There are at least three models of discrete-time quantum walks (QWs) on graphs currently under active development. In this work we focus on the equivalence of two of them, known as Szegedy's and staggered QWs. We give a formal definition of the staggered model and discuss generalized versions for searching marked vertices. Using this formal definition, we prove that any instance of Szegedy's model is equivalent to an instance of the staggered model. On the other hand, we show that there are instances of the staggered model that cannot be cast into Szegedy's framework. Our analysis also works when there are marked vertices. We show that Szegedy's spatial search algorithms can be converted into search algorithms in staggered QWs. We take advantage of the similarity of those models to define the quantum hitting time in the staggered model and to describe a method to calculate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the evolution operator of staggered QWs.

When searching for a marked vertex in a graph, Szegedy's usual search operator is defined by using the transition probability matrix of the random walk with absorbing barriers at the marked vertices. Instead of using this operator, we analyze searching with Szegedy's quantum walk by using reflections around the marked vertices, that is, the standard form of quantum query. We show we can boost the probability to 1 of finding a marked vertex in the complete graph. Numerical simulations suggests that the success probability can be improved for other graphs, like the two-dimensional grid. We also prove that, for a certain class of graphs, we can express Szegedy's search operator, obtained from the absorbing walk, using the standard query model.

Quantum walks play an important role in the area of quantum algorithms. Many interesting problems can be reduced to searching marked states in a quantum Markov chain. In this context, the notion of quantum hitting time is very important, because it quantifies the running time of the algorithms. Markov chain-based algorithms are probabilistic, therefore the calculation of the success probability is also required in the analysis of the computational complexity. Using Szegedy's definition of quantum hitting time, which is a natural extension of the definition of the classical hitting time, we present analytical expressions for the hitting time and success probability of the quantum walk on the complete graph.

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The properties of the coinless quantum-walk model have not been as thoroughly analyzed as those of the coined model. Both evolve in discrete time steps, but the former uses a smaller Hilbert space, which is spanned merely by the site basis. Besides, the evolution operator can be obtained using a process of lattice tessellation, which is very appealing. The moments of the probability distribution play an important role in the context of quantum walks. The ballistic behavior of the mean square displacement indicates that quantum-walk-based algorithms are faster than randomwalk-based ones. In this paper, we obtain analytical expressions for the moments of the coinless model on d-dimensional lattices by employing the methods of Fourier transforms and generating functions. The mean square displacement for large times is explicitly calculated for the one-and two-dimensional lattices, and using optimization methods, the parameter values that give the largest spread are calculated and compared with the equivalent ones of the coined model. Although we have employed asymptotic methods, our approximations are accurate even for small numbers of time steps.