Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2020/ii/paper-2/15c/d/iii/solution

This circuit is the swap test. If the two pure states are identical up to a physically irrelevant global phase, then and outcome one never occurs. If they are distinct, then and each run produces outcome one with positive probability .
Run the circuit independently on fresh copies. Observing even one outcome one proves that the states differ. If no one occurs in runs, that event has probability
when the states differ, which tends to zero as . Repetition therefore distinguishes equality from inequality with arbitrarily high probability.

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