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Main Authors: Júnior, Alcides Gomes Andrade, Matsubayashi, Akira
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.26246
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author Júnior, Alcides Gomes Andrade
Matsubayashi, Akira
author_facet Júnior, Alcides Gomes Andrade
Matsubayashi, Akira
contents The Maximum Matching problem has a quantum query complexity lower bound of $Ω(n^{3/2})$ for graphs on $n$ vertices represented by an adjacency matrix. The current best quantum algorithm has the query complexity $O(n^{7/4})$, which is an improvement over the trivial bound $O(n^2)$. Constructing a quantum algorithm for this problem with a query complexity improving the upper bound $O(n^{7/4})$ is an open problem. The quantum walk technique is a general framework for constructing quantum algorithms by transforming a classical random walk search into a quantum search, and has been successfully applied to constructing an algorithm with a tight query complexity for another problem. In this work we show that the quantum walk technique fails to produce a fast algorithm improving the known (or even the trivial) upper bound on the query complexity. Specifically, if a quantum walk algorithm designed with the known technique solves the Maximum Matching problem using $O(n^{2-ε})$ queries with any constant $ε>0$, and if the underlying classical random walk is independent of an input graph, then the guaranteed time complexity is larger than any polynomial of $n$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_26246
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Limitation of Quantum Walk Approach to the Maximum Matching Problem
Júnior, Alcides Gomes Andrade
Matsubayashi, Akira
Quantum Physics
Computational Complexity
F.2.3
The Maximum Matching problem has a quantum query complexity lower bound of $Ω(n^{3/2})$ for graphs on $n$ vertices represented by an adjacency matrix. The current best quantum algorithm has the query complexity $O(n^{7/4})$, which is an improvement over the trivial bound $O(n^2)$. Constructing a quantum algorithm for this problem with a query complexity improving the upper bound $O(n^{7/4})$ is an open problem. The quantum walk technique is a general framework for constructing quantum algorithms by transforming a classical random walk search into a quantum search, and has been successfully applied to constructing an algorithm with a tight query complexity for another problem. In this work we show that the quantum walk technique fails to produce a fast algorithm improving the known (or even the trivial) upper bound on the query complexity. Specifically, if a quantum walk algorithm designed with the known technique solves the Maximum Matching problem using $O(n^{2-ε})$ queries with any constant $ε>0$, and if the underlying classical random walk is independent of an input graph, then the guaranteed time complexity is larger than any polynomial of $n$.
title Limitation of Quantum Walk Approach to the Maximum Matching Problem
topic Quantum Physics
Computational Complexity
F.2.3
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.26246