1,084 research outputs found
Quantum walks with infinite hitting times
Hitting times are the average time it takes a walk to reach a given final
vertex from a given starting vertex. The hitting time for a classical random
walk on a connected graph will always be finite. We show that, by contrast,
quantum walks can have infinite hitting times for some initial states. We seek
criteria to determine if a given walk on a graph will have infinite hitting
times, and find a sufficient condition, which for discrete time quantum walks
is that the degeneracy of the evolution operator be greater than the degree of
the graph. The set of initial states which give an infinite hitting time form a
subspace. The phenomenon of infinite hitting times is in general a consequence
of the symmetry of the graph and its automorphism group. Using the irreducible
representations of the automorphism group, we derive conditions such that
quantum walks defined on this graph must have infinite hitting times for some
initial states. In the case of the discrete walk, if this condition is
satisfied the walk will have infinite hitting times for any choice of a coin
operator, and we give a class of graphs with infinite hitting times for any
choice of coin. Hitting times are not very well-defined for continuous time
quantum walks, but we show that the idea of infinite hitting-time walks
naturally extends to the continuous time case as well.Comment: 28 pages, 3 figures in EPS forma
Quantum walks on quotient graphs
A discrete-time quantum walk on a graph is the repeated application of a
unitary evolution operator to a Hilbert space corresponding to the graph. If
this unitary evolution operator has an associated group of symmetries, then for
certain initial states the walk will be confined to a subspace of the original
Hilbert space. Symmetries of the original graph, given by its automorphism
group, can be inherited by the evolution operator. We show that a quantum walk
confined to the subspace corresponding to this symmetry group can be seen as a
different quantum walk on a smaller quotient graph. We give an explicit
construction of the quotient graph for any subgroup of the automorphism group
and illustrate it with examples. The automorphisms of the quotient graph which
are inherited from the original graph are the original automorphism group
modulo the subgroup used to construct it. We then analyze the behavior of
hitting times on quotient graphs. Hitting time is the average time it takes a
walk to reach a given final vertex from a given initial vertex. It has been
shown in earlier work [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 74}, 042334 (2006)] that the hitting
time can be infinite. We give a condition which determines whether the quotient
graph has infinite hitting times given that they exist in the original graph.
We apply this condition for the examples discussed and determine which quotient
graphs have infinite hitting times. All known examples of quantum walks with
fast hitting times correspond to systems with quotient graphs much smaller than
the original graph; we conjecture that the existence of a small quotient graph
with finite hitting times is necessary for a walk to exhibit a quantum
speed-up.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures in EPS forma
Symmetric Colorings of the Hypercube and Hyperoctahedron
A self-complementary graph G is a subgraph of the complete graph K_n that is isomorphic to its complement. A self-complementary graph can be thought of as an edge 2-coloring of K_n that admits a color-switching automorphism. An automorphism of K_n that is color-switching for some edge 2-coloring is called a complementing automorphism. Complementing automorphisms for K_n have been characterized in the past by such authors as Sachs and Ringel. We are interested in extending this notion of self-complementary to other highly symmetric families of graphs; namely, the hypercube Q_n and its dual graph, the hyperoctahedron O_n. To that end, we develop a characterization of the automorphism group of these graphs and use it to prove necessary and sufficient conditions for an automorphism to be complementing. Finally, we use these theorems to construct a computer search algorithm which finds all self-complementary graphs in Q_n and O_n up to isomorphism for n=2,3,4
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