Shallow Quantum Circuit Implementation of Symmetric Functions With Limited Ancillary Qubits

Abstract

Optimizing the depth and number of ancillary qubits in quantum circuits is crucial in quantum computation, given the limitations imposed by current quantum devices. In this article, we introduce an innovative approach for implementing arbitrary symmetric Boolean functions using poly-logarithmic depth quantum circuits with only a logarithmic number of ancillary qubits. Symmetric functions are those whose outputs are dictated solely by the Hamming weight of the inputs. These functions find applications across various domains, including quantum machine learning and arithmetic circuit synthesis. Moreover, by fully leveraging the potential of qutrits, the ancilla count can be further reduced to just one. The key technique involves a novel poly-logarithmic depth quantum circuit designed to compute Hamming weight without the need for ancillary qubits. This quantum circuit for Hamming weight is of independent interest due to its wide-ranging applications, such as in quantum memory, quantum machine learning, and Hamiltonian dynamics simulations.