Most Quantum States Are Too Entangled To Be Useful As Computational Resources

May 11, 2009
4 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.Lett. 102 (2009) 19, 190501
  • Published: May 11, 2009

Citations per year

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Abstract: (APS)
It is often argued that entanglement is at the root of the speedup for quantum compared to classical computation, and that one needs a sufficient amount of entanglement for this speedup to be manifest. In measurement-based quantum computing, the need for a highly entangled initial state is particularly obvious. Defying this intuition, we show that quantum states can be too entangled to be useful for the purpose of computation, in that high values of the geometric measure of entanglement preclude states from offering a universal quantum computational speedup. We prove that this phenomenon occurs for a dramatic majority of all states: the fraction of useful nn-qubit pure states is less than \mathrm{exp}(\ensuremath{-}{n}^{2}). This work highlights a new aspect of the role entanglement plays for quantum computational speedups.
  • computer: quantum
  • entanglement
  • quantum state
  • initial state
  • pure state
  • 03.67.Lx
  • 03.65.Ta
  • 03.65.Ud
  • 03.67.Ac