BQP After 28 Years (Invited Talk)

Abstract

I will discuss the now-ancient question of where BQP, Bounded-Error Quantum Polynomial-Time, fits in among classical complexity classes. After reviewing some basics from the 90s, I will discuss the Forrelation problem that I introduced in 2009 to yield an oracle separation between BQP and PH, and the dramatic completion of that program by Ran Raz and Avishay Tal in 2018. I will then discuss very recent work, with William Kretschmer and DeVon Ingram, which leverages the Raz-Tal theorem, along with a new "quantum-aware" random restriction method, to obtain results that illustrate just how differently BQP can behave from BPP. These include oracles relative to which NP^{BQP} ̸ ⊂ BQP^{PH} - solving a 2005 open problem of Lance Fortnow - and conversely, relative to which BQP^{NP} ̸ ⊂ PH^{BQP}; an oracle relative to which 𝖯 = NP and yet BQP ≠ QCMA; an oracle relative to which NP ⊆ BQP yet PH is infinite; an oracle relative to which 𝖯 = NP≠ BQP = PP; and an oracle relative to which PP = PostBQP ̸ ⊂ QMA^{QMA^{…}}. By popular demand, I will also speculate about the status of BQP in the unrelativized world.