Itai Arad

The BQP-hardness of approximating the Jones polynomial

A celebrated important result due to Freedman et al (2002 Commun. Math. Phys. 227 605–22) states that providing additive approximations of the Jones polynomial at the kth root of unity, for constant k=5 and k≥7, is BQP-hard. Together with the algorithmic results of Aharonov et al (2005) and Freedman et al (2002 Commun. Math. Phys. 227 587–603), this gives perhaps the most natural BQP-complete problem known today and motivates further study of the topic. In this paper, we focus on the universality proof; we extend the result of Freedman et al (2002) to ks that grow polynomially with the number of strands and crossings in the link, thus extending the BQP-hardness of Jones polynomial approximations to all values to which the AJL algorithm applies (Aharonov et al 2005), proving that for all those values, the problems are BQP-complete. As a side benefit, we derive a fairly elementary proof of the Freedman et al density result, without referring to advanced results from Lie algebra representation theory, making this important result accessible to a wider audience in the computer science research community. We make use of two general lemmas we prove, the bridge lemma and the decoupling lemma, which provide tools for establishing the density of subgroups in SU(n). Those tools seem to be of independent interest in more general contexts of proving the quantum universality. Our result also implies a completely classical statement, that the multiplicative approximations of the Jones polynomial, at exactly the same values, are #P-hard, via a recent result due to Kuperberg (2009 arXiv:0908.0512). Since the first publication of those results in their preliminary form (Aharonov and Arad 2006 arXiv:quant-ph/0605181), the methods we present here have been used in several other contexts (Aharonov and Arad 2007 arXiv:quant-ph/0702008; Peter and Stephen 2008 Quantum Inf. Comput. 8 681). The present paper is an improved and extended version of the results presented by Aharonov and Arad (2006) and includes discussions of the developments since then.

Dark Halo Cusp: Asymptotic Convergence

We propose a model for how the buildup of dark halos by merging satellites produces a characteristic inner cusp, with a density profile ρ ∝ r, where αin → αas 1, as seen in cosmological N-body simulations of hierarchical clustering scenarios. Dekel, Devor, & Hetzroni argue that a flat core of αin 1. Using merger N-body simulations, we learn that this cusp is stable under a sequence of mergers and derive a practical tidal mass transfer recipe in regions where the local slope of the halo profile is α > 1. According to this recipe, the ratio of mean densities of the halo and initial satellite within the tidal radius equals a given function ψ(α), which is significantly smaller than unity (compared to being ~1 according to crude resonance criteria) and is a decreasing function of α. This decrease makes the tidal mass transfer relatively more efficient at larger α, which means steepening when α is small and flattening when α is large, thus causing convergence to a stable solution. Given this mass transfer recipe, linear perturbation analysis, supported by toy simulations, shows that a sequence of cosmological mergers with homologous satellites slowly leads to a fixed-point cusp with an asymptotic slope αas > 1. The slope depends only weakly on the fluctuation power spectrum, in agreement with cosmological simulations. During a long interim period the profile has an NFW-like shape, with a cusp of 1 < αin < αas. Thus, a cusp is enforced if enough compact satellite remnants make it intact into the inner halo. In order to maintain a flat core, satellites must be disrupted outside the core, possibly as a result of a modest puffing up due to baryonic feedback.

Quantum Computation and the Evaluation of Tensor Networks

We present a quantum algorithm that additively approximates the value of a tensor network to a certain scale. When combined with existing results, this provides a complete problem for quantum computation. The result is a simple new way of looking at quantum computation in which unitary gates are replaced by tensors and time is replaced by the order in which the tensor network is “swallowed.” We use this result to derive new quantum algorithms that approximate the partition function of a variety of classical statistical mechanical models, including the Potts model.

Guest column: the quantum PCP conjecture

The classical PCP theorem is arguably the most important achievement of classical complexity theory in the past quarter century. In recent years, researchers in quantum computational complexity have tried to identify approaches and develop tools that address the question: does a quantum version of the PCP theorem hold? The story of this study starts with classical complexity and takes unexpected turns providing fascinating vistas on the foundations of quantum mechanics and multipartite entanglement, topology and the so-called phenomenon of topological order, quantum error correction, information theory, and much more; it raises questions that touch upon some of the most fundamental issues at the heart of our understanding of quantum mechanics. At this point, the jury is still out as to whether or not such a theorem holds. This survey aims to provide a snapshot of the status in this ongoing story, tailored to a general theory-of-CS audience.

Efficient algorithm for approximating one-dimensional ground states

The density-matrix renormalization-group method is very effective at finding ground states of one-dimensional (1D) quantum systems in practice, but it is a heuristic method, and there is no known proof for when it works. In this article we describe an efficient classical algorithm which provably finds a good approximation of the ground state of 1D systems under well-defined conditions. More precisely, our algorithm finds a matrix product state of bond dimension D whose energy approximates the minimal energy such states can achieve. The running time is exponential in D, and so the algorithm can be considered tractable even for D, which is logarithmic in the size of the chain. The result also implies trivially that the ground state of any local commuting Hamiltonian in 1D can be approximated efficiently; we improve this to an exact algorithm.

Connecting global and local energy distributions in quantum spin models on a lattice

Generally, the local interactions in a many-body quantum spin system on a lattice do not commute with each other. Consequently, the Hamiltonian of a local region will generally not commute with that of the entire system, and so the two cannot be measured simultaneously. The connection between the probability distributions of measurement outcomes of the local and global Hamiltonians will depend on the angles between the diagonalizing bases of these two Hamiltonians. In this paper we characterize the relation between these two distributions. On one hand, we upperbound the probability of measuring an energy

A simple proof of the detectability lemma and spectral gap amplification

\tau

An area law and sub-exponential algorithm for 1D systems

in a local region, if the global system is in a superposition of eigenstates with energies

Polynomial Quantum Algorithms for Additive approximations of the Potts model and other Points of the Tutte Plane

\epsilon<\tau

The detectability lemma and quantum gap amplification

. On the other hand, we bound the probability of measuring a global energy