Geometric Measures of Complexity for Open and Closed Quantum Systems

TL;DR

This paper extends Nielsen's geometric complexity framework from unitary to nonunitary quantum dynamics by defining a geometric complexity measure for quantum channels, including noisy processes.

Contribution

It introduces a geometric complexity measure for quantum channels, broadening Nielsen's framework to nonunitary dynamics and noisy quantum systems.

Findings

Defined geometric complexity for quantum channels

Analyzed complexity of noisy quantum processes

Extended geometric complexity concepts beyond unitary dynamics

Abstract

The unitary dynamics of quantum systems can be modeled as a trajectory on a Riemannian manifold. This theoretical framework naturally yields a purely geometric interpretation of computational complexity for quantum algorithms, a notion originally developed by Michael Nielsen (Circa, 2007). However, for nonunitary dynamics, it is unclear how one can recover a completely geometric characterization of Nielsen-like geometric complexity. The main obstacle to overcome is that nonunitary dynamics cannot be characterized by Lie groups (which are Riemannian manifolds), as is the case for unitary dynamics. Building on Nielsen's work, we present a definition of geometric complexity for a fairly generic family of quantum channels. These channels are useful for modeling noise in quantum circuits, among other things, and analyze the geometric complexity of these quantum channels.