Past exam of the computer science course of the University of Oxford / 2022 / Quantum information / 2 / b

The gate set is universal. Since the Hadamard gate satisfies $H^{†}=H$ and $H^2=I$, the supplied $U$ is a unitary operator, andTwo applications of $U$ therefore realize a Hadamard gate up to a global phase. Together with the supplied controlled-NOT gate and T gate, this simulates the given universal quantum gate set.

An exact matrix representative of $H$ can also be synthesized if desired. Put $A=U^2=-iH$ and $S=T^2$. Direct multiplication gives $(AS{)}^6=-iI$, henceThis finite product uses only $U$ and $T$, so the conclusion does not rely on discarding a global phase.

The gate set is not universal. The displayed two-qubit matrix is the SWAP gate:Both $V$ and the Hadamard gate act on one qubit. Thus every gate preserves a fully factored product state, and induction gives the same property for every quantum circuit built from them. This is the product-state obstruction to SWAP universality.

For a quantitative obstruction to even approximate universality, every two-qubit product state has squared overlap at most $1/2$ with a Bell state. Indeed, for normalized coefficient vectors $u,v$,by the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality. A controlled-NOT gate acting on $|+⟩|0⟩$ would instead produce that Bell state, so these circuits cannot approximate all unitary transformations. The fact that $V^2=e^{-i\pi /8}T$ supplies a T gate up to global phase does not supply an entangling gate.