Introduction to Quantum Computing: quantumsoar.

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3.8 Shor’s Algorithm

For this Problem Set instead of solving questions we are going to prove:
r−1
1 X
√ |us ⟩ = |1 mod(N )⟩
r s=0

In the lesson we defined the |us ⟩ state as:


1
|us ⟩ = √ e−2πis(0)/r |a0 mod(N )⟩ + e−2πis(1)/r |a1 mod(N )⟩ + ...
r

−2πis(r−2)/r r−2 −2πis(r−1)/r r−1
+e |a mod(N )⟩ + e |a mod(N )⟩

1. Represent |us ⟩ as a sum with sigma notation (Σ)

ANSWER:
r−1
1 X −2πisk/r k
|us ⟩ = √ e |a mod(N )⟩
r k=0

So,
r−1 r−1 r−1
1 X 1 X 1 X −2πisk/r k
√ |us ⟩ = √ √ e |a mod(N )⟩
r s=0 r s=0 r k=0
r−1  r−1 
1 X X −2πisk/r
= e |ak mod(N )⟩
r k=0 s=0

Now let’s consider this part of the equation:

r−1
X
e−2πisk/r
s=0

2. What does it equal when k = 0?

1
 Introduction to Quantum Computing: quantumsoar.com

ANSWER:
r−1
X r−1
X
−2πis(0)/r
e = e0
s=0 s=0
r−1
X
= 1
s=0

=r

Now let’s consider when k ̸= 0. lets define ω = e−2πisk/r

r−1
X r−1
X
−2πisk/r
e = ωs
s=0 s=0

= 1 + ω + ω + ... + ω r−1
2

From our geometric series formula we find that:

r−1
X 1 − ωr
ωs =
s=0
1−ω
1 − e−2πisk
=
1 − e−2πisk/r
1−1
= , since e2πmi = 1, for all integers m
1 − e−2πisk/r
=0

From this we can see that when k = 0 the part of the equation we are considering is
equal to r. And when k ̸= 0 it is 0. This means that our state will only contain the part
when k = 0, making our equation this:

r−1 r−1
X 
1X −2πisk/r 1
e |ak mod(N )⟩ = r|a0 mod(N )⟩ = |1 mod(N )⟩
r k=0 s=0
r

Therefore,
r−1
1 X
√ |us ⟩ = |1 mod(N )⟩
r s=0

For formal proof of the reduction of factoring to period-finding see the Appendix of
Quantum Computation and Quantum Information (section A4.3)