A Recipe for Quantum Graphical Languages

Different graphical calculi have been proposed to represent quantum computation. First the ZX-calculus [Coecke and Duncan, 2011], followed by the ZW-calculus [Hadzihasanovic, 2015] and then the ZH-calculus [Backens and Kissinger, 2018]. We can wonder if new ZX-like calculi will continue to be proposed forever. This article answers negatively. All those language share a common core structure we call Z^*-algebras. We classify Z^*-algebras up to isomorphism in two dimensional Hilbert spaces and show that they are all variations of the aforementioned calculi. We do the same for linear relations and show that the calculus of [Bonchi et al., 2017] is essentially the unique one

A recipe for quantum graphical languages

International audienceDifferent graphical calculi have been proposed to represent quantum computation. First the ZX-calculus [4], followed by the ZW-calculus [12] and then the ZH-calculus [1]. We can wonder if new Z *-calculi will continue to be proposed forever. This article answers negatively. All those language share a common core structure we call Z *-algebras. We classify Z *-algebras up to isomorphism in two dimensional Hilbert spaces and show that they are all variations of the aforementioned calculi. We do the same for linear relations and show that the calculus of [2] is essentially the unique one. The most common formalization of quantum computing is the circuit model, a diagram-matical language representing unitary matrices in a two dimensional Hilbert space, see [20] for an introduction. Verification of quantum processes requires a sound and complete equational theory for quantum circuits, i.e. a complete presentation of unitaries by generators and relations. This is known to be a difficult open problem. By relaxing the unitarity condition and allowing all linear maps, at least three different complete equational theories were found. The ZX-calculus was introduced in [4] and was designed as a part of the categorical quantum mechanics program. It relies on the interaction between two complementary observables. The ZX-calculus has proven to be a good language to reason about quantum processes [7, 11]. However, finding a set of rules to make it complete has been open for a long time, and part of the solution [15] involved a secondary graphical language: the ZW-calculus [12, 5]. This calculus is built on two tripartite entanglement classes (GHZ and W-states) unraveling new structures. Yet another complete graphical language was later introduced, the ZH-calculus [1], inspired by hyper-graph states. Compared to quantum circuits, these three languages share an important advantage. Processes and matrices are not represented merely by diagrams, but by graphs (hence the term graphical language). Isomorphic graphs represent the same quantum evolution. This peculiarity is embedded in the only topology matters paradigm. This is a subtle feature: a usual diagrammatic language (like quantum circuits) starts with a given set of primitives (usually quantum gates) for which the notion of inputs and outputs is significant. When only topology matters, one can readily switch an input into an output, and conversely. This property follows from some specificities of the building blocks of those languages. One goal of this article is to give a formal definition of these specificities. Then, we will be able to prove that the three existing graphical calculi for quantum computing, ZX, ZH and ZW , are essentially the only possible graphical calculi for quantum computing

Universal Constructions for (Co)Relations: categories, monoidal categories, and props

Calculi of string diagrams are increasingly used to present the syntax and algebraic structure of various families of circuits, including signal flow graphs, electrical circuits and quantum processes. In many such approaches, the semantic interpretation for diagrams is given in terms of relations or corelations (generalised equivalence relations) of some kind. In this paper we show how semantic categories of both relations and corelations can be characterised as colimits of simpler categories. This modular perspective is important as it simplifies the task of giving a complete axiomatisation for semantic equivalence of string diagrams. Moreover, our general result unifies various theorems that are independently found in literature and are relevant for program semantics, quantum computation and control theory.Comment: 22 pages + 3 page appendix, extended version of arXiv:1703.0824

Completeness of Graphical Languages for Mixed States Quantum Mechanics

There exist several graphical languages for quantum information processing, like quantum circuits, ZX-Calculus, ZW-Calculus, etc. Each of these languages forms a dagger-symmetric monoidal category (dagger-SMC) and comes with an interpretation functor to the dagger-SMC of (finite dimension) Hilbert spaces. In the recent years, one of the main achievements of the categorical approach to quantum mechanics has been to provide several equational theories for most of these graphical languages, making them complete for various fragments of pure quantum mechanics. We address the question of the extension of these languages beyond pure quantum mechanics, in order to reason on mixed states and general quantum operations, i.e. completely positive maps. Intuitively, such an extension relies on the axiomatisation of a discard map which allows one to get rid of a quantum system, operation which is not allowed in pure quantum mechanics. We introduce a new construction, the discard construction, which transforms any dagger-symmetric monoidal category into a symmetric monoidal category equipped with a discard map. Roughly speaking this construction consists in making any isometry causal. Using this construction we provide an extension for several graphical languages that we prove to be complete for general quantum operations. However this construction fails for some fringe cases like the Clifford+T quantum mechanics, as the category does not have enough isometries

Quantum Picturalism

The quantum mechanical formalism doesn't support our intuition, nor does it elucidate the key concepts that govern the behaviour of the entities that are subject to the laws of quantum physics. The arrays of complex numbers are kin to the arrays of 0s and 1s of the early days of computer programming practice. In this review we present steps towards a diagrammatic `high-level' alternative for the Hilbert space formalism, one which appeals to our intuition. It allows for intuitive reasoning about interacting quantum systems, and trivialises many otherwise involved and tedious computations. It clearly exposes limitations such as the no-cloning theorem, and phenomena such as quantum teleportation. As a logic, it supports `automation'. It allows for a wider variety of underlying theories, and can be easily modified, having the potential to provide the required step-stone towards a deeper conceptual understanding of quantum theory, as well as its unification with other physical theories. Specific applications discussed here are purely diagrammatic proofs of several quantum computational schemes, as well as an analysis of the structural origin of quantum non-locality. The underlying mathematical foundation of this high-level diagrammatic formalism relies on so-called monoidal categories, a product of a fairly recent development in mathematics. These monoidal categories do not only provide a natural foundation for physical theories, but also for proof theory, logic, programming languages, biology, cooking, ... The challenge is to discover the necessary additional pieces of structure that allow us to predict genuine quantum phenomena.Comment: Commissioned paper for Contemporary Physics, 31 pages, 84 pictures, some colo

Computation in Finitary Stochastic and Quantum Processes

We introduce stochastic and quantum finite-state transducers as computation-theoretic models of classical stochastic and quantum finitary processes. Formal process languages, representing the distribution over a process's behaviors, are recognized and generated by suitable specializations. We characterize and compare deterministic and nondeterministic versions, summarizing their relative computational power in a hierarchy of finitary process languages. Quantum finite-state transducers and generators are a first step toward a computation-theoretic analysis of individual, repeatedly measured quantum dynamical systems. They are explored via several physical systems, including an iterated beam splitter, an atom in a magnetic field, and atoms in an ion trap--a special case of which implements the Deutsch quantum algorithm. We show that these systems' behaviors, and so their information processing capacity, depends sensitively on the measurement protocol.Comment: 25 pages, 16 figures, 1 table; http://cse.ucdavis.edu/~cmg; numerous corrections and update

Ancilla-assisted sequential approximation of nonlocal unitary operations

We consider the recently proposed "no-go" theorem of Lamata et al [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 180506 (2008)] on the impossibility of sequential implementation of global unitary operations with the aid of an itinerant ancillary system and view the claim within the language of Kraus representation. By virtue of an extremely useful tool for analyzing entanglement properties of quantum operations, namely, operator-Schmidt decomposition, we provide alternative proof to the "no-go" theorem and also study the role of initial correlations between the qubits and ancilla in sequential preparation of unitary entanglers. Despite the negative response from the "no-go" theorem, we demonstrate explicitly how the matrix-product operator(MPO) formalism provides a flexible structure to develop protocols for sequential implementation of such entanglers with an optimal fidelity. The proposed numerical technique, that we call variational matrix-product operator (VMPO), offers a computationally efficient tool for characterizing the "globalness" and entangling capabilities of nonlocal unitary operations.Comment: Slightly improved version as published in Phys. Rev.

Specific "scientific" data structures, and their processing

Programming physicists use, as all programmers, arrays, lists, tuples, records, etc., and this requires some change in their thought patterns while converting their formulae into some code, since the "data structures" operated upon, while elaborating some theory and its consequences, are rather: power series and Pad\'e approximants, differential forms and other instances of differential algebras, functionals (for the variational calculus), trajectories (solutions of differential equations), Young diagrams and Feynman graphs, etc. Such data is often used in a [semi-]numerical setting, not necessarily "symbolic", appropriate for the computer algebra packages. Modules adapted to such data may be "just libraries", but often they become specific, embedded sub-languages, typically mapped into object-oriented frameworks, with overloaded mathematical operations. Here we present a functional approach to this philosophy. We show how the usage of Haskell datatypes and - fundamental for our tutorial - the application of lazy evaluation makes it possible to operate upon such data (in particular: the "infinite" sequences) in a natural and comfortable manner.Comment: In Proceedings DSL 2011, arXiv:1109.032