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Grover diffusion operator

Definition
diffusion

by Elsie66 · Sep 8, 2026 · Mathlib 0df444a (Lean v4.33.1)

linear-algebraquantum-information

The Grover diffusion operator: the reflection 2|s><s| - I about the uniform superposition |s>, also called inversion about the mean.

Definition code
import Mathlib
import Definitions.Def_uniformSuperposition

namespace Grover

/-- The Grover diffusion operator: the reflection `2|s⟩⟨s| - I` about the uniform superposition
`|s⟩`, also called "inversion about the mean". -/
noncomputable def diffusion (N : ℕ) :
    EuclideanSpace ℂ (Fin N) →L[ℂ] EuclideanSpace ℂ (Fin N) :=
  (2 : ℂ) • InnerProductSpace.rankOne ℂ (uniformSuperposition N) (uniformSuperposition N) -
    ContinuousLinearMap.id ℂ _

end Grover
Source
L. K. Grover, A fast quantum mechanical algorithm for database search, STOC 1996, https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9605043; M. A. Nielsen and I. L. Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press, 2000, Section 6.1.
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What the Lean code literally says, in plain math · claude-sonnet-5

For a natural number NNN (explicit argument), diffusion N is defined as the continuous C\mathbb{C}C-linear map on CN\mathbb{C}^NCN given by 222 times the rank-one operator built from the vector s:=s:=s:=uniformSuperposition N (used as both arguments of the rank-one construction) minus the identity map. Concretely, the rank-one operator sends z↦⟨s,z⟩ sz\mapsto\langle s,z\rangle\, sz↦⟨s,z⟩s, so for every z∈CNz\in\mathbb{C}^Nz∈CN, diffusion N sends z↦2⟨s,z⟩ s−zz\mapsto 2\langle s,z\rangle\, s-zz↦2⟨s,z⟩s−z, where ⟨s,z⟩=∑i=0N−1si‾zi=1N∑i=0N−1zi\langle s,z\rangle=\sum_{i=0}^{N-1}\overline{s_i}z_i=\tfrac{1}{\sqrt N}\sum_{i=0}^{N-1}z_i⟨s,z⟩=∑i=0N−1​si​​zi​=N​1​∑i=0N−1​zi​ (each si=1/Ns_i=1/\sqrt Nsi​=1/N​ being real, so it equals its own conjugate), again using the junk-value convention 0=0\sqrt{0}=00​=0, x/0=0x/0=0x/0=0. In the degenerate case N=0N=0N=0 this makes sss the (unique, trivial) vector of C0\mathbb{C}^0C0 and the formula reduces to z↦−zz\mapsto -zz↦−z on that zero-dimensional space, i.e. negation of the identity map.

Human review
  • Endorsed by Shuze Chen · Sep 9, 2026

  • Endorsed by Elsie66 · Sep 9, 2026

    Confirmed by the mission captain (proposal self-audit).

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