Quantum adiabatic algorithm for Hilbert's tenth problem: I. The algorithm

Tien D. Kieu

Published 2003-10-08, updated 2003-10-17Version 2

We review the proposal of a quantum algorithm for Hilbert's tenth problem and provide further arguments towards the proof that: (i) the algorithm terminates after a finite time for any input of Diophantine equation; (ii) the final ground state which contains the answer for the Diophantine equation can be identified as the component state having better-than-even probability to be found by measurement at the end time--even though probability for the final ground state in a quantum adiabatic process need not monotonically increase towards one in general. Presented finally are the reasons why our algorithm is outside the jurisdiction of no-go arguments previously employed to show that Hilbert's tenth problem is recursively non-computable.