The time-energy uncertainty relation (TEUR) holds if the Hamiltonian is completely unknown, but can be violated otherwise; here we initiate a rigorous study describing when and to what extent such violations can occur. To this end, we propose a computational version of the TEUR (cTEUR), in which Δt is replaced by the computational complexity of simulating the measurement. cTEUR violations are proved to occur if and only if the Hamiltonian can be fast forwarded (FF), namely, simulated for time t with complexity significantly smaller than t. Shor’s algorithm provides an example of exponential cTEUR violations; we show that so do commuting local Hamiltonians and quadratic fermion Hamiltonians. A general FF method is ruled out, but finding further examples, as well as experimental demonstrations, are left for future work. We discuss possible connections to sensing and quantum gravity. This work initiates a rigorous theory of efficiency versus accuracy in energy measurements using computational complexity language.

Algorithmic cooling is a method that employs thermalization to increase qubit purification level, namely it reduces the qubit-system's entropy. We utilized gradient ascent pulse engineering (GRAPE), an optimal control algorithm, to implement algorithmic cooling in liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance. Various cooling algorithms were applied onto the three qubits of 13 C2-trichloroethylene, cooling the system beyond Shannon's entropy bound in several different ways. In particular, in one experiment a carbon qubit was cooled by a factor of 4.61. This work is a step towards potentially integrating tools of NMR quantum computing into in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

We demonstrate the use of optimal control to design two entropy-manipulating quantum gates which are more complex than the corresponding, commonly used, gates, such as CNOT and Toffoli (CCNOT): A 2-qubit gate called PE (polarization exchange) and a 3-qubit gate called COMP (polarization compression) were designed using GRAPE, an optimal control algorithm. Both gates were designed for a three-spin system. Our design provided efficient and robust NMR radio frequency (RF) pulses for 13 C 2 -trichloroethylene (TCE), our chosen three-spin system. We then experimentally applied these two quantum gates onto TCE at the NMR lab. Such design of these gates and others could be relevant for near-future applications of quantum computing devices.

No abstract