Quantum simulation of partially distinguishable boson sampling

Abstract

Boson Sampling is the problem of sampling from the same output probability distribution as a collection of indistinguishable single photons input into a linear interferometer. It has been shown that, subject to certain computational complexity conjectures, in general the problem is difficult to solve classically, motivating optical experiments aimed at demonstrating quantum computational ``supremacy.'' There are a number of challenges faced by such experiments, including the generation of indistinguishable single photons. We provide a quantum circuit that simulates Boson Sampling with arbitrarily distinguishable particles. This makes clear how distinguishabililty leads to decoherence in the standard quantum circuit model, allowing insight to be gained. At the heart of the circuit is the quantum Schur transform, which follows from a representation theoretic approach to the physics of distinguishable particles in first quantization. The techniques are quite general and have application beyond Boson Sampling.