2021/12/07 by Jue Xu, Xu, Jue
Computer Science · #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2112.04892
openalex publication_date 2021/12/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We reformulate quantum computation in terms of Lagrangian (sum-over-path) formalism, in contrast to the widely used Hamiltonian (unitary gate) formulation. We exemplify this formalism with some widely-studied models, including the standard quantum circuit model, quantum optimization heuristics, and quantum random walks. The meanings of Lagrangian (action) are interpreted in various contexts of quantum computation, such as complexity analysis. Furthermore, an analog quantum simulation scheme is suggested where the Lagrangian serves as the starting point and the sum-over-path method is applied.