Quantum Physics, Complexity Theory, & Combinatorics
Ryan L. Mann, Samuel J. Elman, David R. Wood, Adrian Chapman, arXiv e-prints (2024). arXiv Post PDF
We show that a quantum spin system has an exact free-parafermion solution if its frustration graph is an oriented indifference graph. Further, we show that if the frustration graph of a model can be dipath oriented via switching operations, then the model is integrable in the sense that there is a family of commuting independent set charges. Additionally, we establish an efficient algorithm for deciding whether this is possible. Our characterisation extends that given for free-fermion solvability. Finally, we apply our results to solve three qudit spin models.
Samuel J. Elman, Jason Gavriel, and Ryan L. Mann, arXiv e-prints (2024). arXiv Post PDF
We study the optimal scheduling of graph states in measurement-based quantum computation, establishing an equivalence between measurement schedules and path decompositions of graphs. We define the spatial cost of a measurement schedule based on the number of simultaneously active qubits and prove that an optimal measurement schedule corresponds to a path decomposition of minimal width. Our analysis shows that approximating the spatial cost of a graph is NP-hard, while for graphs with bounded spatial cost, we establish an efficient algorithm for computing an optimal measurement schedule.
Ryan L. Mann and Romy M. Minko, PRX Quantum 5, 010305 (2024). arXiv Post Journal PDF
We establish a general framework for developing approximation algorithms for a class of counting problems. Our framework is based on the cluster expansion of abstract polymer models formalism of Kotecký and Preiss. We apply our framework to obtain efficient algorithms for (1) approximating probability amplitudes of a class of quantum circuits close to the identity, (2) approximating expectation values of a class of quantum circuits with operators close to the identity, (3) approximating partition functions of a class of quantum spin systems at high temperature, and (4) approximating thermal expectation values of a class of quantum spin systems at high temperature with positive-semidefinite operators. Further, we obtain hardness of approximation results for approximating probability amplitudes of quantum circuits and partition functions of quantum spin systems. This establishes a computational complexity transition for these problems and shows that our algorithmic conditions are optimal under complexity-theoretic assumptions. Finally, we show that our algorithmic condition is almost optimal for expectation values and optimal for thermal expectation values in the sense of zero freeness.
Tyler Helmuth and Ryan L. Mann, Quantum 7, 1155 (2023). arXiv Post Journal PDF
We establish an efficient approximation algorithm for the partition functions of a class of quantum spin systems at low temperature, which can be viewed as stable quantum perturbations of classical spin systems. Our algorithm is based on combining the contour representation of quantum spin systems of this type due to Borgs, Kotecký, and Ueltschi with the algorithmic framework developed by Helmuth, Perkins, and Regts, and Borgs et al.
Adrian Chapman, Samuel J. Elman, and Ryan L. Mann, arXiv e-prints (2023). arXiv Post PDF
We show that a quantum spin system has an exact description by non-interacting fermions if its frustration graph is claw-free and contains a simplicial clique. The frustration graph of a spin model captures the pairwise anticommutation relations between Pauli terms of its Hamiltonian in a given basis. This result captures a vast family of known free-fermion solutions. In previous work, it was shown that a free-fermion solution exists if the frustration graph is either a line graph, or (even-hole, claw)-free. The former case generalizes the celebrated Jordan-Wigner transformation and includes the exact solution to the Kitaev honeycomb model. The latter case generalizes a non-local solution to the four-fermion model given by Fendley. Our characterization unifies these two approaches, extending generalized Jordan-Wigner solutions to the non-local setting and generalizing the four-fermion solution to models of arbitrary spatial dimension. Our key technical insight is the identification of a class of cycle symmetries for all models with claw-free frustration graphs. We prove that these symmetries commute, and this allows us to apply Fendley's solution method to each symmetric subspace independently. Finally, we give a physical description of the fermion modes in terms of operators generated by repeated commutation with the Hamiltonian. This connects our framework to the developing body of work on operator Krylov subspaces. Our results deepen the connection between many-body physics and the mathematical theory of claw-free graphs.
Michael J. Bremner, Zhengfeng Ji, Ryan L. Mann, Luke Mathieson, Mauro E.S. Morales, and Alexis T.E. Shaw, arXiv e-prints (2022). arXiv Post PDF
Parameterized complexity theory was developed in the 1990s to enrich the complexity-theoretic analysis of problems that depend on a range of parameters. In this paper we establish a quantum equivalent of classical parameterized complexity theory, motivated by the need for new tools for the classifications of the complexity of real-world problems. We introduce the quantum analogues of a range of parameterized complexity classes and examine the relationship between these classes, their classical counterparts, and well-studied problems. This framework exposes a rich classification of the complexity of parameterized versions of QMA-hard problems, demonstrating, for example, a clear separation between the Quantum Circuit Satisfiability problem and the Local Hamiltonian problem.
Ryan L. Mann, npj Quantum Information 7, 141 (2021). arXiv Post Journal PDF
We establish a classical heuristic algorithm for exactly computing quantum probability amplitudes. Our algorithm is based on mapping output probability amplitudes of quantum circuits to evaluations of the Tutte polynomial of graphic matroids. The algorithm evaluates the Tutte polynomial recursively using the deletion-contraction property while attempting to exploit structural properties of the matroid. We consider several variations of our algorithm and present experimental results comparing their performance on two classes of random quantum circuits. Further, we obtain an explicit form for Clifford circuit amplitudes in terms of matroid invariants and an alternative efficient classical algorithm for computing the output probability amplitudes of Clifford circuits.
Ryan L. Mann and Tyler Helmuth, Journal of Mathematical Physics 62, 022201 (2021). arXiv Post Journal PDF
We establish a polynomial-time approximation algorithm for partition functions of quantum spin models at high temperature. Our algorithm is based on the quantum cluster expansion of Netočný and Redig and the cluster expansion approach to designing algorithms due to Helmuth, Perkins, and Regts. Similar results have previously been obtained by related methods, and our main contribution is a simple and slightly sharper analysis for the case of pairwise interactions on bounded-degree graphs.
Ryan L. Mann, Luke Mathieson, and Catherine Greenhill, arXiv e-prints (2020). arXiv Post PDF
We introduce a family of graph parameters, called induced multipartite graph parameters, and study their computational complexity. First, we consider the following decision problem: an instance is an induced multipartite graph parameter \(p\) and a given graph \(G\), and for natural numbers \(k\geq2\) and \(\ell\), we must decide whether the maximum value of \(p\) over all induced \(k\)-partite subgraphs of \(G\) is at most \(\ell\). We prove that this problem is \(\text{W[1]-hard}\). Next, we consider a variant of this problem, where we must decide whether the given graph \(G\) contains a sufficiently large induced \(k\)-partite subgraph \(H\) such that \(p(H)\leq\ell\). We show that for certain parameters this problem is \(\text{para-NP-hard}\), while for others it is fixed-parameter tractable.
Ryan L. Mann and Michael J. Bremner, Quantum 3, 162 (2019). arXiv Post Journal PDF
We study the problem of approximating the Ising model partition function with complex parameters on bounded degree graphs. We establish a deterministic polynomial-time approximation scheme for the partition function when the interactions and external fields are absolutely bounded close to zero. Furthermore, we prove that for this class of Ising models the partition function does not vanish. Our algorithm is based on an approach due to Barvinok for approximating evaluations of a polynomial based on the location of the complex zeros and a technique due to Patel and Regts for efficiently computing the leading coefficients of graph polynomials on bounded degree graphs. Finally, we show how our algorithm can be extended to approximate certain output probability amplitudes of quantum circuits.
Ryan L. Mann and Michael J. Bremner, arXiv e-prints (2017). arXiv Post PDF
There is a natural relationship between Jones polynomials and quantum computation. We use this relationship to show that the complexity of evaluating relative-error approximations of Jones polynomials can be used to bound the classical complexity of approximately simulating random quantum computations. We prove that random quantum computations cannot be classically simulated up to a constant total variation distance, under the assumption that (1) the Polynomial Hierarchy does not collapse and (2) the average-case complexity of relative-error approximations of the Jones polynomial matches the worst-case complexity over a constant fraction of random links. Our results provide a straightforward relationship between the approximation of Jones polynomials and the complexity of random quantum computations.
Keith R. Motes, Ryan L. Mann, Jonathan P. Olson, Nicholas M. Studer, E. Annelise Bergeron, Alexei Gilchrist, Jonathan P. Dowling, Dominic W. Berry, and Peter P. Rohde, Physical Review A 94, 012344 (2016). arXiv Journal PDF
Fock states are a fundamental resource for many quantum technologies such as quantum metrology. While much progress has been made in single-photon source technologies, preparing Fock states with large photon number remains challenging. We present and analyze a bootstrapped approach for non-deterministically preparing large photon-number Fock states by iteratively fusing smaller Fock states on a beamsplitter. We show that by employing state recycling we are able to exponentially improve the preparation rate over conventional schemes, allowing the efficient preparation of large Fock states. The scheme requires single-photon sources, beamsplitters, number-resolved photo-detectors, fast-feedforward, and an optical quantum memory.