We present a quantum algorithm that has rigorous runtime guarantees for several families of binary optimization problems, including Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO), Ising spin glasses (p-spin model), and k-local constraint satisfaction problems (k-CSP). We show that either (a) the algorithm finds the optimal solution in time O*(2(0.5−c)n) for an n-independent constant c, a 2cn advantage over Grover’s algorithm; or (b) there are sufficiently many low-cost solutions such that classical random guessing produces a (1−η) approximation to the optimal cost value in sub-exponential time for arbitrarily small choice of η. Additionally, we show that for a large fraction of random instances from the k-spin model and for any fully satisfiable or slightly frustrated k-CSP formula, statement (a) is the case. The algorithm and its analysis are largely inspired by Hastings’ short-path algorithm.

The design of decoding algorithms is a significant technological component in the development of fault-tolerant quantum computers. Often design of quantum decoders is inspired by classical decoding algorithms, but there are no general principles for building quantum decoders from classical decoders. Given any pair of classical codes, we can build a quantum code using the hypergraph product, yielding a hypergraph product code. Here we show we can also lift the decoders for these classical codes. That is, given oracle access to a minimum weight decoder for the relevant classical codes, the corresponding$[[n,k,d]]$quantum code can be efficiently decoded for any error of weight smaller than$(d-1)/2$. The quantum decoder requires only$O(k)$oracle calls to the classical decoder and$O(n^{2})$classical resources. The lift and the correctness proof of the decoder have a purely algebraic nature that draws on the discovery of some novel homological invariants of the hypergraph product codespace. While the decoder works perfectly for adversarial errors, that is errors of weight up to half the code distance, it is not suitable for more realistic stochastic noise models and therefore can not be used to establish an error correcting threshold.

Quantum codes typically rely on large numbers of degrees of freedom to achieve low error rates. However each additional degree of freedom introduces a new set of error mechanisms. Hence minimizing the degrees of freedom that a quantum code utilizes is helpful. One quantum error correction solution is to encode quantum information into one or more bosonic modes. We revisit rotation-invariant bosonic codes, which are supported on Fock states that are gapped by an integer g apart, and the gap g imparts number shift resilience to these codes. Intuitively, since phase operators and number shift operators do not commute, one expects a trade-off between resilience to number-shift and rotation errors. Here, we obtain results pertaining to the non-existence of approximate quantum error correcting g-gapped single-mode bosonic codes with respect to Gaussian dephasing errors. We show that by using arbitrarily many modes, g-gapped multi-mode codes can yield good approximate quantum error correction codes for any finite magnitude of Gaussian dephasing and amplitude damping errors.

One of the most promising applications of near-term quantum computing is the simulation of quantum systems, a classically intractable task. Quantum simulation requires computationally expensive matrix exponentiation; Trotter-Suzuki decomposition of this exponentiation enables efficient simulation to a desired accuracy on a quantum computer. We apply the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolutionary Strategy (CMA-ES) algorithm to optimise the Trotter-Suzuki decompositions of a canonical quantum system, the Heisenberg Chain; we reduce simulation error by around 60%. We introduce this problem to the computational search community, show that an evolutionary optimisation approach is robust across runs and problem instances, and find that optimisation results generalise to the simulation of larger systems.

We present a constructive method to create quantum circuits that implement oracles |x〉|y〉|0〉k→|x〉|y⊕f(x)〉|0〉kfor n-variable Boolean functions f with low T-count. In our method f is given as a 2-regular Boolean logic network over the gate basis {∧, ⊕, 1}. Our construction leads to circuits with a T-count that is at most four times the number of AND nodes in the network. In addition, we propose a SAT-based method that allows us to trade qubits for T gates, and explore the space/complexity trade-off of quantum circuits. Our constructive method suggests a new upper bound for the number of T gates and ancilla qubits based on the multiplicative complexity c∧(f) of the oracle function f, which is the minimum number of AND gates that is required to realize f over the gate basis {∧, ⊕, 1}. There exists a quantum circuit computing f with at most 4c∧(f)T gates using k=c∧(f) ancillae. Results known for the multiplicative complexity of Boolean functions can be transferred. We verify our method by comparing it to different state-of-the-art compilers. Finally, we present our synthesis results for Boolean functions used in quantum cryptoanalysis.