Nonlinear quantum search via coined quantum walks
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Abstract
We provide first evidence that some families of nonlinear quantum systems, rephrased in terms of coined quantum walks with effective nonlinear phase, display a strong computational advantage for search algorithms, over graphs having sets of vertices of constant size, e.g. the infinite square grid. The numerical simulations show that the walker finds the marked vertex in $O(N^{1/4} \log^{3/4} N)$ steps with probability $O(1/\log N)$, for an overall complexity of $O(N^{1/4}\log^{7/4}N)$. We also confirm this result analytically. Moreover the algorithm is implemented without the need for a specific oracle step, but by topological hole defect in the grid. From a quantum computing perspective, however, this hints at novel applications of quantum walk search: instead of using them to look for "good" solutions within the configuration space of a problem, we could use them to look for topological properties of the entire configuration space.