Information Complexity of Quantum Gates

Subhash Kak

Published 2005-06-01Version 1

This paper considers the realizability of quantum gates from the perspective of information complexity. Since the gate is a physical device that must be controlled classically, it is subject to random error. We define the complexity of gate operation in terms of the difference between the entropy of the variables associated with initial and final states of the computation. We argue that the gate operations are irreversible if there is a difference in the accuracy associated with input and output variables. It is shown that under some conditions the gate operation may be associated with unbounded entropy, implying impossibility of implementation.