Quantum walks with an anisotropic coin II: scattering theory

We perform the scattering analysis of the evolution operator of quantum walks with an anisotropic coin, and we prove a weak limit theorem for their asymptotic velocity. The quantum walks that we consider include one-defect models, two-phase quantum walks, and topological phase quantum walks as special cases. Our analysis is based on an abstract framework for the scattering theory of unitary operators in a two-Hilbert spaces setting, which is of independent interest.

     

One-dimensional lazy quantum walks and occupancy rate

In this paper, we discuss the properties of lazy quantum walks. Our analysis shows that the lazy quantum walks have O(t n) order of the n-th moment of the corresponding probability distribution, which is the same as that for normal quantum walks. The lazy quantum walk with a discrete Fourier transform(DFT) coin operator has a similar probability distribution concentrated interval to that of the normal Hadamard quantum walk. Most importantly, we introduce the concepts of occupancy number and occupancy rate to measure the extent to which the walk has a(relatively) high probability at every position in its range. We conclude that the lazy quantum walks have a higher occupancy rate than other walks such as normal quantum walks, classical walks, and lazy classical walks.     

Central Limit Theorems for Open Quantum Random Walks on the Crystal Lattices

We consider the open quantum random walks on the crystal lattices and investigate the central limit theorems for the walks. On the integer lattices the open quantum random walks satisfy the central limit theorems as was shown by Attal et al (Ann Henri Poincaré 16(1):15–43, 2015). In this paper we prove the central limit theorems for the open quantum random walks on the crystal lattices. We then provide with some examples for the Hexagonal lattices. We also develop the Fourier analysis on the crystal lattices. This leads to construct the so called dual processes for the open quantum random walks. It amounts to get Fourier transform of the probability densities, and it is very useful when we compute the characteristic functions of the walks. In this paper we construct the dual processes for the open quantum random walks on the crystal lattices providing with some examples.

     

Open Quantum Random Walks

A new model of quantum random walks is introduced, on lattices as well as on finite graphs. These quantum random walks take into account the behavior of open quantum systems. They are the exact quantum analogues of classical Markov chains. We explore the “quantum trajectory” point of view on these quantum random walks, that is, we show that measuring the position of the particle after each time-step gives rise to a classical Markov chain, on the lattice times the state space of the particle. This quantum trajectory is a simulation of the master equation of the quantum random walk. The physical pertinence of such quantum random walks and the way they can be concretely realized is discussed. Differences and connections with the already well-known quantum random walks, such as the Hadamard random walk, are established.     

Exact solutions and symmetry analysis for the limiting probability distribution of quantum walks

In the literature, there are numerous studies of one-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks (DTQWs) using a moving shift operator. However, there is no exact solution for the limiting probability distributions of DTQWs on cycles using a general coin or swapping shift operator. In this paper, we derive exact solutions for the limiting probability distribution of quantum walks using a general coin and swapping shift operator on cycles for the first time. Based on the exact solutions, we show how to generate symmetric quantum walks and determine the condition under which a symmetric quantum walk appears. Our results suggest that choosing various coin and initial state parameters can achieve a symmetric quantum walk. By defining a quantity to measure the variation of symmetry, deviation and mixing time of symmetric quantum walks are also investigated.     

Realization of quantum walks with negligible decoherence in waveguide lattices

Quantum random walks are the quantum counterpart of classical random walks, and were recently studied in the context of quantum computation. Physical implementations of quantum walks have only been made in very small scale systems severely limited by decoherence. Here we show that the propagation of photons in waveguide lattices, which have been studied extensively in recent years, are essentially an implementation of quantum walks. Since waveguide lattices are easily constructed at large scales and display negligible decoherence, they can serve as an ideal and versatile experimental playground for the study of quantum walks and quantum algorithms. We experimentally observe quantum walks in large systems ( approximately 100 sites) and confirm quantum walks effects which were studied theoretically, including ballistic propagation, disorder, and boundary related effects.     

Dirac Spatial Search with Electric Fields

Electric Dirac quantum walks, which are a discretisation of the Dirac equation for a spinor coupled to an electric field, are revisited in order to perform spatial searches. The Coulomb electric field of a point charge is used as a non local oracle to perform a spatial search on a 2D grid of N points. As other quantum walks proposed for spatial search, these walks localise partially on the charge after a finite period of time. However, contrary to other walks, this localisation time scales as N for small values of N and tends asymptotically to a constant for larger Ns, thus offering a speed-up over conventional methods.     

Disorder and decoherence in coined quantum walks

This article aims to provide a review on quantum walks. Starting form a basic idea of discrete-time quantum walks, we will review the impact of disorder and decoherence on the properties of quantum walks. The evolution of the standard quantum walks is deterministic and disorder introduces randomness to the whole system and change interference pattern leading to the localization effect. Whereas, decoherence plays the role of transmitting quantum walks to classical random walks.     

Classical spin in a potential field

We consider an ensemble of restricted discrete random walks in 2+1 dimensions. The restriction on the walks is such as to given particles an intrinsic angular momentum. The walks are embedded in a field which affects the mean free path of the walks. We show that the dynamics of the walks is such that second-order effects are described by a discrete form of Schrödinger's equation for particles in a potential field. This provides a classical context of the equation which is independent of its quantum context.     

Quantum walks with coins undergoing different quantum noisy channels

Quantum walks have significantly different properties compared to classical random walks, which have potential applications in quantum computation and quantum simulation. We study Hadamard quantum walks with coins undergoing different quantum noisy channels and deduce the analytical expressions of the first two moments of position in the longtime limit. Numerical simulations have been done, the results are compared with the analytical results, and they match extremely well. We show that the variance of the position distributions of the walks grows linearly with time when enough steps are taken and the linear coefficient is affected by the strength of the quantum noisy channels.     

Continuous Time Open Quantum Random Walks and Non-Markovian Lindblad Master Equations

A new type of quantum random walks, called Open Quantum Random Walks, has been developed and studied in Attal et al. (Open quantum random walks, preprint) and (Central limit theorems for open quantum random walks, preprint). In this article we present a natural continuous time extension of these Open Quantum Random Walks. This continuous time version is obtained by taking a continuous time limit of the discrete time Open Quantum Random Walks. This approximation procedure is based on some adaptation of Repeated Quantum Interactions Theory (Attal and Pautrat in Annales Henri Poincaré Physique Théorique 7:59–104, 2006) coupled with the use of correlated projectors (Breuer in Phys Rev A 75:022103, 2007). The limit evolutions obtained this way give rise to a particular type of quantum master equations. These equations appeared originally in the non-Markovian generalization of the Lindblad theory (Breuer in Phys Rev A 75:022103, 2007). We also investigate the continuous time limits of the quantum trajectories associated with Open Quantum Random Walks. We show that the limit evolutions in this context are described by jump stochastic differential equations. Finally we present a physical example which can be described in terms of Open Quantum Random Walks and their associated continuous time limits.     

Non-Markovian decoherent quantum walks

Quantum walks act in obviously different ways from their classical counterparts, but decoherence will lessen and close this gap between them. To understand this process, it is necessary to investigate the evolution of quantum walks under different decoherence situations. In this article, we study a non-Markovian decoherent quantum walk on a line. In a short time regime, the behavior of the walk deviates from both ideal quantum walks and classical random walks. The position variance as a measure of the quantum walk collapses and revives for a short time, and tends to have a linear relation with time. That is, the walker's behavior shows a diffusive spread over a long time limit, which is caused by non-Markovian dephasing affecting the quantum correlations between the quantum walker and his coin. We also study both quantum discord and measurement-induced disturbance as measures of the quantum correlations, and observe both collapse and revival in the short time regime, and the tendency to be zero in the long time limit. Therefore, quantum walks with non-Markovian decoherence tend to have diffusive spreading behavior over long time limits, while in the short time regime they oscillate between ballistic and diffusive spreading behavior, and the quantum correlation collapses and revives due to the memory effect.     

Limit Theorems for Open Quantum Random Walks

We consider the limit distributions of open quantum random walks on one-dimensional lattice space. We introduce a dual process to the original quantum walk process, which is quite similar to the relation of Schrödinger-Heisenberg representation in quantum mechanics. By this, we can compute the distribution of the open quantum random walks concretely for many examples and thereby we can also obtain the limit distributions of them. In particular, it is possible to get rid of the initial state when we consider the evolution of the walk, it appears only in the last step of the computation.     

Efficient quantum private comparison protocol based on one direction discrete quantum walks on the circle

We propose an efficient quantum private comparison protocol firstly based on one direction quantum walks. With the help of one direction quantum walk, we develop a novel method that allows the semi-honest third party to set a flag to judge the comparing result, which improves the qubit efficiency and the maximum quantity of the participants' secret messages. Besides, our protocol can judge the size of the secret messages, not only equality. Furthermore, the quantum walks particle is disentangled in the initial state. It only requires a quantum walks operator to move, making our proposed protocol easy to implement and reducing the quantum resources. Through security analysis, we prove that our protocol can withstand well-known attacks and brute-force attacks. Analyses also reveal that our protocol is correct and practical.     

Quantum Walks,Weyl Equation and the Lorentz Group

Quantum cellular automata and quantum walks provide a framework for the foundations of quantum field theory, since the equations of motion of free relativistic quantum fields can be derived as the small wave-vector limit of quantum automata and walks starting from very general principles. The intrinsic discreteness of this framework is reconciled with the continuous Lorentz symmetry by reformulating the notion of inertial reference frame in terms of the constants of motion of the quantum walk dynamics. In particular, among the symmetries of the quantum walk which recovers the Weyl equation—the so called Weyl walk—one finds a non linear realisation of the Poincaré group, which recovers the usual linear representation in the small wave-vector limit. In this paper we characterise the full symmetry group of the Weyl walk which is shown to be a non linear realization of a group which is the semidirect product of the Poincaré group and the group of dilations.     

Localization of quantum walks on finite graphs

We analyze the localization of quantum walks on a one-dimensional finite graph using vector-distance. We first vectorize the probability distribution of a quantum walker in each node. Then we compute out the probability distribution vectors of quantum walks in infinite and finite graphs in the presence of static disorder respectively, and get the distance between these two vectors. We find that when the steps taken are small and the boundary condition is tight, the localization between the infinite and finite cases is greatly different. However, the difference is negligible when the steps taken are large or the boundary condition is loose. It means quantum walks on a one-dimensional finite graph may also suffer from localization in the presence of static disorder. Our approach and results can be generalized to analyze the localization of quantum walks in higher-dimensional cases.     

Recurrence and Pólya number of quantum walks

We analyze the recurrence probability (Pólya number) for d-dimensional unbiased quantum walks. A sufficient condition for a quantum walk to be recurrent is derived. As a by-product we find a simple criterion for localization of quantum walks. In contrast with classical walks, where the Pólya number is characteristic for the given dimension, the recurrence probability of a quantum walk depends in general on the topology of the walk, choice of the coin and the initial state. This allows us to change the character of the quantum walk from recurrent to transient by altering the initial state.     

Photonic discrete-time quantum walks [Invited]

Quantum walks, a counterpart of classical random walks, have many applications due to their neoteric features.Since they were first proposed, quantum walks have been explored in many fields theoretically and have also been demonstrated experimentally in various physical systems. In this paper, we review the experimental realizations of discrete-time quantum walks in photonic systems with different physical structures, such as bulk optics and time-multiplexed framework. Then, some typical applications using quantum walks are introduced. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of these physical systems are discussed.     

Two Quantum Coins Sharing a Walker

For classical random walks, changing or not changing coins makes a trivial influence on the random-walk behaviors. In this paper, we investigate the quantum walk where a walker’s movement is controlled by two initially independent coins alternately partially or fully after each step. We observe that there exist complicated inter-coin correlations in the quantum walk. Specifically, we study the correlations of two coins by tracing out the walker, and analyze classical, general, and quantum correlations between two coins in terms of classical mutual information, quantum mutual information, and measurement-induced disturbance. Our analysis shows different quantum features from that in classical random walks.

     

On the Relationship Between Continuous- and Discrete-Time Quantum Walk

Quantum walk is one of the main tools for quantum algorithms. Defined by analogy to classical random walk, a quantum walk is a time-homogeneous quantum process on a graph. Both random and quantum walks can be defined either in continuous or discrete time. But whereas a continuous-time random walk can be obtained as the limit of a sequence of discrete-time random walks, the two types of quantum walk appear fundamentally different, owing to the need for extra degrees of freedom in the discrete-time case. In this article, I describe a precise correspondence between continuous- and discrete- time quantum walks on arbitrary graphs. Using this correspondence, I show that continuous-time quantum walk can be obtained as an appropriate limit of discrete-time quantum walks. The correspondence also leads to a new technique for simulating Hamiltonian dynamics, giving efficient simulations even in cases where the Hamiltonian is not sparse. The complexity of the simulation is linear in the total evolution time, an improvement over simulations based on high-order approximations of the Lie product formula. As applications, I describe a continuous-time quantum walk algorithm for element distinctness and show how to optimally simulate continuous-time query algorithms of a certain form in the conventional quantum query model. Finally, I discuss limitations of the method for simulating Hamiltonians with negative matrix elements, and present two problems that motivate attempting to circumvent these limitations.