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Quantum 2-SAT on Low Dimensional Systems Is QMAsubscript{1}-Complete: Direct Embeddings and Black-Box Simulation

Authors: Dorian Rudolph, Sevag Gharibian, and Daniel Nagaj

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 325, 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)


Abstract
Despite the fundamental role the Quantum Satisfiability (QSAT) problem has played in quantum complexity theory, a central question remains open: At which local dimension does the complexity of QSAT transition from "easy" to "hard"? Here, we study QSAT with each constraint acting on a d_A-dimensional and d_B-dimensional qudit pair, denoted (d_A×d_B)-QSAT. Our first main result shows that, surprisingly, QSAT on qubits can remain QMA_1-hard, in that (2×5)-QSAT is QMA_1-complete. (QMA_1 is a quantum analogue of MA with perfect completeness.) In contrast, (2×2)-QSAT (i.e. Quantum 2-SAT on qubits) is well-known to be poly-time solvable [Bravyi, 2006]. Our second main result proves that (3×d)-QSAT on the 1D line with d ∈ O(1) is also QMA_1-hard. Finally, we initiate the study of (2×d)-QSAT on the 1D line by giving a frustration-free 1D Hamiltonian with a unique, entangled ground state. As implied by our title, our first result uses a direct embedding: We combine a novel clock construction with the 2D circuit-to-Hamiltonian construction of [Gosset and Nagaj, 2013]. Of note is a new simplified and analytic proof for the latter (as opposed to a partially numeric proof in [GN13]). This exploits Unitary Labelled Graphs [Bausch, Cubitt, Ozols, 2017] together with a new "Nullspace Connection Lemma", allowing us to break low energy analyses into small patches of projectors, and to improve the soundness analysis of [GN13] from Ω(1/T⁶) to Ω(1/T²), for T the number of gates. Our second result goes via black-box reduction: Given an arbitrary 1D Hamiltonian H on d'-dimensional qudits, we show how to embed it into an effective 1D (3×d)-QSAT instance, for d ∈ O(1). Our approach may be viewed as a weaker notion of "analog simulation" (à la [Bravyi, Hastings 2017], [Cubitt, Montanaro, Piddock 2018]). As far as we are aware, this gives the first "black-box simulation"-based QMA_1-hardness result.

Cite as

Dorian Rudolph, Sevag Gharibian, and Daniel Nagaj. Quantum 2-SAT on Low Dimensional Systems Is QMAsubscript{1}-Complete: Direct Embeddings and Black-Box Simulation. In 16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 325, pp. 85:1-85:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)


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@InProceedings{rudolph_et_al:LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.85,
  author =	{Rudolph, Dorian and Gharibian, Sevag and Nagaj, Daniel},
  title =	{{Quantum 2-SAT on Low Dimensional Systems Is QMAsubscript\{1\}-Complete: Direct Embeddings and Black-Box Simulation}},
  booktitle =	{16th Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science Conference (ITCS 2025)},
  pages =	{85:1--85:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-361-4},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{325},
  editor =	{Meka, Raghu},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.85},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-227139},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.85},
  annote =	{Keywords: quantum complexity theory, Quantum Merlin Arthur (QMA), Quantum Satisfiability Problem (QSAT), Hamiltonian simulation}
}
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