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A fast quantum mechanical algorithm for database search

1996/05/29 by Lov K. Grover, Grover, Lov K. · 468 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #DNA and Biological Computing #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #quant-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/9605043

8 pages, single postscript file. This is an updated version of a paper that was originally presented at STOC 1996. The algorithm is the same; however, the proof has been simplified by using a new interpretation termed "inversion about average." Also a few recently discovered insights have been added. Journal Ref.: Proceedings, 28th Annual ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC), May 1996, pages 212-219

openalex publication_date 1996/05/29 · arxiv created 1996/11/19 · openalex created_date 2019/06/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Imagine a phone directory containing N names arranged in completely random order. In order to find someone's phone number with a 50% probability, any classical algorithm (whether deterministic or probabilistic) will need to look at a minimum of N/2 names. Quantum mechanical systems can be in a superposition of states and simultaneously examine multiple names. By properly adjusting the phases of various operations, successful computations reinforce each other while others interfere randomly. As a result, the desired phone number can be obtained in only O(sqrt(N)) steps. The algorithm is within a small constant factor of the fastest possible quantum mechanical algorithm.

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