On computational complexity and average-case hardness of shallow-depth boson sampling

Abstract: Boson sampling, a computational task believed to be classically hard to simulate, is expected to hold promise for demonstrating quantum computational advantage using near-term quantum devices. However, noise in experimental implementations poses a significant challenge, potentially rendering boson sampling classically simulable and compromising its classical intractability. Numerous studies have proposed classical algorithms under various noise models that can efficiently simulate boson sampling as noise rates increase with circuit depth. To address this issue particularly related to circuit depth, we explore the viability of achieving quantum computational advantage through boson sampling with shallow-depth linear optical circuits. Specifically, as the average-case hardness of estimating output probabilities of boson sampling is a crucial ingredient in demonstrating its classical intractability, we make progress on establishing the average-case hardness confined to logarithmic-depth regimes. We also obtain the average-case hardness for logarithmic-depth Fock-state boson sampling subject to lossy environments and for the logarithmic-depth Gaussian boson sampling. By providing complexity-theoretical backgrounds for the classical simulation hardness of logarithmic-depth boson sampling, we expect that our findings will mark a crucial step towards a more noise-tolerant demonstration of quantum advantage with shallow-depth boson sampling.