Limitations on transversal computation through quantum homomorphic encryption

This paper shows that quantum computation can be made fault-tolerant against errors and inaccuracies when $\eta$, the probability for an error in a qubit or a gate, is smaller than a constant threshold $\eta_c$. This result improves on Shor's result [Proceedings of the 37th Symposium on the Foundations of Computer Science, IEEE, Los Alamitos, CA, 1996, pp. 56–65], which shows how to perform fault-tolerant quantum computation when the error rate $\eta$ decays polylogarithmically with the size of the computation, an assumption which is physically unreasonable. The cost of making the quantum circuit fault-tolerant in our construction is polylogarithmic in time and space. Our result holds for a very general local noise model, which includes probabilistic errors, decoherence, amplitude damping, depolarization, and systematic inaccuracies in the gates. Moreover, we allow exponentially decaying correlations between the errors both in space and in time. Fault-tolerant computation can be performed with any universal set of gates. The result also holds for quantum particles with $p>2$ states, namely, p-qudits, and is also generalized to one-dimensional quantum computers with only nearest-neighbor interactions. No measurements, or classical operations, are required during the quantum computation. We estimate the threshold of our construction to be $\eta_c\simeq 10^{-6}$, in the best case. By this we show that local noise is in principle not an obstacle for scalable quantum computation. The main ingredient of our proof is the computation on states encoded by a quantum error correcting code (QECC). To this end we introduce a special class of Calderbank–Shor–Steane (CSS) codes, called polynomial codes (the quantum analogue of Reed–Solomon codes). Their nice algebraic structure allows all of the encoded gates to be transversal. We also provide another version of the proof which uses more general CSS codes, but its encoded gates are slightly less elegant. To achieve fault tolerance, we encode the quantum circuit by another circuit by using one of these QECCs. This step is repeated polyloglog many times, each step slightly improving the effective error rate, to achieve the desired reliability. The resulting circuit exhibits a hierarchical structure, and for the analysis of its robustness we borrow terminology from Khalfin and Tsirelson [Found. Phys., 22 (1992), pp. 879–948] and Gács [Advances in Computing Research: A Research Annual: Randomness and Computation, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, 1989]. The paper is to a large extent self-contained. In particular, we provide simpler proofs for many of the known results we use, such as the fact that it suffices to correct for bit-flips and phase-flips, the correctness of CSS codes, and the fact that two-qubit gates are universal, together with their extensions to higher-dimensional particles. We also provide full proofs of the universality of the sets of gates we use (the proof of universality was missing in Shor's paper). This paper thus provides a self-contained and complete proof of universal fault-tolerant quantum computation in the presence of local noise.

Fault-tolerant quantum computers that can solve hard problems rely on quantum error correction1. One of the most promising error correction codes is the surface code2, which requires universal gate fidelities exceeding an error correction threshold of 99 per cent3. Among the many qubit platforms, only superconducting circuits4, trapped ions5 and nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond6 have delivered this requirement. Electron spin qubits in silicon7-15 are particularly promising for a large-scale quantum computer owing to their nanofabrication capability, but the two-qubit gate fidelity has been limited to 98 per cent owing to the slow operation16. Here we demonstrate a two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.5 per cent, along with single-qubit gate fidelities of 99.8 per cent, in silicon spin qubits by fast electrical control using a micromagnet-induced gradient field and a tunable two-qubit coupling. We identify the qubit rotation speed and coupling strength where we robustly achieve high-fidelity gates. We realize Deutsch-Jozsa and Grover search algorithms with high success rates using our universal gate set. Our results demonstrate universal gate fidelity beyond the fault-tolerance threshold and may enable scalable silicon quantum computers.

Scalable solutions are essential to achieving the long-term goal of building a fault-tolerant quantum computer and energy-power consumption are fundamental limiting factors for this target. Among the available types of silicon qubits, this work focuses on Flip-Flop (FF) qubits. Energy consumption and power requirements are estimated for a square array of qubits that hosts the logical qubit. The logical qubit is implemented using the rotated Surface Code (SC) for Quantum Error Correction (QEC). By using a universal set of quantum gates, the energy usage, time and power requirements for a SC cycle are estimated based on noise level, code distance and control levels. These estimates are used to provide insights into the main scaling-up challenges for quantum computer development. This is achieved by extending a thermal model that includes energy contributions from both the cryogenic components (such as the qubit array, the cryogenic control electronics, and the cryostat) and the room temperature (RT) section (RT electronics and heat dissipation systems). The maximum numbers of physical and logical qubits are provided, as well as power consumption across the different temperature sections.

Parallel and distributed computing has been the basis to many emerging areas, such as smart networks, cloud computing, big data analysis, and blockchain technology. Without the development of parallel and distributed computing technologies and various types of systems, it is not possible to meet the requirement on efficiency, accuracy, scalability, and reliability for various critical applications that support our modern economy and society. While parallel and distributed computing played a vital role in modern science, engineering, biology, medicine, pharmacy, astronomy, geology, and archaeology, its application has also been extended to business, finance, economics, management, government, and defense, covering all aspects of our modern society and life. Furthermore, parallel and distributed computing has emerged in recent advances of many hotspot research directions including artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things, bioinformatics, digital medicine, cybersecurity, and social computing, resulting in numerous ground-breading discoveries that are changing our society and life.

Currently, most quantum homomorphic encryption (QHE) schemes only allow a single evaluator (server) to accomplish computation tasks on encrypted data shared by the data owner (user). In addition, the quantum computing capability of the evaluator and the scope of quantum computation it can perform are usually somewhat limited, which significantly reduces the flexibility of the scheme in quantum network environments. In this paper, we propose a novel (t,n)-threshold QHE (TQHE) network scheme based on the Shamir secret sharing protocol, which allows k(t≤k≤n) evaluators to collaboratively perform evaluation computation operations on each qubit within the shared encrypted sequence. Moreover, each evaluator, while possessing the ability to perform all single-qubit unitary operations, is able to perform arbitrary single-qubit gate computation task assigned by the data owner. We give a specific (3, 5)-threshold example, illustrating the scheme's correctness and feasibility, and simulate it on IBM quantum computing cloud platform. Finally, it is shown that the scheme is secure by analyzing encryption/decryption private keys, ciphertext quantum state sequences during transmission, plaintext quantum state sequence, and the result after computations on the plaintext quantum state sequence.

To implement fault-tolerant quantum computation with continuous variables, the Gottesman--Kitaev--Preskill (GKP) qubit has been recognized as an important technological element. We have proposed a method to reduce the required squeezing level to realize large scale quantum computation with the GKP qubit [Phys. Rev. X. {\bf 8}, 021054 (2018)], harnessing the virtue of analog information in the GKP qubits. In the present work, to reduce the number of qubits required for large scale quantum computation, we propose the tracking quantum error correction, where the logical-qubit level quantum error correction is partially substituted by the single-qubit level quantum error correction. In the proposed method, the analog quantum error correction is utilized to make the performances of the single-qubit level quantum error correction almost identical to those of the logical-qubit level quantum error correction in a practical noise level. The numerical results show that the proposed tracking quantum error correction reduces the number of qubits during a quantum error correction process by the reduction rate $\left\{{2(n-1)\times4^{l-1}-n+1}\right\}/({2n \times 4^{l-1}})$ for $n$-cycles of the quantum error correction process using the Knill's $C_{4}/C_{6}$ code with the concatenation level $l$. Hence, the proposed tracking quantum error correction has great advantage in reducing the required number of physical qubits, and will open a new way to bring up advantage of the GKP qubits in practical quantum computation.

Fault-tolerant quantum error correction provides a strategy to protect information processed by a quantum computer against noise which would otherwise corrupt the data. A fault-tolerant universal quantum computer must implement a universal gate set on the logical level in order to perform arbitrary calculations to in principle unlimited precision. In this paper we characterize the recent demonstration of a fault-tolerant universal gate set in a trapped-ion quantum computer [Postler et al., Nature (London) 605, 7911 (2022)] and identify aspects to improve the design of experimental setups to reach an advantage of logical over physical qubit operation. We show that various criteria to assess the break-even point for fault-tolerant quantum operations are within reach for the ion trap quantum computing architecture under consideration. Furthermore, we analyze the influence of crosstalk in entangling gates for logical state preparation circuits. These circuits can be designed to respect fault tolerance for specific microscopic noise models. We find that an experimentally informed depolarizing noise model captures the essential noise dynamics of the fault-tolerant experiment that we consider, and crosstalk is negligible in the currently accessible regime of physical error rates. For deterministic Pauli state preparation, we provide a fault-tolerant unitary logical qubit initialization circuit, which can be realized without in-sequence measurement and feed-forward of classical information. Additionally, we show that nondeterministic state preparation schemes, i.e., repeat until success, for logical Pauli and magic states perform with higher logical fidelity over their deterministic counterparts for the current and anticipated future regime of physical error rates. Our results offer guidance on improvements of physical qubit operations and validate the experimentally informed noise model as a tool to predict logical failure rates in quantum computing architectures based on trapped ions.

Quantum computers are growing at a rapid pace. Trends show that the current decade could be the one in which quantum computers deliver commercial value. Today's quantum computers are overwhelmed by errors. To unlock their massive potential, a significant reduction in errors is required. Several qubit technologies are under research, e.g. superconducting, neutral atoms, trapped ions, photons and silicon. For useful quantum computing on these qubit technologies, Quantum Error Correction (QEC) turns unreliable physical qubits into useful logical qubits. QEC requires solving a real-time, large data volume decoding problem that determines the effect of physical noise on the computation carried out on logical qubits. The nature of the decoding problem depends on the qubit technology, choice of QEC code and mode of quantum computation. These are actively researched subjects in the quantum computing world. Hardware-based decoders that use Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) technologies are the most promising solutions in terms of speed and scalability. However, the design methodology for these solutions typically suffers from long lead times and a lack of flexibility. We propose GridGenQ, a hardware design utility that automates part of the FPGA/ASIC design methodology for distributed QEC decoders. We show that with our novel solution, development time for such distributed hardware decoders can be reduced from several weeks to few minutes. This allows for fast prototyping of distributed decoder architectures to meet the requirements posed by a dynamic QEC landscape.

Logic gates can be performed on data encoded in quantum code blocks such that errors introduced by faulty gates can be corrected. The important class of transversal gates acts bitwise between corresponding qubits of code blocks and thus limits error propagation. If any quantum gate could be implemented using transversal gates, the set would be universal. We study the structure of <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">GF</i> (4)-additive quantum codes and prove that no universal set of transversal logic gates exists for these codes. This result is in stark contrast with the classical case, where universal transversal gate sets exist, and strongly supports the idea that additional quantum techniques, based, for example, on quantum teleportation or magic state distillation, are necessary to achieve universal fault-tolerant quantum computation on additive codes.

The quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) is considered to be one of the most promising approaches towards using near-term quantum computers for practical application. In its original form, the algorithm applies two different Hamiltonians, called the mixer and the cost Hamiltonian, in alternation with the goal being to approach the ground state of the cost Hamiltonian. Recently, it has been suggested that one might use such a set-up as a parametric quantum circuit with possibly some other goal than reaching ground states. From this perspective, a recent work (Lloyd, arXiv:1812.11075) argued that for one-dimensional local cost Hamiltonians, composed of nearest neighbour ZZ terms, this set-up is quantum computationally universal and provides a universal gate set, i.e. all unitaries can be reached up to arbitrary precision. In the present paper, we complement this work by giving a complete proof and the precise conditions under which such a one-dimensional QAOA might produce a universal gate set. We further generalize this type of gate-set universality for certain cost Hamiltonians with ZZ and ZZZ terms arranged according to the adjacency structure of certain graphs and hypergraphs.

A quantum computer is a powerful machine that provides a new approach to information processing based on quantum mechanics. However, basically, qubits are very vulnerable to errors, thus a quantum error correction code (QECC) is needed to build a reliable quantum computer. Moreover, simply using QECCs is not sufficient in order that a quantum computer can tolerate errors. In quantum computation, each operation must be performed on the encoded states. Even when the gates used to perform these operations are noisy, the quantum computation must be tolerable to the errors. This is called fault-tolerant quantum computation and it is an essential condition for implementing a quantum computer. However, considering the fault tolerance, the overhead of the quantum computer increases exponentially. In this paper, we introduce fault-tolerant quantum computation and schemes to reduce the its overhead.

Homomorphic encryption (HE) schemes enable computing functions on encrypted data, by means of a public Eval procedure that can be applied to ciphertexts. But the evaluated ciphertexts so generated may differ from freshly encrypted ones. This brings up the question of whether one can keep computing on evaluated ciphertexts. An i-hop homomorphic encryption scheme is one where Eval can be called on its own output up to i times, while still being able to decrypt the result. A multi-hop homomorphic encryption is a scheme which is i-hop for all i. In this work we study i-hop and multi-hop schemes in conjunction with the properties of function-privacy (i.e., Eval's output hides the function) and compactness (i.e., the output of Eval is short). We provide formal definitions and describe several constructions. First, we observe that bootstrapping techniques can be used to convert any (1-hop) homomorphic encryption scheme into an i-hop scheme for any i, and the result inherits the function-privacy and/or compactness of the underlying scheme. However, if the underlying scheme is not compact (such as schemes derived from Yao circuits) then the complexity of the resulting i-hop scheme can be as high as nO(i). We then describe a specific DDH-based multi-hop homomorphic encryption scheme that does not suffer from this exponential blowup. Although not compact, this scheme has complexity linear in the size of the composed function, independently of the number of hops. The main technical ingredient in this solution is a re-randomizable variant of the Yao circuits. Namely, given a garbled circuit, anyone can re-garble it in such a way that even the party that generated the original garbled circuit cannot recognize it. This construction may be of independent interest.

Abstract: Encryption is essential in preventing unauthorized access to sensitive data in light of the growing concerns about data security in cloud computing. Homomorphic encryption promises to enable secure calculations on encrypted data without the need for decryption, particularly for cloud-based operations. To evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of several homomorphic encryption algorithms for safe cloud computing, we compare and contrast them in this research paper. Partially homomorphic encryption (PHE), somewhat homomorphic encryption (SHE), and fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) are the three basic homomorphic encryption subtypes that we examine. The implications of this study can aid cloud service providers and organizations in selecting the most appropriate homomorphic encryption scheme based on their specific security requirements and performance considerations. The research contributes to the ongoing efforts to enhance data privacy in cloud computing environments, opening new possibilities for secure data processing in an increasingly connected digital world. The exploration of homomorphic encryption schemes in this study opens new avenues for research and development in the field of cryptographic techniques. As technology continues to evolve, so too must our approaches to safeguarding data. This research serves as a catalyst for further innovations in homomorphic encryption algorithms, enabling even more efficient and robust methods for secure data processing in cloud environments and beyond. The insights derived from this research paper not only empower cloud service providers and organizations to make informed decisions about selecting the most appropriate homomorphic encryption scheme but also contribute to the broader mission of fortifying data privacy and security in cloud computing.

In Chapter 1 we saw that open quantum systems could interact with an environment and that this coupling could turn pure states into mixed states. This process will detrimentally impact any quantum computation, because it can lessen or destroy the interference effects that are vital to distinguishing a quantum computer from a classical computer. The problem of overcoming this effect is called the decoherence problem . Historically, the problem of overcoming decoherence was thought to be a major obstacle towards building a quantum computer. However, it was discovered that, under suitable conditions, the decoherence problem could be overcome. The main idea behind how this can be achieved is through the theory of quantum error correction (QEC). In this chapter we give an introduction into the way in which the decoherence problem can be overcome via the method of QEC. It is important to note that the scope of the introduction is not comprehensive, and focuses only on the basics of QEC without reference to the notion of fault-tolerant quantum computation, which is covered in Chapter 5. Quantum error correction should be thought of as a (major) tool in this larger theory of fault-tolerant quantum computing.

<p indent="0mm">Quantum homomorphic encryption allows computations to be performed directly on encrypted data, ensuring the security of private information. A novel multi-party probabilistic quantum homomorphic encryption scheme based on the Brown state is proposed in this study, which permits multiple clients to simultaneously delegate arbitrary quantum computations to two servers. Firstly, the trusted key center is introduced to collaborate with clients using the B92 protocol for key distribution and updating, as well as to perform operations that eliminate <italic>T</italic>-gate evaluation errors. Secondly, the proposed scheme employs pre-shared non-maximally entangled states as auxiliary resources to non-interactively address errors occurring during the homomorphic evaluation of <italic>T</italic>-gate. Lastly, the scheme leverages the properties of Brown state to extend the single-client single-server model to the multi-client multi-server model, making it more suitable for quantum distributed networks and enhancing its practicality. Moreover, this study theoretically proves the correctness, fully homomorphic nature, and information-theoretically security of the scheme. Simulations conducted on the Origin Quantum Cloud platform further validate the scheme’s effectiveness. As the proposed scheme can realize homomorphic computation of any quantum circuit, it is particularly well-suited for delegated computation in quantum cloud networks.