Quantum Simulation Logic, Oracles, and the Quantum Advantage

Query complexity is a common tool for comparing quantum and classical computation, and it has produced many examples of how quantum algorithms differ from classical ones. Here we investigate in detail the role that oracles play for the advantage of quantum algorithms. We do so by using a simulation framework, Quantum Simulation Logic (QSL), to construct oracles and algorithms that solve some problems with the same success probability and number of queries as the quantum algorithms. The framework can be simulated using only classical resources at a constant overhead as compared to the quantum resources used in quantum computation. Our results clarify the assumptions made and the conditions needed when using quantum oracles. Using the same assumptions on oracles within the simulation framework we show that for some specific algorithms, like the Deutsch-Jozsa and Simon's algorithms, there simply is no advantage in terms of query complexity. This does not detract from the fact that quantum query complexity provides examples of how a quantum computer can be expected to behave, which in turn has proved useful for finding new quantum algorithms outside of the oracle paradigm, where the most prominent example is Shor's algorithm for integer factorization.Comment: 48 pages, 46 figure

The Galois Complexity of Graph Drawing: Why Numerical Solutions are Ubiquitous for Force-Directed, Spectral, and Circle Packing Drawings

Many well-known graph drawing techniques, including force directed drawings, spectral graph layouts, multidimensional scaling, and circle packings, have algebraic formulations. However, practical methods for producing such drawings ubiquitously use iterative numerical approximations rather than constructing and then solving algebraic expressions representing their exact solutions. To explain this phenomenon, we use Galois theory to show that many variants of these problems have solutions that cannot be expressed by nested radicals or nested roots of low-degree polynomials. Hence, such solutions cannot be computed exactly even in extended computational models that include such operations.Comment: Graph Drawing 201

Nominal C-Unification

Nominal unification is an extension of first-order unification that takes into account the \alpha-equivalence relation generated by binding operators, following the nominal approach. We propose a sound and complete procedure for nominal unification with commutative operators, or nominal C-unification for short, which has been formalised in Coq. The procedure transforms nominal C-unification problems into simpler (finite families) of fixpoint problems, whose solutions can be generated by algebraic techniques on combinatorics of permutations.Comment: Pre-proceedings paper presented at the 27th International Symposium on Logic-Based Program Synthesis and Transformation (LOPSTR 2017), Namur, Belgium, 10-12 October 2017 (arXiv:1708.07854

Closed nominal rewriting and efficiently computable nominal algebra equality

We analyse the relationship between nominal algebra and nominal rewriting, giving a new and concise presentation of equational deduction in nominal theories. With some new results, we characterise a subclass of equational theories for which nominal rewriting provides a complete procedure to check nominal algebra equality. This subclass includes specifications of the lambda-calculus and first-order logic.Comment: In Proceedings LFMTP 2010, arXiv:1009.218

YAPA: A generic tool for computing intruder knowledge

Reasoning about the knowledge of an attacker is a necessary step in many formal analyses of security protocols. In the framework of the applied pi calculus, as in similar languages based on equational logics, knowledge is typically expressed by two relations: deducibility and static equivalence. Several decision procedures have been proposed for these relations under a variety of equational theories. However, each theory has its particular algorithm, and none has been implemented so far. We provide a generic procedure for deducibility and static equivalence that takes as input any convergent rewrite system. We show that our algorithm covers most of the existing decision procedures for convergent theories. We also provide an efficient implementation, and compare it briefly with the tools ProVerif and KiSs

Synthesis and Optimization of Reversible Circuits - A Survey

Reversible logic circuits have been historically motivated by theoretical research in low-power electronics as well as practical improvement of bit-manipulation transforms in cryptography and computer graphics. Recently, reversible circuits have attracted interest as components of quantum algorithms, as well as in photonic and nano-computing technologies where some switching devices offer no signal gain. Research in generating reversible logic distinguishes between circuit synthesis, post-synthesis optimization, and technology mapping. In this survey, we review algorithmic paradigms --- search-based, cycle-based, transformation-based, and BDD-based --- as well as specific algorithms for reversible synthesis, both exact and heuristic. We conclude the survey by outlining key open challenges in synthesis of reversible and quantum logic, as well as most common misconceptions.Comment: 34 pages, 15 figures, 2 table