set.

Attested & literature
  • Peer-reviewed paper
Method
Curation only. The problem statement was recorded from the literature; the speedup class is not yet checked against the record's own primary paper; the primary reference's title, authors and submission year were read from its arXiv abs page; the complexity claim was taken from a clause of that paper's abstract (Quantum Algorithm Zoo entry "Matrix Rank" (LaTeX rendered into Unicode): "Belovs' algorithm uses O(√(r(n-r+1))LT) queries, where L is the root-mean-square of the reciprocals of the r largest singular values of A and T is a factor that depends on the sparsity of the matrix. For general A , T = O(√(nm)) . If A has at most k nonzero entries in any row or column then T = O(k log(n+m))"; the classical side and the problem statement are from the same entry: "Suppose we are given oracle access to the (integer) entries of an n × m matrix A . We wish to determine the rank of the matrix. Classically this requires order nm queries." The abstract of arXiv:1103.0842 quotes no query count, gate count or runtime anywhere; it describes the construction only, closing "The last section of the paper deals with reducing a high level span program to an ordinary span program that can be solved using known quantum query algorithms." The bound above therefore rests on the Zoo entry alone, not on the primary paper's abstract.). No circuit was constructed, simulated or run.
Result
Pass · the record's problem, speedup class and primary reference agree with the two sources named above.
Caveat
This is a literature record: no circuit was constructed, compiled, simulated or run, and no matrix instance was solved. The query count above is the Zoo's summary of Belovs' result, and the paper's abstract states no bound at all, so nothing here was checked against the paper's own analysis. The count is stated under a promise that the rank is at least r, and it carries two instance-dependent factors that are not known in advance: L is the root-mean-square of the reciprocals of the r largest singular values of A, so on that definition a matrix whose r largest singular values are small gives a larger L and a larger count, and T is set by the sparsity of A. The Zoo is explicit that the k-sparse figure T = O(k log(n+m)) requires a stronger oracle than the entry access in which the problem is posed, one that takes a column index as input and returns a list of the nonzero elements of that column. Everything is counted in queries, so gate counts, circuit depth, the arithmetic on the integer entries and the cost of realising either oracle are outside this record. For the special case of deciding whether a square matrix is singular, the determinant problem, the Zoo reports on a paper outside this record that for general A the quantum query complexity is no lower than the classical one, while noting that this does not rule out a speedup under a promise such as sparseness or the absence of small singular values.
Span-program-based quantum algorithm for the rank problem ↗
Kind
curated reference
Reviewed by
Leona Quantum curation pass
License
Citation metadata only; source publication terms apply
matrix rankspan programquery complexityoraclelinear algebra

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