Quantum evolution with classical fields

Abstract

Wave guides for classical electromagnetic fields can realize the discrete quantum evolution of the wave function for a system of qubits. Phase shifts, switches and beam splits allow for the construction of arbitrary quantum gates. They can act at once on a large number of qubits. For this correlation based photonic quantum computer the channels of the wave guides represent basis states of a multi-qubit system rather than individual qubits. With probabilistic initial conditions for a large number of channels the classical fields in wave guides realize the density matrix for a probabilistic quantum computer obeying the von Neumann equation.

Additional discussion of probabilistic computing and observables, 11 pages