Vojtech Havlicek

We study the complexity of Decoded Quantum Interferometry (DQI), a recently proposed quantum algorithm for approximate optimization. We argue that DQI is hard to classically simulate, and that the hardness comes from locating an exponentially large hidden subset. This type of hardness is shared by Shor's algorithm, but the hidden subset here has no apparent group structure. We first prove that DQI can be simulated in a low level of the polynomial hierarchy, ruling out hardness arguments related to quantum supremacy. Instead, we show that DQI implements an existential coding theory bound based on the MacWilliams identity, and that it prepares a state within an obfuscated quantum harmonic oscillator. Both viewpoints require a coherent application of a discrete Hermite transform, which has no natural classical analog.

We make progress in understanding the relationship between learning models with access to entangled, separable and statistical measurements in the quantum statistical query (QSQ) model. We show the following results. Entangled versus separable measurements: The goal is to learn an unknown f from the concept class C containing functions from 0,1^n to [k] given copies of a uniform superposition over |x,f(x)>. We show that, if T copies suffice to learn f using entangled measurements, O(nT^2) copies suffice to learn f using only separable measurements. Entangled versus statistical measurements: The goal is to learn a function f in C given access to separable measurements or statistical measurements. We exhibit a concept class C based of degree-2 functions with exponential separation between QSQ learning and quantum learning with entangled measurements (even in the presence of noise). This proves the ""quantum analogue"" of the seminal result of Blum et al. that separates classical SQ learning from classical PAC learning with classification noise. QSQ lower bounds for learning states: We introduce a quantum statistical query dimension (QSD), and use it to give lower bounds on the QSQ complexity of learning. We prove superpolynomial QSQ lower bounds for testing purity of quantum states, shadow tomography, learning coset states for the Abelian hidden subgroup problem, degree-2 functions, planted biclique states, and learning output states of Clifford circuits of depth polylog(n). We also show that an extension of QSD characterizes the complexity of general search problems. Further applications: We give an unconditional separation between weak and strong error mitigation and prove lower bounds for learning distributions in the QSQ model. Prior works by Quek et al., Hinsche et al., and Nietner et al. proved analogous results assuming diagonal measurements and our work removes this assumption.

Flow models are a cornerstone of modern machine learning. They are generative models that progressively transform probability distributions according to learned dynamics. Specifically, they learn a continuous-time Markov process that efficiently maps samples from a simple source distribution into samples from a complex target distribution. We show that these models are naturally related to the Schrödinger equation, for an unusual Hamiltonian on continuous variables. Moreover, we prove that the dynamics generated by this Hamiltonian can be efficiently simulated on a quantum computer. Together, these results give a quantum algorithm for preparing coherent encodings (a.k.a., qsamples) for a vast family of probability distributions—namely, those expressible by flow models—by reducing the task to an existing classical learning problem, plus Hamiltonian simulation. For statistical problems defined by flow models, such as mean estimation and property testing, this enables the use of quantum algorithms tailored to qsamples, which may offer advantages over classical algorithms based only on samples from a flow model. More broadly, these results reveal a close connection between state-of-the-art machine learning models, such as flow matching and diffusion models, and one of the main expected capabilities of quantum computers: simulating quantum dynamics.