Strict Hierarchy for Quantum Channel Certification to Unitary
For quantum information theorists, this work establishes a strict hierarchy of query complexities across access models, providing tight bounds that resolve open problems.
The authors present optimal quantum algorithms for certifying whether an unknown quantum channel equals a target unitary or is far from it, settling query complexities in three access models: incoherent (Θ(d/ε²)), coherent (Θ(d/ε)), and source-code (Θ(√d/ε)).
We consider the problem of quantum channel certification to unitary, where one is given access to an unknown $d$-dimensional channel $\mathcal{E}$, and wants to test whether $\mathcal{E}$ is equal to a target unitary channel or is $\varepsilon$-far from it in the diamond norm. We present optimal quantum algorithms for this problem, settling the query complexities in three access models with increasing power. Specifically, we show that: (i) $Θ(d/\varepsilon^2)$ queries suffice for incoherent access model, matching the lower bound due to Fawzi, Flammarion, Garivier, and Oufkir (COLT 2023). (ii) $Θ(d/\varepsilon)$ queries suffice for coherent access model, matching the lower bound due to Regev and Schiff (ICALP 2008). (iii) $Θ(\sqrt{d}/\varepsilon)$ queries suffice for source-code access model, matching the lower bound due to Jeon and Oh (npj Quantum Inf. 2026). This demonstrates a strict hierarchy of complexities for quantum channel certification to unitary across various access models.