Quantum Recursive Programming with Quantum Case Statements

Abstract

We introduce a novel scheme of quantum recursive programming, in which large unitary transformations, i.e. quantum gates, can be recursively defined using quantum case statements, which are quantum counterparts of conditionals and case statements extensively used in classical programming. A simple programming language for supporting this kind of quantum recursion is defined, and its semantics is formally described. A series of examples are presented to show that some quantum algorithms can be elegantly written as quantum recursive programs.