Random Garbage Separates XOR from Forward-Only Queries

Abstract: We give exponential quantum query separations between the standard XOR interface and two forward-only interfaces that supply neither an adjoint nor an inverse oracle. Let $X=\F_2<sup>n$, $N=|X|$, and $f_{h,r}(x)=(h(x),x,r_x)$, where $h:X\to X$ is promised to be either a permutation or a Simon two-to-one function, and $r$ is a fixed table of $n$-bit tags, unrestricted by the promise and reused on every query. The resulting problem is solvable with at most $n+2$ standard XOR queries, but has forward-erasing query complexity $Θ(\sqrt N)$. This answers affirmatively open question 11 in [Scott Aaronson. Open problems related to quantum query complexity. ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing, 2(4):14:1-14:9, 2021] . We also embed these instances into permutations. The detailed construction retains the copy of $x$ in each prescribed output, but for these promises that copy can be replaced by one bit that distinguishes the two inputs in every Simon pair. This gives a permutation domain of size $L=4N<sup>2$ and a permutation problem with the same standard-query upper bound and forward-only in-place query complexity $Θ(\sqrt N)=Θ(L<sup>{1/4})$. Both lower bounds remain valid with a clean coherent bypass. The common lower bound uses an analysis-only recording replacement. In the replacement computation, tracing out the fixed random tag table after $T$ calls gives a sum of positive-semidefinite operator contributions, each depending on $h$ at no more than $T$ addresses. On such a set, the restrictions induced by random permutations and random Simon functions differ only if the set contains a hidden Simon pair, an event of probability $O(T<sup>2/N)$.