A New Type of Limit Theorems for the One-Dimensional Quantum Random Walk

Abstract

In this paper we consider the one-dimensional quantum random walk X^{varphi} _n at time n starting from initial qubit state varphi determined by 2 times 2 unitary matrix U. We give a combinatorial expression for the characteristic function of X^{varphi}_n. The expression clarifies the dependence of it on components of unitary matrix U and initial qubit state varphi. As a consequence of the above results, we present a new type of limit theorems for the quantum random walk. In contrast with the de Moivre-Laplace limit theorem, our symmetric case implies that X^{varphi}_n /n converges in distribution to a limit Z^{varphi} as n to infty where Z^{varphi} has a density 1 / pi (1-x^2) sqrt{1-2x^2} for x in (- 1/sqrt{2}, 1/sqrt{2}). Moreover we discuss some known simulation results based on our limit theorems.