Volume 1 (2005)
Article 4 pp. 47-79
Quantum Search of Spatial Regions
Received: June 13, 2004
Published: July 13, 2005
Published: July 13, 2005
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Keywords: quantum computing, Grover search, amplitude amplification, quantum communication complexity, disjointness, lower bounds
ACM Classification: F.1.2, F.1.3
AMS Classification: 81P68, 68Q17
Abstract: [Plain Text Version]
Can Grover's algorithm speed up search of a physical region---for
example a
2-D grid of size (√n)×(√n)? The problem is that (√n)
time seems to be needed for each query, just to move amplitude
across the grid. Here we show that this problem can be surmounted,
refuting a claim to the contrary by Benioff. In particular, we
show how to search a d-dimensional hypercube in time O(√n)
for d≥3, or O((√n)log5/2n) for d=2. More
generally, we introduce a model of quantum query complexity
on graphs, motivated by fundamental physical limits on information
storage, particularly the holographic principle from black hole
thermodynamics. Our results in this model include almost-tight
upper and lower bounds for many search tasks; a generalized
algorithm that works for any graph with good expansion properties,
not just hypercubes; and relationships among several notions of
`locality' for unitary matrices acting
on graphs. As an application of our results, we give an
O(√n)-qubit communication protocol for the disjointness problem,
which improves an upper bound of Høyer and de Wolf and matches
a lower bound of Razborov.

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