Quantum Algorithms for Matching Problems

We present quantum algorithms for the following matching problems in unweighted and weighted graphs with n vertices and m edges:

Sharp Quantum versus Classical Query Complexity Separations

Abstract. We obtain the strongest separation between quantum and classical query complexity known to date—specifically, we define a black-box problem that requires exponentially many queries in the classical bounded-error case, but can be solved exactly in the quantum case with a single query (and a polynomial number of auxiliary operations). The problem is simple to define and the quantum algorithm solving it is also simple when described in terms of certain quantum Fourier transforms (QFTs) that have natural properties with respect to the algebraic structures of finite fields. These QFTs may be of independent interest, and we also investigate generalizations of them to noncommutative finite rings.     

Improved Bounds on Quantum Learning Algorithms

In this article we give several new results on the complexity of algorithms that learn Boolean functions from quantum queries and quantum examples.

Simple Algorithm for Partial Quantum Search

Quite often in database search, we only need to extract portion of the information about the satisfying item. We consider this problem in the following form: the database of N items is separated into K blocks of size b = N / K elements each and an algorithm has just to find the block containing the item of interest. The queries are exactly the same as in the standard database search problem. We present a quantum algorithm for this problem of partial search that takes about 0.34 fewer iterations than the quantum search algorithm.     

Progress in Quantum Algorithms

We discuss the progress (or lack of it) that has been made in discovering algorithms for computation on a quantum computer. Some possible reasons are given for the paucity of quantum algorithms so far discovered, and a short survey is given of the state of the field. PACS: 03.67.Lx     

Remotely Prepared Entanglement: a Quantum Web Page

Abstract. In quantum teleportation, an unknown quantum state is transmitted from one party to another using only local operations and classical communication, at the cost of shared entanglement. Is it possible similarly, using an N party entangled state, to have the state retrievable by any of the N-1 possible receivers? If the receivers cooperate, and share a suitable state, this can be done reliably. The N party GHZ is one such state; I derive a large class of such states, and show that they are in general not equivalent to the GHZ. I also briefly discuss the problem where the parties do not cooperate, and the relationship to multipartite entanglement quantification. I define a new set of entanglement monotones, the entanglements of preparation.     

Quantum Pattern Recognition

I review and expand the model of quantum associative memory that I have recently proposed. In this model binary patterns of n bits are stored in the quantum superposition of the appropriate subset of the computational basis of n qbits. Information can be retrieved by performing an input-dependent rotation of the memory quantum state within this subset and measuring the resulting state. The amplitudes of this rotated memory state are peaked on those stored patterns which are closest in Hamming distance to the input, resulting in a high probability of measuring a memory pattern very similar to it. The accuracy of pattern recall can be tuned by adjusting a parameter playing the role of an effective temperature. This model solves the well-known capacity shortage problem of classical associative memories, providing a large improvement in capacity. PACS: 03.67.-a     

量子克隆遗传算法

遗传算法是解决优化问题的一种有效方法,但在实际应用申也存在着收敛速度慢、早熟等问题,使得其结果极不稳定。本文将遗传算法和量子理论相结合并利用免疫系统申所特有的克隆算子,针对0／1背包问题,提出了一种改进的进化算法-一量子克隆遗传算法（QCA）。它能有效地避免早熟,且具有收敛速度快的特点。     

Quantum Algorithms: Philosophical Lessons

I discuss the philosophical implications that the rising new science of quantum computing may have on the philosophy of computer science. While quantum algorithms leave the notion of Turing-Computability intact, they may re-describe the abstract space of computational complexity theory hence militate against the autonomous character of some of the concepts and categories of computer science.

The Quantum Black-Box Complexity of Majority

   Abstract. We describe a quantum black-box network computing the majority of N bits with zero-sided error ɛ using only

Quantum Algorithms for Learning and Testing Juntas

In this article we develop quantum algorithms for learning and testing juntas, i.e. Boolean functions which depend only on an unknown set of k out of n input variables. Our aim is to develop efficient algorithms: (1) whose sample complexity has no dependence on n, the dimension of the domain the Boolean functions are defined over; (2) with no access to any classical or quantum membership (“black-box”) queries. Instead, our algorithms use only classical examples generated uniformly at random and fixed quantum superpositions of such classical examples; (3) which require only a few quantum examples but possibly many classical random examples (which are considered quite “cheap” relative to quantum examples). Our quantum algorithms are based on a subroutine FS which enables sampling according to the Fourier spectrum of f; the FS subroutine was used in earlier work of Bshouty and Jackson on quantum learning. Our results are as follows: (1) We give an algorithm for testing k-juntas to accuracy ε that uses O(k/ϵ) quantum examples. This improves on the number of examples used by the best known classical algorithm. (2) We establish the following lower bound: any FS-based k-junta testing algorithm requires queries. (3) We give an algorithm for learning k-juntas to accuracy ϵ that uses O(ϵ⁻¹ k log k) quantum examples and O(2 ^k log(1/ϵ)) random examples. We show that this learning algorithm is close to optimal by giving a related lower bound. Supported in part by NSF award CCF-0347282, by NSF award CCF-0523664, and by a Sloan Foundation Fellowship.     

Algorithms for subsequence combinatorics

A subsequence is obtained from a string by deleting any number of characters; thus in contrast to a substring, a subsequence is not necessarily a contiguous part of the string. Counting subsequences under various constraints has become relevant to biological sequence analysis, to machine learning, to coding theory, to the analysis of categorical time series in the social sciences, and to the theory of word complexity. We present theorems that lead to efficient dynamic programming algorithms to count (1) distinct subsequences in a string, (2) distinct common subsequences of two strings, (3) matching joint embeddings in two strings, (4) distinct subsequences with a given minimum span, and (5) sequences generated by a string allowing characters to come in runs of a length that is bounded from above.     

混合量子进化算法及其应用

文章将量子进化算法(QEA)和粒子群算法(PSO)互相结合,提出了两种混合量子进化算法。第一种算法叫做嵌入式粒子群量子进化算法,其主要思想是将简化的PSO进化方程嵌入QEA的进化操作中,简化了QEA算法的结构,增强了QEA跳出局部极值的能力。第二种算法叫做量子二进制粒子群算法,其主要思想是将QEA中的量子染色体的概念引入二进制粒子群算法(BPSO),提高了BPSO算法保持种群多样性的能力和运算速度。通过对0-1背包问题和多用户检测问题的求解表明,新的算法不仅操作更简单,而且全局搜索能力有了显著的提高。     

Approximation Algorithms for Connected Dominating Sets

The dominating set problem in graphs asks for a minimum size subset of vertices with the following property: each vertex is required to be either in the dominating set, or adjacent to some vertex in the dominating set. We focus on the related question of finding a connected dominating set of minimum size, where the graph induced by vertices in the dominating set is required to be connected as well. This problem arises in network testing, as well as in wireless communication. Two polynomial time algorithms that achieve approximation factors of 2H(Δ)+2 and H(Δ)+2 are presented, where Δ is the maximum degree and H is the harmonic function. This question also arises in relation to the traveling tourist problem, where one is looking for the shortest tour such that each vertex is either visited or has at least one of its neighbors visited. We also consider a generalization of the problem to the weighted case, and give an algorithm with an approximation factor of (c _n +1) \ln n where c _n ln k is the approximation factor for the node weighted Steiner tree problem (currently c _n = 1.6103 ). We also consider the more general problem of finding a connected dominating set of a specified subset of vertices and provide a polynomial time algorithm with a (c+1) H(Δ) +c-1 approximation factor, where c is the Steiner approximation ratio for graphs (currently c = 1.644 ). Received June 22, 1996; revised February 28, 1997.     

Approximation Algorithms for Minimum K -Cut

Let G=(V,E) be a complete undirected graph, with node set V={v ₁ , . . ., v _n } and edge set E . The edges (v _i ,v _j ) ∈ E have nonnegative weights that satisfy the triangle inequality. Given a set of integers K = { k _i } _i=1 ^p , the minimum K-cut problem is to compute disjoint subsets with sizes { k _i } _i=1 ^p , minimizing the total weight of edges whose two ends are in different subsets. We demonstrate that for any fixed p it is possible to obtain in polynomial time an approximation of at most three times the optimal value. We also prove bounds on the ratio between the weights of maximum and minimum cuts. Received September 4, 1997; revised July 15, 1998.     

Exact and Approximation Algorithms for Clustering

In this paper we present an n^ O(k ^1-1/d ) -time algorithm for solving the k -center problem in \reals ^d , under L _∈ fty - and L ₂ -metrics. The algorithm extends to other metrics, and to the discrete k -center problem. We also describe a simple (1+ɛ) -approximation algorithm for the k -center problem, with running time O(nlog k) + (k/ɛ)^ O(k ^1-1/d ) . Finally, we present an n^ O(k ^1-1/d ) -time algorithm for solving the L -capacitated k -center problem, provided that L=Ω(n/k ^1-1/d ) or L=O(1) . Received July 25, 2000; revised April 6, 2001.     

量子力学和量子计算机

In this paper,the relationship between computation and physics and the application of the principle of Quantum mechanics to Quantum Computing and Quantum Computers was reviewed     

Sorting-Based Selection Algorithms for Hypercubic Networks

This paper presents several deterministic algorithms for selecting the k th largest record from a set of n records on any n -node hypercubic network. All of the algorithms are based on the selection algorithm of Cole and Yap, as well as on various sorting algorithms for hypercubic networks. Our fastest algorithm runs in O( lg n lg ^* n) time, very nearly matching the trivial lower bound. Previously, the best upper bound known for selection was O( lg n lg lg n) . A key subroutine in our O( lg n lg ^* n) time selection algorithm is a sparse version of the Sharesort algorithm that sorts n records using p processors, , in O( lg n ( lg lg p - lg lg (p/n) ) ² ) time. Received March 23, 1994; revised October 30, 1997.     

Quasi-Fully Dynamic Algorithms for Two-Connectivity and Cycle Equivalence

We introduce a new class of dynamic graph algorithms called quasi-fully dynamic algorithms , which are much more general than backtracking algorithms and are much simpler than fully dynamic algorithms. These algorithms are especially suitable for applications in which a certain core connected portion of the graph remains fixed, and fully dynamic updates occur on the remaining edges in the graph. We present very simple quasi-fully dynamic algorithms with O(log n) worst-case time per operation for 2-edge connectivity and O(log n) amortized time per operation for cycle equivalence. The former is deterministic while the latter is Monte-Carlo-type randomized. For 2-vertex connectivity, we give a deterministic quasi-fully dynamic algorithm with O(log ³ n) amortized time per operation. The quasi-fully dynamic algorithm we present for cycle equivalence (which has several applications in optimizing compilers) is of special interest since the algorithm is quite simple, and no special-purpose incremental or backtracking algorithm is known for this problem. Received October 26, 1998; revised October 1, 1999, and April 15, 2001.