Quantum oblique eigenprojection

Abstract: Every square matrix decomposes its underlying Hilbert space into generalized, nonorthogonal eigensubspaces. We show that a quantum computer can perform such an oblique eigenprojection $Π$ given block encoding access to the input matrix. Our approach has a query complexity nearly linear in the inverse gap and a normalization factor close to $\lVertΠ\rVert$ under a spectral-set condition on the input. This covers common assumptions on the numerical range or diagonalizability and matches known results for orthogonal eigenprojections. We achieve this with a two-sided block preconditioning that uses a discrete Fourier transform of the matrix resolvent. We describe applications to: (i) preparing eigenstates of matrices with complex eigenvalues, extending the quantum eigenvalue transformation algorithm of Low and Su beyond real spectra; (ii) solving continuous-time algebraic Riccati equations, cubically speeding up a prior solver of Rodenas-Ruiz, Zhao, and Lee; and (iii) solving ordinary Sylvester equations, quadratically improving a direct augmented method of Wang and Liu. Our result suggests a promising route to applying nonanalytic matrix functions on quantum computers.