Space-Bounded Communication Complexity of Unitaries

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Li, Longcheng, Sun, Xiaoming, Zhang, Jialin, Zhu, Jiadong
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Li, Longcheng
Sun, Xiaoming
Zhang, Jialin
Zhu, Jiadong
author_facet Li, Longcheng
Sun, Xiaoming
Zhang, Jialin
Zhu, Jiadong
contents We study space-bounded communication complexity for unitary implementation in distributed quantum processors, where we restrict the number of qubits per processor to ensure practical relevance and technical non-triviality. We model distributed quantum processors using distributed quantum circuits with nonlocal two-qubit gates, defining the communication complexity of a unitary as the minimum number of such nonlocal gates required for its realization. Our contributions are twofold. First, for general $n$-qubit unitaries, we improve upon the trivial $O(4^n)$ communication bound. Considering $k$ pairwise-connected processors (each with $n/k$ data qubits and $m$ ancillas), we prove the communication complexity satisfies $O\left(\max\{4^{(1-1/k)n - m}, n\}\right)$--for example, $O(2^n)$ when $m=0$ and $k=2$--and establish the tightness of this upper bound. We further extend the analysis to approximation models and general network topologies. Second, for special unitaries, we show that both the Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT) and Clifford circuits admit linear upper bounds on communication complexity in the exact model, outperforming the trivial quadratic bounds applicable to these cases. In the approximation model, QFT's communication complexity reduces drastically from linear to logarithmic, while Clifford circuits retain a linear lower bound. These results offer fundamental insights for optimizing communication in distributed quantum unitary implementation, advancing the feasibility of large-scale distributed quantum computing (DQC) systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_04250
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Space-Bounded Communication Complexity of Unitaries
Li, Longcheng
Sun, Xiaoming
Zhang, Jialin
Zhu, Jiadong
Quantum Physics
Cryptography and Security
We study space-bounded communication complexity for unitary implementation in distributed quantum processors, where we restrict the number of qubits per processor to ensure practical relevance and technical non-triviality. We model distributed quantum processors using distributed quantum circuits with nonlocal two-qubit gates, defining the communication complexity of a unitary as the minimum number of such nonlocal gates required for its realization. Our contributions are twofold. First, for general $n$-qubit unitaries, we improve upon the trivial $O(4^n)$ communication bound. Considering $k$ pairwise-connected processors (each with $n/k$ data qubits and $m$ ancillas), we prove the communication complexity satisfies $O\left(\max\{4^{(1-1/k)n - m}, n\}\right)$--for example, $O(2^n)$ when $m=0$ and $k=2$--and establish the tightness of this upper bound. We further extend the analysis to approximation models and general network topologies. Second, for special unitaries, we show that both the Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT) and Clifford circuits admit linear upper bounds on communication complexity in the exact model, outperforming the trivial quadratic bounds applicable to these cases. In the approximation model, QFT's communication complexity reduces drastically from linear to logarithmic, while Clifford circuits retain a linear lower bound. These results offer fundamental insights for optimizing communication in distributed quantum unitary implementation, advancing the feasibility of large-scale distributed quantum computing (DQC) systems.
title Space-Bounded Communication Complexity of Unitaries
topic Quantum Physics
Cryptography and Security
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.04250