We demonstrate an alternative method for calculating the asymptotic behaviour of the discrete one-coin quantum walk on the infinite line, via the Jacobi polynomials that arise in the path-integral representation. We calculate the asymptotics using a method that is significantly easier to use than the Darboux method. It also provides a single integral representation for the wavefunction that works over the full range of positions, n, including throughout the transitional range where the behaviour changes from oscillatory to exponential. Previous analyses of this system have run into difficulties in the transitional range, because the approximations on which they were based break down here. The fact that there are two different kinds of approach to this problem (path integral versus Schrodinger wave mechanics) is ultimately a manifestation of the equivalence between the path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics and the original formulation developed in the 1920s. We also discuss how and why our approach is related to the two methods that have already been used to analyse these systems.
@cite_4: Motivated by the immense success of random walk and Markov chain methods in the design of classical algorithms, we consider quantum walks on graphs. We analyse in detail the behaviour of unbiased quantum walk on the line, with the example of a typical walk, the Hadamard walk''''. In particular, we show that after @math time steps, the probability distribution on the line induced by the Hadamard walk is almost uniformly distributed over the interval @math . This implies that the same walk defined on the circle mixes in linear time. This is in direct contrast with the quadratic mixing time for the corresponding classical walk. We conclude by indicating how our techniques may be applied to more general graphs.
They diagonalize the matrix @math , finding the eigenvalues @math and @math where @math . They then write the @math -functions in terms of the eigenvalues @math and @math and their associated eigenvectors and formally invert the original fourier transform to obtain the closed form integral representations for the wavefunction, They then approximate these, using a combination of the method of stationary phase in one range, and integration by parts in the other. (Note that the Left-Right labelling convention in @cite_4 is the opposite to ours.)