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Qiskit Textbook, Chapter 2, Section 2.2. Single Qubit Gates on Multi-Qubit Statevectors (here).

In here, they have described that: If we want to apply a gate to only one qubit at a time (such as in the circuit below), we describe this using tensor product with the identity matrix, e.g.: $X\otimes I$.

By executing the given code, the tensor product matrix generated corresponds to when X-gate is applied to qubit 1 in circuit.

qc = QuantumCircuit(2)
qc.x(1)
qc.draw()
# Simulate the unitary
usim = Aer.get_backend('unitary_simulator')
qobj = assemble(qc)
unitary = usim.run(qobj).result().get_unitary()
# Display the results:
array_to_latex(unitary, pretext="\\text{Circuit = } ")

The output is:

enter image description here

When I tried to change the $X$ gate position to qubit 0 (qc.x(0)) then the tensor product matrix is changed (refer to image attached below). My doubt is: in this case how is the tensor product calculated, shouldn't it be the same?

enter image description here

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1 Answer 1

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Short answer, tensor product is not commutative. Therefore, in the general case, $A \otimes B \not = B \otimes A$. By calculating the matrices $I \otimes X$ and $X \otimes I$, you'll see the difference.

Applying $X$ to qubit 0 corresponds to the following matrix: $$ I \otimes X = \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} \otimes \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} 1 \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} & 0 \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \\ 0 \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} & 1 \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} $$

And applying $X$ to qubit 1 corresponds to:

$$ X \otimes I = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix} \otimes \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} & 1 \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} \\ 1 \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} & 0 \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix} \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \end{pmatrix} $$

So, you write the matrices in the same order as the qubits. For example, if you have the register $|c\rangle\otimes|b\rangle\otimes|a\rangle$ and we apply the matrix $C\otimes B\otimes A$, $A$ will be applied to $|a\rangle$, $B$ to $|b\rangle$, and $C$ to $|c\rangle$. Furthermore, $|a\rangle$ would correspond to qubit 0, $|b\rangle$ to qubit 1, and $|c\rangle$ to qubit 2.

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  • $\begingroup$ It explained a lot, $\endgroup$
    – akash jain
    Jun 20, 2021 at 3:42
  • $\begingroup$ @akashjain Happy to help, and welcome to QCSE. If this answer solved your issue, consider marking it as accepted by clicking the check mark. This helps the community focus on other questions that haven't been resolved yet. $\endgroup$
    – epelaez
    Jun 20, 2021 at 3:51

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