Hybrid hypercomputing: towards a unification of quantum and classical computation

TL;DR

This paper proposes a unified framework for hybrid quantum-classical computing using a new graphical calculus that models information flow and resource sharing, facilitating high-level reasoning about quantum information processes.

Contribution

It introduces a local graphical calculus for quantum information theory that unifies quantum and classical processing units and models their joint resource use.

Findings

Graphical calculus models local information flow and causality.

Formal integration of quantum and classical processing units.

Analysis of resource sharing in measurement-based quantum computing.

Abstract

We investigate the computational power and unified resource use of hybrid quantum-classical computations, such as teleportation and measurement-based computing. We introduce a physically causal and local graphical calculus for quantum information theory, which enables high-level intuitive reasoning about quantum information processes. The graphical calculus defines a local information flow in a computation which satisfies conditions for physical causality. We show how quantum and classical processing units can now be formally integrated, and give an analysis of the joint resources used in a typical measurement-based computation. Finally, we discuss how this picture may be used to give a high-level unified model for hybrid quantum computing.