Perfect transmission and parallel composition for quantum walks on graphs with two leads

Abstract

We study scattering for continuous-time quantum walks on finite graphs with two attached leads. We derive explicit formulae for the two-terminal scattering matrix in terms of characteristic polynomials of the finite graph and its vertex-deleted subgraphs. For real-weighted two-terminal graphs, we then introduce three real quantities, $μ_1$, $μ_2$, and $ν$, which are each additive under parallel composition of graphs. In these variables, perfect transmission at fixed momentum is characterized by the condition $μ_1=μ_2$ together with a hyperbola in the corresponding $(μ,ν)$-plane, whose points determine the transmission phase. This turns the search for graphs with prescribed transmission properties into a geometric vector-sum problem for smaller building blocks.