English

NP-hard problems are not in BQP

Computational Complexity 2024-10-15 v3

Abstract

Grover's algorithm can solve NP-complete problems on quantum computers faster than all the known algorithms on classical computers. However, Grover's algorithm still needs exponential time. Due to the BBBV theorem, Grover's algorithm is optimal for searches in the domain of a function, when the function is used as a black box. We analyze the NP-complete set {(M,1n,1t) TM M accepts an x{0,1}n within t steps}.\{ (\langle M \rangle, 1^n, 1^t ) \mid \text{ TM }M\text{ accepts an }x\in\{0,1\}^n\text{ within }t\text{ steps}\}. If tt is large enough, then M accepts each word in L(M)L(M) with length nn within tt steps. So, one can use methods from computability theory to show that black box searching is the fastest way to find a solution. Therefore, Grover's algorithm is optimal for NP-complete problems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2311.05624,
  title  = {NP-hard problems are not in BQP},
  author = {Reiner Czerwinski},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.05624},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T13:16:40.261Z