The Complexity of the Local Hamiltonian Problem

dc.creatorKempe, Julia
dc.creatorKitaev, Alexei
dc.creatorRegev, Oded
dc.date2004-06-24
dc.date2005-10-02
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T06:27:00Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T06:27:00Z
dc.descriptionThe k-local Hamiltonian problem is a natural complete problem for the complexity class QMA, the quantum analog of NP. It is similar in spirit to MAX-k-SAT, which is NP-complete for k<=2. It was known that the problem is QMA-complete for any k <= 3. On the other hand 1-local Hamiltonian is in P, and hence not believed to be QMA-complete. The complexity of the 2-local Hamiltonian problem has long been outstanding. Here we settle the question and show that it is QMA-complete. We provide two independent proofs; our first proof uses only elementary linear algebra. Our second proof uses a powerful technique for analyzing the sum of two Hamiltonians; this technique is based on perturbation theory and we believe that it might prove useful elsewhere. Using our techniques we also show that adiabatic computation with two-local interactions on qubits is equivalent to standard quantum computation.
dc.description30 pages, 3 figures, replaced with revised version, numerous improvements to readability and expanded adiabatic section
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0406180
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0406180
dc.identifierSIAM Journal of Computing, Vol. 35(5), p. 1070-1097 (2006), conference version in Proc. 24th FSTTCS, p. 372-383 (2004)
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/97289
dc.subjectQuantum Physics
dc.subjectComputational Complexity
dc.titleThe Complexity of the Local Hamiltonian Problem
dc.typetext

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