235 research outputs found
Is there a physically universal cellular automaton or Hamiltonian?
It is known that both quantum and classical cellular automata (CA) exist that
are computationally universal in the sense that they can simulate, after
appropriate initialization, any quantum or classical computation, respectively.
Here we introduce a different notion of universality: a CA is called physically
universal if every transformation on any finite region can be (approximately)
implemented by the autonomous time evolution of the system after the complement
of the region has been initialized in an appropriate way. We pose the question
of whether physically universal CAs exist. Such CAs would provide a model of
the world where the boundary between a physical system and its controller can
be consistently shifted, in analogy to the Heisenberg cut for the quantum
measurement problem. We propose to study the thermodynamic cost of computation
and control within such a model because implementing a cyclic process on a
microsystem may require a non-cyclic process for its controller, whereas
implementing a cyclic process on system and controller may require the
implementation of a non-cyclic process on a "meta"-controller, and so on.
Physically universal CAs avoid this infinite hierarchy of controllers and the
cost of implementing cycles on a subsystem can be described by mixing
properties of the CA dynamics. We define a physical prior on the CA
configurations by applying the dynamics to an initial state where half of the
CA is in the maximum entropy state and half of it is in the all-zero state
(thus reflecting the fact that life requires non-equilibrium states like the
boundary between a hold and a cold reservoir). As opposed to Solomonoff's
prior, our prior does not only account for the Kolmogorov complexity but also
for the cost of isolating the system during the state preparation if the
preparation process is not robust.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figur
When--and how--can a cellular automaton be rewritten as a lattice gas?
Both cellular automata (CA) and lattice-gas automata (LG) provide finite
algorithmic presentations for certain classes of infinite dynamical systems
studied by symbolic dynamics; it is customary to use the term `cellular
automaton' or `lattice gas' for the dynamic system itself as well as for its
presentation. The two kinds of presentation share many traits but also display
profound differences on issues ranging from decidability to modeling
convenience and physical implementability.
Following a conjecture by Toffoli and Margolus, it had been proved by Kari
(and by Durand--Lose for more than two dimensions) that any invertible CA can
be rewritten as an LG (with a possibly much more complex ``unit cell''). But
until now it was not known whether this is possible in general for
noninvertible CA--which comprise ``almost all'' CA and represent the bulk of
examples in theory and applications. Even circumstantial evidence--whether in
favor or against--was lacking.
Here, for noninvertible CA, (a) we prove that an LG presentation is out of
the question for the vanishingly small class of surjective ones. We then turn
our attention to all the rest--noninvertible and nonsurjective--which comprise
all the typical ones, including Conway's `Game of Life'. For these (b) we prove
by explicit construction that all the one-dimensional ones are representable as
LG, and (c) we present and motivate the conjecture that this result extends to
any number of dimensions.
The tradeoff between dissipation rate and structural complexity implied by
the above results have compelling implications for the thermodynamics of
computation at a microscopic scale.Comment: 16 page
Spin-1/2 particles moving on a 2D lattice with nearest-neighbor interactions can realize an autonomous quantum computer
What is the simplest Hamiltonian which can implement quantum computation
without requiring any control operations during the computation process? In a
previous paper we have constructed a 10-local finite-range interaction among
qubits on a 2D lattice having this property. Here we show that
pair-interactions among qutrits on a 2D lattice are sufficient, too, and can
also implement an ergodic computer where the result can be read out from the
time average state after some post-selection with high success probability.
Two of the 3 qutrit states are given by the two levels of a spin-1/2 particle
located at a specific lattice site, the third state is its absence. Usual
hopping terms together with an attractive force among adjacent particles induce
a coupled quantum walk where the particle spins are subjected to spatially
inhomogeneous interactions implementing holonomic quantum computing. The
holonomic method ensures that the implemented circuit does not depend on the
time needed for the walk.
Even though the implementation of the required type of spin-spin interactions
is currently unclear, the model shows that quite simple Hamiltonians are
powerful enough to allow for universal quantum computing in a closed physical
system.Comment: More detailed explanations including description of a programmable
version. 44 pages, 12 figures, latex. To appear in PR
A single-shot measurement of the energy of product states in a translation invariant spin chain can replace any quantum computation
In measurement-based quantum computation, quantum algorithms are implemented
via sequences of measurements. We describe a translationally invariant
finite-range interaction on a one-dimensional qudit chain and prove that a
single-shot measurement of the energy of an appropriate computational basis
state with respect to this Hamiltonian provides the output of any quantum
circuit. The required measurement accuracy scales inverse polynomially with the
size of the simulated quantum circuit. This shows that the implementation of
energy measurements on generic qudit chains is as hard as the realization of
quantum computation. Here a ''measurement'' is any procedure that samples from
the spectral measure induced by the observable and the state under
consideration. As opposed to measurement-based quantum computation, the
post-measurement state is irrelevant.Comment: 19 pages, transition rules for the CA correcte
Complexity of Two-Dimensional Patterns
In dynamical systems such as cellular automata and iterated maps, it is often
useful to look at a language or set of symbol sequences produced by the system.
There are well-established classification schemes, such as the Chomsky
hierarchy, with which we can measure the complexity of these sets of sequences,
and thus the complexity of the systems which produce them.
In this paper, we look at the first few levels of a hierarchy of complexity
for two-or-more-dimensional patterns. We show that several definitions of
``regular language'' or ``local rule'' that are equivalent in d=1 lead to
distinct classes in d >= 2. We explore the closure properties and computational
complexity of these classes, including undecidability and L-, NL- and
NP-completeness results.
We apply these classes to cellular automata, in particular to their sets of
fixed and periodic points, finite-time images, and limit sets. We show that it
is undecidable whether a CA in d >= 2 has a periodic point of a given period,
and that certain ``local lattice languages'' are not finite-time images or
limit sets of any CA. We also show that the entropy of a d-dimensional CA's
finite-time image cannot decrease faster than t^{-d} unless it maps every
initial condition to a single homogeneous state.Comment: To appear in J. Stat. Phy
The solution of the Sixth Hilbert Problem: the Ultimate Galilean Revolution
I argue for a full mathematisation of the physical theory, including its
axioms, which must contain no physical primitives. In provocative words:
"physics from no physics". Although this may seem an oxymoron, it is the royal
road to keep complete logical coherence, hence falsifiability of the theory.
For such a purely mathematical theory the physical connotation must pertain
only the interpretation of the mathematics, ranging from the axioms to the
final theorems. On the contrary, the postulates of the two current major
physical theories either don't have physical interpretation (as for von
Neumann's axioms for quantum theory), or contain physical primitives as
"clock", "rigid rod ", "force", "inertial mass" (as for special relativity and
mechanics). A purely mathematical theory as proposed here, though with limited
(but relentlessly growing) domain of applicability, will have the eternal
validity of mathematical truth. It will be a theory on which natural sciences
can firmly rely. Such kind of theory is what I consider to be the solution of
the Sixth Hilbert's Problem. I argue that a prototype example of such a
mathematical theory is provided by the novel algorithmic paradigm for physics,
as in the recent information-theoretical derivation of quantum theory and free
quantum field theory.Comment: Opinion paper. Special issue of Philosophical Transaction A, devoted
to the VI Hilbert problem, after the Workshop "Hilbert's Sixth Problem",
University of Leicester, May 02-04 201
State Transfer and Spin Measurement
We present a Hamiltonian that can be used for amplifying the signal from a
quantum state, enabling the measurement of a macroscopic observable to
determine the state of a single spin. We prove a general mapping between this
Hamiltonian and an exchange Hamiltonian for arbitrary coupling strengths and
local magnetic fields. This facilitates the use of existing schemes for perfect
state transfer to give perfect amplification. We further prove a link between
the evolution of this fixed Hamiltonian and classical Cellular Automata,
thereby unifying previous approaches to this amplification task.
Finally, we show how to use the new Hamiltonian for perfect state transfer in
the, to date, unique scenario where total spin is not conserved during the
evolution, and demonstrate that this yields a significantly different response
in the presence of decoherence.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
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