In quantum computing, the quantum phase estimation algorithm is a quantum algorithm to estimate the phase corresponding to an eigenvalue of a given unitary operator. Because the eigenvalues of a unitary operator always have unit modulus, they are characterized by their phase, and therefore the algorithm can be equivalently described as retrieving either the phase or the eigenvalue itself. The algorithm was initially introduced by Alexei Kitaev in 1995.[1][2]: 246
Phase estimation is frequently used as a subroutine in other quantum algorithms, such as Shor's algorithm,[2]: 131 the quantum algorithm for linear systems of equations, and the quantum counting algorithm.
Overview of the algorithm
The algorithm operates on two sets of qubits, referred to in this context as registers. The two registers contain and qubits, respectively. Let be a unitary operator acting on the -qubit register. The eigenvalues of a unitary operator have unit modulus, and are therefore characterized by their phase. Thus if is an eigenvector of , then for some . Due to the periodicity of the complex exponential, we can always assume .
The goal is producing a good approximation for with a small number of gates and a high probability of success. The quantum phase estimation algorithm achieves this assuming oracular access to , and having available as a quantum state. This means that when discussing the efficiency of the algorithm we only worry about the number of times needs to be used, but not about the cost of implementing itself.
More precisely, the algorithm returns with high probability an approximation for , within additive error , using qubits in the first register, and controlled-U operations. Furthermore, we can improve the success probability to for any by using a total of uses of controlled-U, and this is optimal.[3]
Detailed description of the algorithm
The circuit for quantum phase estimation.
State preparation
The initial state of the system is:
where is the -qubit state that evolves through . We first apply the n-qubit Hadamard gate operation on the first register, which produces the state:Note that here we are switching between binary and -ary representation for the -qubit register: the ket on the right-hand side is shorthand for the -qubit state , where is the binary decomposition of .
Controlled-U operations
This state is then evolved through the controlled-unitary evolution whose action can be written as for all . This evolution can also be written concisely as which highlights its controlled nature: it applies to the second register conditionally to the first register being . Remembering the eigenvalue condition holding for , applying to thus gives where we used .
To show that can also be implemented efficiently, observe that we can write , where denotes the operation of applying to the second register conditionally to the -th qubit of the first register being . Formally, these gates can be characterized by their action asThis equation can be interpreted as saying that the state is left unchanged when , that is, when the -th qubit is , while the gate is applied to the second register when the -th qubit is . The composition of these controlled-gates thus gives with the last step directly following from the binary decomposition .
From this point onwards, the second register is left untouched, and thus it is convenient to write , with the state of the -qubit register, which is the only one we need to consider for the rest of the algorithm.
Apply inverse quantum Fourier transform
The final part of the circuit involves applying the inverse quantum Fourier transform (QFT) on the first register of :The QFT and its inverse are characterized by their action on basis states as It follows that
Decomposing the state in the computational basis as the coefficients thus equalwhere we wrote with is the nearest integer to . The difference must by definition satisfy . This amounts to approximating the value of by rounding to the nearest integer.
Measurement
The final step involves performing a measurement in the computational basis on the first register. This yields the outcome with probability It follows that if , that is, when can be written as , one always finds the outcome . On the other hand, if , the probability reads From this expression we can see that when . To see this, we observe that from the definition of we have the inequality , and thus:[4]: 157 [5]: 348
We conclude that the algorithm provides the best -bit estimate (i.e., one that is within of the correct answer) of with probability at least . By adding a number of extra qubits on the order of and truncating the extra qubits the probability can increase to .[5]
Toy examples
Consider the simplest possible instance of the algorithm, where only qubit, on top of the qubits required to encode , is involved. Suppose the eigenvalue of reads , . The first part of the algorithm generates the one-qubit state . Applying the inverse QFT amounts in this case to applying a Hadamard gate. The final outcome probabilities are thus where , or more explicitly, Suppose , meaning . Then , , and we recover deterministically the precise value of from the measurement outcomes. The same applies if .
If on the other hand , then , that is, and . In this case the result is not deterministic, but we still find the outcome as more likely, compatibly with the fact that is closer to 1 than to 0.
More generally, if , then if and only if . This is consistent with the results above because in the cases , corresponding to , the phase is retrieved deterministically, and the other phases are retrieved with higher accuracy the closer they are to these two.
See also
Shor's algorithm
Quantum counting algorithm
Parity measurement
References
^Kitaev, A. Yu (1995-11-20). "Quantum measurements and the Abelian Stabilizer Problem". arXiv:quant-ph/9511026.
^ abNielsen, Michael A. & Isaac L. Chuang (2001). Quantum computation and quantum information (Repr. ed.). Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0521635035.
^Mande, Nikhil S.; Ronald de Wolf (2023). "Tight Bounds for Quantum Phase Estimation and Related Problems". arXiv:2305.04908 [quant-ph].
^Benenti, Guiliano; Casati, Giulio; Strini, Giuliano (2004). Principles of quantum computation and information (Reprinted. ed.). New Jersey [u.a.]: World Scientific. ISBN 978-9812388582.
^ abCleve, R.; Ekert, A.; Macchiavello, C.; Mosca, M. (8 January 1998). "Quantum algorithms revisited". Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 454 (1969): 339–354. arXiv:quant-ph/9708016. Bibcode:1998RSPSA.454..339C. doi:10.1098/rspa.1998.0164. S2CID 16128238.