Boson Sampling is the problem of sampling from the same output probability
distribution as a collection of indistinguishable single photons input into a
linear interferometer. It has been shown that, subject to certain computational
complexity conjectures, in general the problem is difficult to solve
classically, motivating optical experiments aimed at demonstrating quantum
computational "supremacy". There are a number of challenges faced by such
experiments, including the generation of indistinguishable single photons. We
provide a quantum circuit that simulates bosonic sampling with arbitrarily
distinguishable particles. This makes clear how distinguishabililty leads to
decoherence in the standard quantum circuit model, allowing insight to be
gained. At the heart of the circuit is the quantum Schur transform, which
follows from a representation theoretic approach to the physics of
distinguishable particles in first quantisation. The techniques are quite
general and have application beyond boson sampling.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, 2 algorithms, comments welcom
