We give a new version of the adversary method for proving lower bounds on
quantum query algorithms. The new method is based on analyzing the eigenspace
structure of the problem at hand. We use it to prove a new and optimal strong
direct product theorem for 2-sided error quantum algorithms computing k
independent instances of a symmetric Boolean function: if the algorithm uses
significantly less than k times the number of queries needed for one instance
of the function, then its success probability is exponentially small in k. We
also use the polynomial method to prove a direct product theorem for 1-sided
error algorithms for k threshold functions with a stronger bound on the success
probability. Finally, we present a quantum algorithm for evaluating solutions
to systems of linear inequalities, and use our direct product theorems to show
that the time-space tradeoff of this algorithm is close to optimal.Comment: 16 pages LaTeX. Version 2: title changed, proofs significantly
cleaned up and made selfcontained. This version to appear in the proceedings
of the STOC 06 conferenc