Towards Super-polynomial Quantum Speedup of Equivariant Quantum Algorithms with SU($d$) Symmetry

Abstract: We introduce a framework of the equivariant convolutional quantum algorithms which is tailored for a number of machine-learning tasks on physical systems with arbitrary SU$(d)$ symmetries. It allows us to enhance a natural model of quantum computation -- permutational quantum computing (PQC) [Quantum Inf. Comput., 10, 470-497 (2010)] -- and define a more powerful model: PQC+. While PQC was shown to be efficiently classically simulatable, we exhibit a problem which can be efficiently solved on PQC+ machine, whereas no classical polynomial time algorithm is known; thus providing evidence against PQC+ being classically simulatable. We further discuss practical quantum machine learning algorithms which can be carried out in the paradigm of PQC+.