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Algorithms · PromiseBQP-complete problem

Diagonal entries of powers of a sparse symmetric matrix

Given a real symmetric N × N matrix A whose rows are sparse — the non-zero positions and values of any row returned by an efficiently computable function rather than stored — together with an index j, an integer power m, an a priori bound b on the norm of A, a threshold g and a precision ε, decide whether the diagonal entry (A^m)_jj is at least g + εb^m or at most g − εb^m.

Attested & literatureUpdated

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  • Record typeLiterature reference
  • Speedup class (secondary source)Superpolynomial
  • Primary source on the speedupStated by the primary source: "Our results show that quantum computation outperforms classical computation in estimating the diagonal entries (provided that BQP≠BPP). But one has to be very careful on which scale this result remains true."
  • Reported costPolylogarithmic in the matrix dimension. The abstract places the problem in BQP when m and ε are respectively polylogarithmic and inverse polylogarithmic in N, and the proof states that the estimate can be produced with time and space polynomial in n, m and 1/ε, where N = 2^n. Phase estimation is run with p := 2⌈log((48m)/ε)⌉ control qubits.
  • Papers1

A part this method uses, worked through

This page says phase estimation — here is a concrete, runnable instance of it.

Phase estimation of P(3*pi/4)

3 counting qubits estimating the phase of P(3π/4), which is 2π·3/8 exactly: a phase 3-bit QPE can represent exactly.

q0q1q2q3XHadamard layer(3)Controlled phase powers(3)QFT inverse(3)

Where it ends up

  • 1011100%

The counting register reads 011 = 3 with probability 1: angle/(2π) = 3/8, recovered exactly.

One of its steps changes only phase: the outcome probabilities stay put while the state does not.

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Where this sits

This record is named by the layer graph at:

  • Estimate the eigenphase of a unitary Slot

    Takes A circuit for U that can be applied as controlled U^(2^j), a preparation routine for a state whose overlap with the target eigenvector is not negligible, the number of bits of the phase wanted, and the failure probability that may be tolerated. Returns An estimate of the eigenphase to the requested number of bits, with the failure probability it was obtained at, plus the two costs that actually differ between routes: how many ancillas were held at once, and how many sequential rounds were run.

Related entries

References

  • Estimating diagonal entries of powers of sparse symmetric matrices is BQP-complete

    Dominik Janzing, Pawel Wocjan · 2006

    Primary source, and the source of this record's cost claim. Consult it for the sparse-access model it assumes, for the b^m scale that the accuracy guarantee is stated relative to, and for the reduction from an arbitrary BQP circuit to a diagonal entry of a matrix power. A secondary source cites this work under the title of its Theory of Computing version, "A simple promiseBQP-complete matrix problem"; the arXiv document is the same work by the same two authors under a different title.

Attested & literature
  • Peer-reviewed paper
Method
Curation only. The problem statement was recorded from the literature; the speedup class is checked against the record's own primary paper, which states it; 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 (abstract of arXiv:quant-ph/0606229: "m and ǫ are polylogarithmic and inverse polylogarithmic in N, respectively"; section 3: "Furthermore, this can be achieved by using time and space resources which are polynomial in n, m, and 1/ǫ. This completes the proof that diagonal entry estimation is in BQP."; and, for the control register, section 3 equation (4): "The number of control qubits can be chosen to be p := 2⌈log((48 m)/ǫ)⌉".). 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 built, compiled, simulated or run, and no matrix entry was estimated here. The precision is relative to a scale the caller supplies, and the paper is explicit that this is where the result lives or dies — section 2 states that the scale on which the estimation has reasonable precision is b^m, so a caller who knows only the looser bound b′ := 2b on the norm loses accuracy by the exponential factor 2^m. An additive error of εb^m is therefore not an additive error of ε, and a bound on the norm that is wrong by a constant factor degrades the guarantee exponentially in m. The matrix is not given as data but through an efficiently computable function returning a row's non-zero entries and their positions, so nothing here bounds the cost of providing that access for a matrix that is merely stored. The separation from classical computation is conditional on BQP ≠ BPP, which is unproven, and the paper says so at both places it makes the claim. BQP-hardness is established for diagonal entries only; off-diagonal entries are shown to be in BQP but are not shown to be hard. Finally this is a completeness result about a promise problem, not a finding that any matrix arising in practice is hard, and the Zoo's title for this entry — "A simple promiseBQP-complete matrix problem", the Theory of Computing version — is not the title the arXiv document cited here prints.
Estimating diagonal entries of powers of sparse symmetric matrices is BQP-complete ↗
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matrix powerspromisebqp-completesparse matrixphase estimationspectral measure

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