Quantum state revivals in quantum walks on cycles

Recurrence in the classical random walk is well known and described by the Polya number. For quantum walks, recurrence is similarly understood in terms of the probability of a localized quantum walker to return to its origin. Under certain circumstances the quantum walker may also return to an arbitrary initial quantum state in a finite number of steps. Quantum state revivals in quantum walks on cycles using coin operators which are constant in time and uniform across the path have been described before but only incompletely. In this paper we find the general conditions for which full-quantum state revival will occur. (C) 2014 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.