Quantum searching a classical database (or how we learned to stop worrying and love the bomb)

Abstract

We show how to perform a quantum search for a classical object, specifically for a classical object which performs no coherent evolution on the quantum computer being used for the search. We do so by using interaction free measurement as a subroutine in a quantum search algorithm. In addition to providing a simple example of how non-unitary processes which approximate unitary ones can be useful in a quantum algorithm, our procedure requires only one photon regardless of the size of the database, thereby establishing an upper bound on the amount of energy required to search an arbitrarily large database. Alternatively, our result can be interpreted as showing how to perform an interaction free measurement with a single photon on an arbitrarily large number of possible bomb positions simultaneously. We also provide a simple example demonstrating that in terms of the number of database queries, the procedure outlined here can outperform the best classical one.