Query complexity is a common tool for comparing quantum and classical
computation, and it has produced many examples of how quantum algorithms differ
from classical ones. Here we investigate in detail the role that oracles play
for the advantage of quantum algorithms. We do so by using a simulation
framework, Quantum Simulation Logic (QSL), to construct oracles and algorithms
that solve some problems with the same success probability and number of
queries as the quantum algorithms. The framework can be simulated using only
classical resources at a constant overhead as compared to the quantum resources
used in quantum computation. Our results clarify the assumptions made and the
conditions needed when using quantum oracles. Using the same assumptions on
oracles within the simulation framework we show that for some specific
algorithms, like the Deutsch-Jozsa and Simon's algorithms, there simply is no
advantage in terms of query complexity. This does not detract from the fact
that quantum query complexity provides examples of how a quantum computer can
be expected to behave, which in turn has proved useful for finding new quantum
algorithms outside of the oracle paradigm, where the most prominent example is
Shor's algorithm for integer factorization.Comment: 48 pages, 46 figure