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Complexity-Theoretic Limitations on Quantum Algorithms for Topological Data Analysis

delete2023-12-28
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OA
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A
Alexander Schmidhuber *
S
Seth Lloyd
DOI:10.1103/PRXQuantum.4.040349delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Quantum algorithms for topological data analysis (TDA) seem to provide an exponential advantage over the best classical approach while remaining immune to dequantization procedures and the data-loading problem. In this paper, we give complexity-theoretic evidence that the central task of TDA-estimating Betti numbers-is intractable even for quantum computers. Specifically, we prove that the problem of computing Betti numbers exactly is #P-hard, while the problem of approximating Betti numbers up to multiplicative error is NP-hard. Moreover, both problems retain their hardness if restricted to the regime where quantum algorithms for TDA perform best. Because quantum computers are not expected to solve #P-hard or NP-hard problems in subexponential time, our results imply that quantum algorithms for TDA offer only a polynomial advantage in the worst case. We support our claim by showing that the seminal quantum algorithm for TDA developed by Lloyd, Garnerone, and Zanardi achieves a quadratic speedup over the best-known classical approach in asymptotically almost all cases. Finally, we argue that an expo-nential quantum advantage can be recovered if the input data is given as a specification of simplices rather than as a list of vertices and edges.
Keywords:
INDEPENDENCE COMPLEXES
ALEXANDER DUALITY
COMPLETENESS

Journal

P
PRX Quantum
IF:
11
Papers:
919
Citations:
9.0K

Organization

S
swiss federal institutes of technology domain
Scholars:
9.0W
Papers: 8.0W
Citations: 163