Quantum Algorithm for Systems of Linear Equations with Exponentially Improved Dependence on Precision

Harrow, Hassidim, and Lloyd [Phys. Rev. Lett., 103 (2009), 150502] showed that for a suitably specified $N \times N$ matrix $A$ and an $N$-dimensional vector $\vec{b}$, there is a quantum algorithm that outputs a quantum state proportional to the solution of the linear system of equations $A\vec{x} = \vec{b}$. If $A$ is sparse and well-conditioned, their algorithm runs in time ${poly}(\log N, 1/\epsilon)$, where $\epsilon$ is the desired precision in the output state. We improve this to an algorithm whose running time is polynomial in $\log(1/\epsilon)$, exponentially improving the dependence on precision while keeping essentially the same dependence on other parameters. Our algorithm is based on a general technique for implementing any operator with a suitable Fourier or Chebyshev series representation. This allows us to bypass the quantum phase estimation algorithm, whose dependence on $\epsilon$ is prohibitive.