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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.TQC.2025.6

Quantum SAT Problems with Finite Sets of Projectors Are Complete for a Plethora of Classes

Authors: Ricardo Rivera Cardoso, Alex Meiburg, and Daniel Nagaj

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 350, 20th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2025)

Abstract

Previously, all known variants of the Quantum Satisfiability (QSAT) problem - consisting of determining whether a k-local (k-body) Hamiltonian is frustration-free - could be classified as being either in 𝖯; or complete for NP, MA, or QMA₁. Here, we present new qubit variants of this problem that are complete for BQP₁, coRP, QCMA, PI(coRP,NP), PI(BQP₁,NP), PI(BQP₁,MA), SoPU(coRP,NP), SoPU(BQP₁,NP), and SoPU(BQP₁,MA). Our result implies that a complete classification of quantum constraint satisfaction problems (QCSPs), analogous to Schaefer’s dichotomy theorem for classical CSPs, must either include these 13 classes, or otherwise show that some are equal. Additionally, our result showcases two new types of QSAT problems that can be decided efficiently, as well as the first nontrivial BQP₁-complete problem. We first construct QSAT problems on qudits that are complete for BQP₁, coRP, and QCMA. These are made by restricting the finite set of Hamiltonians to consist of elements similar to H_{init}, H_{prop}, and H_{out}, seen in the circuit-to-Hamiltonian transformation. Usually, these are used to demonstrate hardness of QSAT and Local Hamiltonian problems, and so our proofs of hardness are simple. The difficulty lies in ensuring that all Hamiltonians generated with these three elements can be decided in their respective classes. For this, we build our Hamiltonian terms with high-dimensional data and clock qudits, ternary logic, and either monogamy of entanglement or specific clock encodings. We then show how to express these problems in terms of qubits, by proving that any QCSP can be reduced to a qubit problem while maintaining the same complexity - something not believed possible classically. The remaining six problems are obtained by considering "sums" and "products" of some of the QSAT problems mentioned here. Before this work, the QSAT problems generated in this way resulted in complete problems for PI and SoPU classes that were trivially equal to NP, MA, or QMA₁. We thus commence the study of these new and seemingly nontrivial classes. While [Meiburg, 2021] first sought to prove completeness for coRP, BQP₁, and QCMA, we note that those constructions are flawed. Here, we rework them, provide correct proofs, and obtain improvements on the required qudit dimensionality.

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Ricardo Rivera Cardoso, Alex Meiburg, and Daniel Nagaj. Quantum SAT Problems with Finite Sets of Projectors Are Complete for a Plethora of Classes. In 20th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2025). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 350, pp. 6:1-6:24, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2025)

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@InProceedings{riveracardoso_et_al:LIPIcs.TQC.2025.6,
  author =	{Rivera Cardoso, Ricardo and Meiburg, Alex and Nagaj, Daniel},
  title =	{{Quantum SAT Problems with Finite Sets of Projectors Are Complete for a Plethora of Classes}},
  booktitle =	{20th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2025)},
  pages =	{6:1--6:24},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-392-8},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2025},
  volume =	{350},
  editor =	{Fefferman, Bill},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.TQC.2025.6},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-240557},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.TQC.2025.6},
  annote =	{Keywords: Quantum complexity theory, quantum satisfiability, circuit-to-Hamiltonian, pairwise union of classes, pairwise intersection of classes}
}

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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.ITCS.2025.85

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.

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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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Quantum SAT Problems with Finite Sets of Projectors Are Complete for a Plethora of Classes

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

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