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I was reading a research article on quantum computing and didn't understand the tensor notations for the unitary operations. The article defined two controlled gates.

Let $U_{2^m}$ be a $2^m \times 2^m$ unitary matrix, $I_{2^m}$ be a $2^m \times 2^m$ identity matrix. Then, controlled gates $C_n^j(U_{2^m})$ and $V_n^j(U_{2^m})$ with $n$ control qubits and $m$ target qubits are defined by $$ C_n^j(U_{2^m})=(|j\rangle \langle j|) \otimes U_{2^m}+ \sum_{i=0,i \neq j}^{2^n-1}((|i\rangle \langle i| \ \otimes I_{2^m}$$

$$ V_n^j(U_{2^m}) = U_{2^m} \otimes (|j\rangle \langle j|) + \sum_{i=0,i \neq j}^{2^n-1}( I_{2^m} \otimes (|i\rangle \langle i| ))$$ Then they say that $C_2^j(X)$ and $V_2^j(X) $are toffoli gates. Can someone explain the equations that are given and how does this special case be a Toffoli?

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Here $i$ and $j$ are bit strings of size $n$. Correspondingly, $|i\rangle$, $|j\rangle$ are some basis vectors in $2^n$-dimensional space, that corresponds to $n$-qubit register.

Those controlled operations $C$ and $V$ act on $(n+m)$-qubit space. You can consider first $n$ qubits as control register and last $m$ qubits as target register. Now, $C_n^j(U_{2^m})$ applies unitary operation $U_{2^m}$ on the target register if control register is in the state $|j\rangle$ and applies $I_{2^m}$ (i.e. do nothing) otherwise. You can see this by applying $C_n^j(U_{2^m})$ on some vector $|x\rangle|y\rangle$ from the $(n+m)$-qubit space, where $x$ is some $n$-bit string:

$$ C_n^j(U_{2^m}) |x\rangle|y\rangle = (|j\rangle \langle j|x\rangle) \otimes U_{2^m} |y\rangle+ \sum_{i=0,i \neq j}^{2^n-1}((|i\rangle \langle i| x \rangle) \otimes |y\rangle) $$

Here $|i\rangle \langle i|x\rangle = 0$ if $x\neq i$ and it equals $|i\rangle$ if $x=i$. Hence $$C_n^j(U_{2^m}) |x\rangle|y\rangle = |j\rangle \otimes U_{2^m} |y\rangle + 0 = |x\rangle \otimes U_{2^m} |y\rangle ~~\text{if}~~ x=j$$ and $$C_n^j(U_{2^m}) |x\rangle|y\rangle = 0 + |x\rangle|y\rangle = |x\rangle|y\rangle ~~\text{if}~~ x\neq j.$$

Gate $V_n^j(U_{2^m})$ is basically the same as $C_n^j(U_{2^m})$, though we consider first $m$ qubits as target and last $n$ qubits as control register in this case.

Now, if $j=11$ then $C_2^j(X)$ is exactly CCNOT gate on 3 qubits. Because we apply $X$ (i.e. negating the value) on the last qubit only if two first qubits are in $|11\rangle$ state.

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  • $\begingroup$ $y$ is an m bit string ? hence $|y \rangle$ lies in a$2^m$ dimensional hilbert space? $\endgroup$
    – Upstart
    Apr 12, 2019 at 16:32
  • $\begingroup$ yes, that is it. $\endgroup$
    – Danylo Y
    Apr 12, 2019 at 16:46
  • $\begingroup$ why is $\langle i|x\rangle=0$ if $x\neq i$ i see that it is an inner product between them but how is it zero because two binary strings dot product can still be non zero if they are not equal $\endgroup$
    – Upstart
    Apr 12, 2019 at 16:51
  • $\begingroup$ $\langle a | b \rangle = \langle a_1 | b_1 \rangle \langle a_2 | b_2 \rangle ... \langle a_n | b_n \rangle$. This is zero if $a_i \neq b_i$ at least for some $i$. $\endgroup$
    – Danylo Y
    Apr 12, 2019 at 16:56
  • $\begingroup$ i read that is $= a_1b_1+ a_2b_2+....+a_nb_n$ $\endgroup$
    – Upstart
    Apr 12, 2019 at 17:02

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