3,871 research outputs found
From quantum cellular automata to quantum lattice gases
A natural architecture for nanoscale quantum computation is that of a quantum
cellular automaton. Motivated by this observation, in this paper we begin an
investigation of exactly unitary cellular automata. After proving that there
can be no nontrivial, homogeneous, local, unitary, scalar cellular automaton in
one dimension, we weaken the homogeneity condition and show that there are
nontrivial, exactly unitary, partitioning cellular automata. We find a one
parameter family of evolution rules which are best interpreted as those for a
one particle quantum automaton. This model is naturally reformulated as a two
component cellular automaton which we demonstrate to limit to the Dirac
equation. We describe two generalizations of this automaton, the second of
which, to multiple interacting particles, is the correct definition of a
quantum lattice gas.Comment: 22 pages, plain TeX, 9 PostScript figures included with epsf.tex
(ignore the under/overfull \vbox error messages); minor typographical
corrections and journal reference adde
Quantum Cellular Automata
Quantum cellular automata (QCA) are reviewed, including early and more recent
proposals. QCA are a generalization of (classical) cellular automata (CA) and
in particular of reversible CA. The latter are reviewed shortly. An overview is
given over early attempts by various authors to define one-dimensional QCA.
These turned out to have serious shortcomings which are discussed as well.
Various proposals subsequently put forward by a number of authors for a general
definition of one- and higher-dimensional QCA are reviewed and their properties
such as universality and reversibility are discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. To appear in the Springer Encyclopedia of
Complexity and Systems Scienc
Quantum mechanics of lattice gas automata. II. Boundary conditions and other inhomogeneities
We continue our analysis of the physics of quantum lattice gas automata
(QLGA). Previous work has been restricted to periodic or infinite lattices;
simulation of more realistic physical situations requires finite sizes and
non-periodic boundary conditions. Furthermore, envisioning a QLGA as a
nanoscale computer architecture motivates consideration of inhomogeneities in
the `substrate'; this translates into inhomogeneities in the local evolution
rules. Concentrating on the one particle sector of the model, we determine the
various boundary conditions and rule inhomogeneities which are consistent with
unitary global evolution. We analyze the reflection of plane waves from
boundaries, simulate wave packet refraction across inhomogeneities, and
conclude by discussing the extension of these results to multiple particles.Comment: 24 pages, plain TeX, 9 PostScript figures included with epsf.tex
(ignore the under/overfull \vbox error messages), 3 additional large figures
available upon request or from
http://math.ucsd.edu/~dmeyer/papers/papers.htm
Quantum mechanics of lattice gas automata. I. One particle plane waves and potentials
Classical lattice gas automata effectively simulate physical processes such
as diffusion and fluid flow (in certain parameter regimes) despite their
simplicity at the microscale. Motivated by current interest in quantum
computation we recently defined quantum lattice gas automata; in this paper we
initiate a project to analyze which physical processes these models can
effectively simulate. Studying the single particle sector of a one dimensional
quantum lattice gas we find discrete analogues of plane waves and wave packets,
and then investigate their behaviour in the presence of inhomogeneous
potentials.Comment: 19 pages, plain TeX, 14 PostScript figures included with epsf.tex
(ignore the under/overfull \vbox error messages), two additional large
figures available upon reques
Local Unitary Quantum Cellular Automata
In this paper we present a quantization of Cellular Automata. Our formalism
is based on a lattice of qudits, and an update rule consisting of local unitary
operators that commute with their own lattice translations. One purpose of this
model is to act as a theoretical model of quantum computation, similar to the
quantum circuit model. It is also shown to be an appropriate abstraction for
space-homogeneous quantum phenomena, such as quantum lattice gases, spin chains
and others. Some results that show the benefits of basing the model on local
unitary operators are shown: universality, strong connections to the circuit
model, simple implementation on quantum hardware, and a wealth of applications.Comment: To appear in Physical Review
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
A Quantum Game of Life
This research describes a three dimensional quantum cellular automaton (QCA)
which can simulate all other 3D QCA. This intrinsically universal QCA belongs
to the simplest subclass of QCA: Partitioned QCA (PQCA). PQCA are QCA of a
particular form, where incoming information is scattered by a fixed unitary U
before being redistributed and rescattered. Our construction is minimal amongst
PQCA, having block size 2 x 2 x 2 and cell dimension 2. Signals, wires and
gates emerge in an elegant fashion.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Final version, accepted by Journ\'ees Automates
Cellulaires (JAC 2010)
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