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Belal Ehsan Baaquie
Leong-Chuan Kwek

Quantum
Computers
Theory and Algorithms
Quantum Computers
Belal Ehsan Baaquie · Leong-Chuan Kwek

Quantum Computers
Theory and Algorithms
Belal Ehsan Baaquie Leong-Chuan Kwek
Helixtap Technologies Centre for Quantum Technologies
Singapore, Singapore National University of Singapore
Singapore, Singapore

ISBN 978-981-19-7516-5 ISBN 978-981-19-7517-2 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7517-2

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023
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Preface

Quantum theory introduces a fundamentally new framework for thinking about nature
and entails a radical break from the paradigm of classical physics. In spite of the fact
that the shift of paradigm from classical to quantum mechanics has been ongoing
for more than a century, a complete conceptual grasp of quantum mechanics has till
today proved elusive. According to leading quantum theorist Richard Feynman, ‘It
is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics’ [1].
The idea of quantum computers was pioneered by Yuri Manin (1980) and Richard
Feynman (1981) when they discussed simulations that could not be carried out by a
classical computer—but only by a quantum computer. Feynman discussed the ideas
of quantum gates and quantum computers in [2]. In 1983, David Deutsch made a
crucial advance by proposing that the quantum qubit is the natural generalization
of the bit of classical computers [3]. The field over the last two decades has seen
phenomenal growth, and the development of a practical quantum computer is poised
to be game-changing technology of the twenty-first century.
This book is divided into the following four parts. The introduction in Part I gives
a more detailed discussion of these four parts.
1. The topics in Part I have been chosen to introduce non-specialists and newcomers
to this field.
2. Part II discusses in great detail some of the important special cases that illustrate
the workings of a quantum algorithm.
3. Part III discusses relatively more advanced topics as well as some important
applications of quantum algorithms.
4. The last part is a discussions of some of the general features of quantum
algorithms.
Hopefully, after reading this book, one can have a rudimentary understanding of
quantum algorithms.

Singapore Belal Ehsan Baaquie

Leong-Chuan Kwek

v
vi Preface

References

1. Feynman RP (2007) The character of physical law. Penguin Books, USA

2. Feynman RP (2018) Lectures on computation. CRC Press, USA
3. Deutsch D (1985) Quantum theory, the church–turing principle and the universal quantum
computer. Proceedings of the Royal Society
Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge and express our thanks to many outstanding

researchers in the field of quantum computing.
We would like to thank our respective families for their unflagging support and
encouragement, without which this book could not have been written.
One of us (BEB) would like to thank George Zweig, Gerald ‘Gerry’ Neugerbauer,
Clifford M. Will, Jon Mathews, Jeffrey E. Mandula, David Mermin, David Ashcroft
and Kurt Gottfried for shaping my views on quantum mechanics. He would also like
to thank M. Mahmudul Karim, Behzad Mansouri and Frederick H. Willeboordse for
many stimulating discussions on computation and algorithms. He had the privilege
of having enlightening discussions on quantum mechanics with peerless scholars and
visionaries Richard P. Feynman and Kenneth G. Wilson, for which he is eternally
indebted to them.
The other author (KLC) would like to thank Luigi Amico, Berge Englert, Jiangfeng
Du, Thomas Durt, Artur Ekert, Rosario Fazio, Fan Heng, David Hutchinson,
Myungshik Kim, Jose Ignacio Latorre, Aiqun Liu, Christian Miniatura, Bill Munro,
C. H. Oh, Xiangbin Wang, Vlatko Vedral, Marek Zukowski and many others for
their constant encouragement and advice. He has also benefited a lot from numerous
stimulating discussions with many of his current and past students, post-doctoral
fellows and group members (A partial list follows: Davit Aghamalyan, Joonwoo Bae,
Kishor Bharti, Shaohen Chew, Andy Chia, Keng Wah Choo, Tobias Haug, Masahito
Hayashi, Hermanni Heimonen, Mingxia Huo, Alexander Hue, Kelvin Koor, Thiha
Kyaw, Elica Kyoseva, Chee Kong Lee, Ying Li, Cao Lin, Jonathan Lau, Wei Luo,
Kian Hwee Lim, David A. Herrera-Martí, Dariel Mok, Ewan Munro, Tiong Eng Ng,
Wei Nie, Yuan Shen, Harshank Shrotriya, Sivakumar M. Maniam, Sai Vinjanam-
pathy, Lingxiao Wan, Gong Zhang, Hui Zhang, Zisheng Wang, Janus H. Wesenberg
and so forth).

vii
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Interview on Quantum Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Part I Fundamentals
2 Binary Numbers, Vectors, Matrices and Tensor Products . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Binary Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2 Linear Vector Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 N -Dimensional Complex Linear Vector Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4 Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.5 Properties of N × N Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5.1 Hermitian Conjugation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.6 Tensor (Outer) Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.7 Square Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.8 Dirac Bracket: Vector Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.9 Tensor and Outer Product: Strings and Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.9.1 3-Bits String . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3 Classical Gates and Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.1 Classical Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.2 Classical Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.3 2-Bits String Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.4 XOR Reversible Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.4.1 X OR : 3-Bits String . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.5 3-Bits String: Toffoli Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.6 Unitary AND, NAND and NOT Gates for 3-Bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.7 Unitary OR and NOR Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.8 Classical Binary Addition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.9 Half-Adder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.10 Full-Adder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

ix
x Contents

3.11 Matrices of Full-Adder Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4 Principles of Quantum Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.1 Degrees of Freedom: Indeterminate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
4.2 Hilbert Space; State Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.2.1 Continuous Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.2.2 Discrete Degrees of Freedom: Qubits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.3 Hermitian and Unitary Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.4 The Schrödinger Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.4.1 Key Features of the Schrödinger Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.5 Quantum Measurement: Born Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.6 Quantum Measurements and Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.7 No-Cloning Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.8 Copenhagen Interpretation: Open Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4.9 Summary of Quantum Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.10 Generalized Born Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.10.1 Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.11 Consistency of Generalized Born Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4.12 Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
5 Quantum Superposition and Entanglement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
5.1 Quantum Superposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
5.1.1 The Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.1.2 Experiment with Detectors 1 and 2: No
Interference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.1.3 Experiment Without Detectors 1 and 2:
Indeterminate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.2 Quantum Superposition and Quantum Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
5.3 Partial Trace for Tensor Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
5.4 Density Matrix ρ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.4.1 Pure Density Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
5.4.2 Mixed Density Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.4.3 Density Matrix for a Two-State System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.5 Reduced Density Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.6 Separable Quantum Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
5.7 Entangled Quantum States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
5.8 Entanglement for Composite Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5.9 Entangled State: Two Binary Degrees of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
5.10 Quantum Entropy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.11 Maximally Entangled States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.11.1 An Entangled State of Two Binary Degrees
of Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
5.12 Pure and Mixed Density Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Contents xi

6 Binary Degrees of Freedom and Qubits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
6.2 Degrees of Freedom and Qubits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
6.3 Single Qubit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.3.1 Density Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
6.4 Bell Entangled Qubits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
6.5 Bell States: Maximally Entangled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
7 Quantum Gates and Circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
7.1 Quantum Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
7.2 Superposed and Entangled Qubits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
7.3 Two- and Three-Qubit Quantum Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
7.4 Arithmetic Addition of Binary Qubits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
7.5 Quantum Measurements of Qubits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
7.5.1 Partial Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
8 Phase Estimation and quantum Fourier Transform (qFT) . . . . . . . . . 155
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
8.2 Eigenvalue of Unitary Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
8.3 Phase Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
8.3.1 Phase Estimation for n = 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
8.4 quantum Fourier Transform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
8.4.1 quantum Fourier Transform for n = 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
8.5 Quantum Circuit of qFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Part II Quantum Algorithms

9 Deutsch Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
9.1 The Deutsch Quantum Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
10 Deutsch–Jozsa Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
11 Grover’s Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
11.1 Phase Inversion and Amplitude Amplification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
11.2 Grover’s Quantum Circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
11.3 Grover Algorithm: Two-Qubit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
11.4 Grover Algorithm: Phase Inversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
11.5 Grover Diffusion Gate W . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
11.6 Grover Recursion Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
11.7 Single Recursion: Two Qubits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
11.8 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
xii Contents

12 Simon’s Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

12.1 Quantum Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
12.2 An Illustrative Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
13 Shor’s Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
13.2 Understanding the Classical Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
13.3 Quantum Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
13.3.1 How Then Does the Quantum Algorithm Work? . . . . . . . 211
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Part III Applications

14 Quantum Algorithm for Option Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
14.1 Review of Option Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
14.2 Quantum Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
14.3 Quantum Algorithm for Expectation Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
14.4 Algorithm for Quadratic Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
14.5 Eigenvalues of Diffusion Operator Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
14.6 Amplitude Amplification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
14.7 Call Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
14.8 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
15 Solving Linear Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
15.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
15.2 Harrow–Hassidim–Lloyd Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
15.3 Specific Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
15.4 Why Do We Not Need the Eigenvalues? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
15.5 Other Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
16 Quantum-Classical Hybrid Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
16.1 Why Bother? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
16.2 Variational Quantum Eigensolvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
16.3 Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
16.4 MaxCut Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
17 Quantum Error Correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
17.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
17.2 Simple Quantum Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
17.3 Kraus Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
17.4 Nine-qubit Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
17.5 General Properties of Quantum Error-Correcting Codes . . . . . . . . 261
17.6 Classical Linear Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Contents xiii

17.7 An Example of a Linear Code: Hamming Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

17.8 Quantum Linear Codes: CSS Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
18 One-Way Quantum Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
18.1 Measurement-Based Quantum Computation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
18.2 The Cluster State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
18.3 Simulation of Basic Quantum Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
18.4 Resource States for MBQC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Part IV Summary
19 Efficiency of a Quantum Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
19.1 Quantum Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
19.2 Memory and Speed of Quantum Computations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
19.3 Where Does Quantum Computation Take Place? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
19.4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
About the Authors

Belal Ehsan Baaquie is an adviser to Helixtap Tech-

nologies, Singapore. He is a former professor of Finance
at INCEIF University, Malaysia, and a former professor
of Physics at the National University of Singapore. He
has a Bachelor of Science degree from the California
Institute of Technology and a PhD from Cornell Univer-
sity in theoretical physics, specializing in quantum
field theory. He later developed an interest in finance
and economics and started applying quantum math-
ematics to these fields. He has written four books
on quantum finance: Quantum Finance (Cambridge,
2007), Interest Rates and Coupon Bonds in Quantum
Finance (Cambridge, 2009), Quantum Field Theory
for Economics and Finance (Cambridge, 2018) and
Mathematical Methods and Quantum Mathematics for
Economics and Finance (Springer, 2020). In addition,
he has written several books focusing on topics from
quantum mechanics and mathematics to books on the
leading ideas in science, including The Theoretical
Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (Springer, 2013),
with his most recent coauthored book being Quantum
Computers: Theory and Algorithms (Springer, 2023).
(Amazon author page at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/
B07GCC7WQ4).

xv
xvi About the Authors

Leong-Chuan Kwek is a principal investigator at

the Center for Quantum Technologies, NUS, the Co-
director of the Quantum Science and Engineering Center
at NTU and a faculty of the National Institute of Educa-
tion, Singapore. He is the Immediate Past President
of the Institute of Physics, Singapore and a Council
Member of the Association of Asia Pacific Physical
Societies. He is also an elected Fellow of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
and the Institute of Physics, UK (IOP).
Chapter 1
Introduction

Quantum mechanics describes and explains the workings of nature—and is by far

the most successful theory of science. Although quantum mechanics has qualita-
tively changed our view of nature, a satisfactory understanding of it is still far from
complete. The ‘enigmatic’ aspects of quantum mechanics—specially the pivotal and
non-classical role that measurements plays in connecting the mathematical formal-
ism with observations—are discussed in the context of quantum computers in the
concluding chapters. In fact, the workings of quantum computers throw new light on
the mysteries and conundrums of quantum mechanics.
Similar to the application of quantum mechanics for the understanding of nature,
quantum mechanics embodies a radical shift of paradigm from classical information
science to quantum information science. The book focuses on bringing this shift of
paradigm to the forefront.
According to quantum mechanics, the state vector encodes all the information
about a physical system. For example, if one asks: ‘What is a hydrogen atom?’—
then a response based on quantum mechanics is that it is a specific state vector. In
general, all physical entities are represented by state vectors.
The rather unexpected and counterintuitive result of quantum information sci-
ence is that the state vector can be designed, using the laws of quantum physics, to
encode information that originates from non-physical sources—in particular from
algorithms that arise in information and computer science. Furthermore, unitary
(reversible) transformations can be carried out on an initial state vector, again using
the laws of quantum physics, that execute (quantum) algorithms designed and based
on the requirements of computer science. What is noteworthy is that due to the enig-
matic ‘quantum parallelism’ of quantum mechanics, the evolution of the state vector
executes algorithms much faster that any classical computer—and in some cases
even exponentially faster.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023 1
B. E. Baaquie and L.-C. Kwek, Quantum Computers,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7517-2_1
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 A young lad lived with the magician and served him, but though he
worked for the great master he was an ignorant youth who was
scarcely allowed so much as to enter the learned man’s private
room. But one day, when his master was absent, he went in there,
and satisfied his curiosity by looking around to his heart’s content.
Here was the wondrous apparatus for changing copper into gold,
and lead into silver; and the mirror in which could be seen all that
was passing in the world; and the shell which, when held to the ear,
enabled one to hear any words being spoken by whatever person
one desired to know about.
The lad tried in vain with the crucibles to turn copper into gold and
lead into silver. Next he gazed long and vainly into the mirror, but
clouds and smoke passed over the scenes within, and he could
discern nothing clearly. Then he put the shell to his ear. That too
disappointed him, for he could hear only indistinct murmurings like
the breaking of waves on a distant shore.
“I can do nothing,” he said, “because I do not know the right words
to utter and make things go right. The words I need are locked from
sight in yonder book.”
Just then he noticed with surprise that the book lay open. The
master had forgotten to lock it, and the lad ran eagerly to look at its
secret-revealing pages. Some of the words were in black ink and
some in red, and they seemed to be in a strange language. He could
not see a single one that appeared familiar, and he sat down and put
his finger on a line and spelled it through.
At once the room was darkened, and the house trembled, and
there was a startling clap of thunder. Then the lad saw standing
before him a horrible winged creature, breathing fire, and with eyes
like burning lamps. It was the demon Beelzebub whom he had called
up to serve him.
“Set me a task!” cried the demon with a voice like the roaring of an
iron furnace.
The boy shivered with fright, and his hair stood on end. He knew
not what to do or say.
“Set me a task or I shall strangle you,” said the demon.
But the lad could not find voice to speak. The evil spirit stepped
toward him and reached out his hands toward the boy’s throat. The
youth shrank from the demon’s burning touch, while again the
command was dinned in his ears. “Set me a task!”
“Water yon flower,” said the boy in despair, pointing to a geranium
which stood in a pot on the floor.
 Instantly the demon left the room, but a moment later he returned
with a barrel on his back and poured its contents over the flower.
Again and again he went and came, and poured more and more
water until the floor of the room was ankle-deep.
“Enough, enough!” gasped the lad.
But the demon heeded him not. The boy did not know the words
that must be spoken in order to send the demon away, and the evil
spirit continued to fetch water. It rose to the boy’s knees, and yet
more water was poured. It mounted to his waist, and still Beelzebub
brought barrel after barrel full. It rose to the lad’s armpits, and he
scrambled to the table-top. Presently the water was half way up the
window and washing against the glass, and it swirled around the
lad’s legs where he stood on the table. It kept on rising and reached
his breast.
In vain he ordered and begged the demon to desist. The evil spirit
refused to obey, and he would have been pouring water even to this
day had not the master returned. He came in haste, for he had
recollected that he had left his book unlocked, and he arrived just as
the water had reached his pupil’s chin. Without a moment’s delay he
shouted the proper words to make Beelzebub return to his fiery
home, and the lad was saved.
 THE WHITE TROUT

T
HERE was once a beautiful lady who lived beside a lake in the
western part of Ireland, and she was to be the bride of a king’s
son. But just before the time set for the wedding he was
murdered and thrown into the lake. So of course he couldn’t keep his
promise to the fair lady—more’s the pity.
The lady was that tender-hearted she went out of her mind
because of losing the king’s son. She pined away, and one day
disappeared, and it was thought that the fairies had taken her.
After a time a white trout was seen in a stream that flowed into the
lake, and the people didn’t know what to make of the creature, for
such a thing as a white trout had never been known before. Years
and years the trout was there, and no harm was ever done to it until
some wicked sinners of soldiers came to those parts. They laughed
at the people and gibed and jeered at them for never trying to catch
the white trout. One of them, in particular, swore he would have the
white trout for his dinner some fine day.
Sure enough, the blackguard caught the trout, and away he went
home with it, pitched the pretty little thing into the frying-pan, and put
the frying-pan over the fire. The trout squealed just like a Christian
when it found itself thus cruelly treated, and the soldier laughed till
he was like to split; for he was a hardened villain. When he thought
one side was done, he turned the trout over to fry the other, but to
his surprise saw not a sign of a burn on it anywhere. “This is a queer
trout that can’t be fried,” said he. “But I’ll give it another turn by and
by.”
 As soon as the heathen thought that side was done he turned the
trout again, and behold not a bit more broiled was it than when he
began. “Bad luck to me,” said the soldier, “but this beats the world.
However, cunning as you think yourself, I’ll try you again, my
darling.”
So saying, he turned the trout over and over, and he kept the fire
blazing hot, but not a sign of a burn would show on the pretty
creature. He might have known he was doing a wrong thing, seeing
that his endeavors accomplished nothing, and yet he kept on as he
had begun.
“Well, my jolly little trout,” said he at last, “maybe you’re fried
enough, though you don’t seem to be any more so than you were
when I pulled you out of the stream. But perhaps you are better than
you look, and a tit-bit after all.”
Then he picked up his knife and fork to have a taste of the trout,
but the moment he put his knife into the fish there was a piercing
screech, and the trout flopped out of the frying-pan into the middle of
the floor. Immediately, on the spot where it fell, stood a beautiful lady
—the loveliest creature that eyes had ever seen, dressed in white,
and a band of gold in her hair, and her arm stained with blood.
“Look where you cut me, you villain,” said she, and she held her
arm out toward him. “Why couldn’t you leave me cool and
comfortable in the river, and not disturb me in my duty?”
The soldier, trembling with terror, stammered out some lame
excuse, and begged for his life, asked her ladyship’s pardon, and
declared that he did not know she was on duty. “If I had known it,”
said he, “I am too good a soldier to have meddled with you.”
“I was on duty,” the lady affirmed. “I was watching for my true love,
who is coming to me; and if he comes while I am away, so that I miss
him, I’ll turn you into the little fish that is called a pinkeen, and I’ll
hunt you up and down for evermore, while grass grows or water
runs.”
The soldier nearly fainted away at the thought of being turned into
a pinkeen. He begged for mercy harder than ever, and the lady said:
“Renounce your evil ways, or you’ll repent too late. Be a good man
for the future and go regularly to church; and now take me and put
me back in the river where you found me.”
“Oh, my lady!” exclaimed the soldier, “how could I have the heart
to drown a beautiful lady like you?”
Before he could say another word the lady had vanished, and he
saw the little trout on the floor. So he put it on a clean plate, and
away he ran to the river as fast as he could go, fearful that her lover
would come while she was away. He ran and he ran until he came to
the edge of the stream and then he threw the trout into the water.
From that day the soldier was an altered man. He reformed his
ways, went to church regularly, and fasted three times a week,
though he would not eat fish even on fasting days, for after the fright
he got, fish would never rest on his stomach. At length he left the
army and turned hermit, and every day he prayed for the soul of the
white trout.
 THE FORTY-NINE DRAGONS

O
NCE upon a time there were two brothers, the older of whom
was rich and had four children, while the younger was poor
and had seven children. At last the family of the poor brother
was in such want that the mother went to the rich man and said: “I
am very wretched, for I am unable to provide my children with
enough to eat. I take a little meal and mix it with a great deal of bran,
and so manage to make bread. It is well nigh a year since my
children have had any meat. They get nothing but the meal and bran
bread.”
“And yet,” said he, “your children are strong, while mine, in spite of
plentiful and rich food, and other comforts, are always ailing.”
“Yes,” said the woman, “though our lot is one of poverty and
hunger, yet, thanks be to Heaven, our children are hale and hearty.
But I fear for the future, and I have come to implore you, if you need
to hire any work done, that you do not send for any one but me; and
may God bless you and give health to your children.”
As she spoke these words the tears ran from her eyes, and the
man called his wife and said to her: “Here is our sister-in-law wanting
work. Have we something for her to do so she may not sit idle?”
“Yes,” answered his wife, “let her come twice a week and knead
bread for us.”
When the poor woman heard these words she was glad, for she
thought that when she kneaded the fine white bread they would give
her some of it, and her children would eat and rejoice. She rose to
go away, and they said to her, “Good-by, and remember to come
tomorrow morning.”
They let her depart without relieving her want by giving her a scrap
of anything. As she set off toward home she said to herself: “Would
that I were rich and could go to my cupboard and bring out a bit of
cheese, or a piece of bread, or a little rice, or other household store
to gladden the hearts of the poor!”
Her children were eagerly awaiting her at home, but alas! she
came with empty hands.
The next day she went early to the rich man’s house to knead
bread, and when she finished her task they bade her farewell and
told her to be sure to come next time, but they gave her nothing
whatever.
As soon as she returned home the children said, “Have you
brought us some food, mother?”
“No,” she replied, “but maybe they will send us a bit of bread when
the baking is done.”
However, she waited in vain. Two or three days later she got word
that they wanted her to come and knead again. So she went to the
rich man’s house and began her work. As she was kneading, the
thought came into her head not to wash her hands until she reached
home. Then she could give to the children the water in which she
washed off the dough and flour. She hurried home as soon as she
had done kneading, and said to her children, “I am going to give you
a little milk soup.”
Then she washed her hands thoroughly, and divided the water
among them, and they liked it so much they said, “Mother, whenever
you go to knead, be sure to bring us some of that broth to drink.”
Twice a week she went to the rich man’s house to knead bread,
and her children had never been more hearty and vigorous. One day
the rich man was passing by his younger brother’s house, and he
put his head in at the door and said, “How do you do here?”
 He looked at the children and was amazed to see how fat they
were. That put him in a great rage, and he went home and called to
his wife: “Come at once, and tell me what you give to my sister-in-
law, who does the kneading for us.”
She was frightened by the way he shouted at her. “I never give her
anything,” she declared, “because I am so afraid of giving her too
much and then getting a scolding from you.”
“You must have given her something,” he persisted, “for her
children are so fat they look as if they would burst.”
“Well,” said his wife, “she takes nothing away with her but her
unwashed hands, and after she gets home she gives the water in
which she washes her hands to the children to drink.”
“Then you must put a stop to that,” he ordered.
So the next time, when the woman had finished kneading, the rich
man’s wife said to her, “Wash your hands and then go.”
The poor woman obeyed with a sad heart, and quailed to think of
returning home without being able to give her children even the milk
soup wash to which they had become accustomed. As soon as she
reached her house the children gathered about her, clamoring that
she should make haste and give them their usual treat; but she said,
“I washed my hands before I came away this time.”
All the children began to weep and to say, “How could you so
forget us as not to bring us that beautiful broth?”
In the midst of the lamentations the father entered the house, and
asked, “What ails the children that they cry so noisily?”
She told him all that had happened, and he was much grieved.
“Perhaps I can find a little food on the mountain-side,” said he. “I will
take a bag and try to get some herbs and edible roots.”
So away he went, and he wandered a long distance. At last he
found himself on the top of a high crag and saw, not far away, a
great castle. “I wonder to whom that castle belongs,” said he.
 He went nearer and climbed into a tree to get a better view of it.
While he was looking, behold, a number of dragons came out. He
counted them, and there were forty-nine. They left the door open and
went away out of sight. So he climbed down from the tree and went
to the castle, where he walked about from room to room and saw
that it contained a vast amount of treasure. Into his bag he put as
much gold as he could carry and hurried away with it, fearful that the
dragons would catch him.
When they came back they perceived that some of their money
was gone, and henceforth they determined that one of them should
stay behind in the castle when the others went out.
The man returned home and said to his wife: “God has taken pity
on us. See, here we have enough gold to make us rich,” and he
opened his bag and showed her the golden money he had brought.
On the following day he purchased a house and moved his family
into it. “But let us continue to live simply,” said he to his wife. “We will
buy what we need and avoid extravagance.”
“Yes,” said she, “that is best. I do not forget how recently I have
been glad to give the children milk soup to drink to save them from
starving.”
For two months they lived happily, and had plenty to eat, and gave
generously to the poor. Then the wife of the older brother came to
visit them, for she had heard that they were well off now. Her own
family, on the contrary, had begun to suffer misfortune. Their sheep
had died, their crops had failed, and unseasonable frosts had ruined
their fruit trees.
The wife of the younger brother did not feel any ill will toward her
visitor because of the way she had been treated in the days of her
misery, and she welcomed her heartily, and gave her the best seat,
and set before her the choicest food in the house. This was very
different from the treatment that had been accorded her, for the older
brother’s wife used to receive her in the kitchen and never asked her
to sit down.
 After some time the visitor said: “Sister, pray tell me where your
husband has found work, that my husband may if possible get work
there also. We have been unfortunate of late and are in great want.”
“My husband has not got any employment,” responded the other.
“You remember when I was last at your house and you made me
wash my hands. That day he went to the mountains and found a
castle where he got a lot of gold.”
“Would he take my husband to that castle?” asked the former rich
woman. “Perhaps we too may thus gain relief.”
“He will do what he can for you, I am sure,” said the other. “If your
husband will bring a bag tomorrow he will show him the way. He
does not wish to get any more treasure for himself because he thinks
we already have enough.”
The next morning the older brother came with a bag under his arm
and said: “Good morrow, brother, how do you do? I hope you are
well.”
Hitherto, if he saw his brother, he looked the other way, or turned
aside, lest he should be asked for help. But the former poor man
welcomed him and said: “It gives me joy to have you enter my
house, for I have very seldom had the pleasure of seeing you.”
“Things have gone badly with me,” said the older brother, “and
now I know not what to do.”
“Well,” said the other, “we will go to the mountains, and very likely
you will have the luck to get as rich as ever.”
So they started off together, and when they came to where they
could see the castle the younger brother showed his companion the
tree from which he had watched the castle. “Climb up among the
branches,” said he, “and wait till the dragons that dwell in the castle
come out. Count them. If forty-nine come forth you can descend and
enter the castle free from fear. But unless the entire forty-nine leave,
do not go in.”
 While he was looking a number of dragons came out

With these words he turned his steps toward home. His brother
watched eagerly from the tree, and by and by he saw the dragons
coming forth, and he counted them. But he counted wrong, and
instead of saying forty-eight he said forty-nine. Then he scrambled
down from the tree, hurried to the castle, and looked about, seeking
the treasure, that he might fill his bag. Suddenly he heard a voice
say, “So you are the thief and have come back to steal more of our
gold!”
He found himself confronted by a dragon that had come out of a
near-by room where it had been staying on guard. Immediately it bit
off his head, and took both the body and the head and hung them at
the entrance to the castle. When the other dragons came home he
said to them: “There is no need to keep watch any longer. I have
killed the thief and hung him up where he will serve as a warning to
all other thieves that may approach our castle.”
After that none of the dragons stayed at home, but each day they
went out together.
Two days passed, and the wife of the former rich man got uneasy
because her husband did not return. She went to the house of her
brother-in-law, and when she told him that her husband had not
come back he said he would go and seek him. Off he went, and as
soon as he drew near to the castle he climbed the tree and looked
and saw his brother’s body hanging at the entrance. Then he waited
till the dragons came out. He counted them with great care, and
there were forty-nine. After they had gone from sight he went and got
his brother’s body and put it in a bag that lay near the entrance. It
was the very bag his brother had brought to contain the gold he
hoped to get.
The younger brother carried his burden home and sent for his
sister-in-law. When she came and saw her dead husband she wept
and would not be comforted. At last she said: “We must get a tailor to
sew him together. I cannot bury him like that, in two pieces.”
 So the man went out and got a tailor, who sewed the head on to
the body, and afterward the burial took place. Then the younger
brother gave his sister-in-law some money, and said, “Go and
provide for yourself and your children, and if you are in want again,
do not hesitate to come and ask me for what you need.”
Meanwhile the dragons had returned to their castle and found the
dead man gone. “So the thief had an accomplice!” they exclaimed.
“We must destroy him also.”
The chief dragon was a powerful magician, and the next day he
assumed the form of a man, and went to the town to try to discover
who had come to their castle and removed the body with its severed
head. While he was loitering about, uncertain how to get the desired
information, he concluded he would go to a tailor and have a suit of
clothes made. The tailor took his measure, and the dragon said:
“Now mind you sew the seams well so the stitches won’t come out.
You must do a careful job, or I will not pay you. It’s not often I have a
nice suit made, and I am particular. Use good strong thread and—”
“Stop!” cried the tailor with rising anger. “There is no need for you
to make such a fuss. Why, yesterday I had to sew together a dead
man whose head had been separated from his body. His relations
were entirely satisfied with the way I did the difficult task. If I can do a
job like that so well, in spite of the fact that it was out of my line, you
can be assured I have the skill to make you a satisfactory suit. So
have done with your advising, or you will drive me crazy.”
“Do you know the person who hired you to sew the dead man?”
asked the dragon.
“Of course I do,” answered the tailor. “He lives near by. If you like, I
will point out his house, and you can go in and ask him whether the
body was well sewed or not.”
So he took the dragon a little way along the street and showed him
where the brother of the dead man dwelt. But instead of going into
the house, the dragon went to a carpenter’s shop and ordered forty-
eight chests, each just big enough to contain one of the dragons.
When the chests were finished he had them sent to a lonely spot
outside of the town, and thither he summoned his dragons. They got
into the chests, and he hired wagons to bring the chests to the house
of the dead man’s brother. He himself went on ahead, and toward
evening he found the former poor man seated in his doorway. “Sir,”
said he, “I have had forty-eight chests sent to me. You can see them
coming down the street on those wagons. Would you be so kind as
to let me leave them in your yard for the night?”
“You are welcome to leave them there for the night,” said the man,
“and as much longer as suits your convenience.”
After the wagons had been unloaded and the dragon chief had
gone, the man’s children began climbing about and jumping on the
chests. The dragons who were inside groaned from time to time, and
said, “Ah, would it were dark that we might eat them all.”
Presently the children took notice of the groanings and the words,
and they ran to their father and said: “Those chests are bewitched.
They are talking.”
The man thought a moment and said, “Forty-eight, and the one
that brought them makes forty-nine!”
Then he went to the chests and put his ear to one of the keyholes.
He heard the direful words and the groaning, and he said to himself,
“Now that I have you monsters in my power I’ll make sure of you.”
So off he went and bought some iron rods, heated them red hot in
his kitchen fire, and one by one thrust them into the chests until he
had killed all the forty-eight dragons. That done, he called his
servant, opened one of the chests, and said: “My man, look here.
Some one has played us a trick and put a dragon in this chest. If I
had not killed the creature it would have devoured us all. Take it and
throw it into the sea.”
The servant lifted it on his back, went to the seashore, which was
not far away, and threw the creature down where the rising tide
would soon carry it away. Then he went home, but while he was
gone his master had opened another chest. The man had his
servant look in, and said: “Here is the dragon. Surely you did not
throw it far enough out into the sea, else how would it have
returned?”
Again the servant carried a dragon to the shore, and once more
returned to find what was apparently the same dead dragon. His
master kept him going nearly all night, and when he made the trip
with the forty-eighth dragon he was so exasperated that he waded
right into the sea and cast it out as far as he could. When he
returned home, he said, “Master, is it back?”
“No,” the man answered, “it has not come back. You must have
thrown it in very deep.”
Next morning the chief dragon came, and he was a good deal
perturbed, because he had expected his dragons would destroy the
family of the former poor man, and then join their chief before
daylight at an appointed spot outside of the town. “I find that one of
your chests is open and empty,” the man informed the dragon.
He led the way to the yard, and when the dragon bent over to look
into the chest the man seized him and pushed him inside, slammed
down the cover, and locked it. Then he ran for a red-hot iron, and
soon the last of the dragons had perished.
The castle among the mountains was now without an owner, and
the man took possession of it and lived there as happy as a prince—
and may whoever reads this story, or hears it read, live happier still.
 THE FOUR CLEVER BROTHERS

T
HERE was once a poor man who had four sons, and when they
were grown up, he said to them: “Dear children, you must go
out into the world now, for I have nothing to give you. It is my
wish that you should each learn a trade by which you can gain a
comfortable livelihood, if not wealth.”
So the four brothers took their walking-staffs in their hands, bid
their father good-by, and tramped away down the street and passed
out of the town gate. After they had traveled some distance, they
came to where four roads branched away from the one they were
tramping. “Here we must part,” said the eldest brother, “but four
years from this day we will meet here again, and tell each other what
we have accomplished.”
Then each went his own way, and the eldest presently met a man,
who asked him where he was going and what he intended to do.
“I want to learn a trade,” the youth answered.
“Then come with me and learn to be a thief,” said the man.
“No,” responded the youth, “that is no longer considered an
honorable employment; and in the end I should swing as the clapper
in the field bell.”
“Oh, you need not fear the gallows!” said the man. “I will only
teach you how to take things that no one else wants or knows how to
get hold of, and I will make you so expert that nobody can find you
out.”