Qute: Towards Quantum-Native Database
Organizations: Shanghai Jiao Tong University · Tsinghua University · National University of Singapore · Microsoft Corporation ·
Abstract
This paper envisions a quantum database (Qute) that treats quantum computation as a first-class execution option. Unlike prior simulation-based methods that either run quantum algorithms on classical machines or adapt existing databases for quantum simulation, Qute instead (i) compiles an extended form of SQL into gate-efficient quantum circuits, (ii) employs a hybrid optimizer to dynamically select between quantum and classical execution plans, (iii) introduces selective quantum indexing, and (iv) designs fidelity-preserving storage to mitigate current qubit constraints. We also present a three-stage evolution roadmap toward quantum-native database. Finally, by deploying Qute on a real quantum processor (origin_wukong), we show that it outperforms a classical baseline at scale, and we release an open-source prototype at https://github.com/weAIDB/Qute.
Figures & tables
| Component | Classical Database | Quantum Database |
| Compiler | Generate efficient machine code for classic execution (CPUs, GPUs, …). | Generate circuits executable directly on the quantum backend. |
| Operator | Perform tuple-at-a-time or vectorized processing (CPU cost ). | Replace tuple scans with amplitude and interference operations. |
| Plan Optimizer | Select the lowest-cost deterministic execution path. | Dynamically balance quantum speedup vs. noise / success rate. |
| Data Indexing | Accelerate lookup operations. | Shrink the candidate set that must |
| be loaded into quantum computer. | ||
| Data Format | Byte-addressable and easy to parse. | Encode data in qubit states. |
| Type | Operator (SQL) | Typical Scenario | Candidate Quantum Algorithm | Complexity | Cost Model | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantum | Classical (without index) | Qubit Num | Gate Depth (per-circuit call) | ||||
| Filter | Equality Filter | WHERE column = value | Grover ( Grover, 1996b ) (Search) | ||||
| Range Filter | WHERE column > value | Grover ( Grover, 1996b ) (Threshold Oracle) | |||||
| LIKE | WHERE column LIKE ‘val%’ | Grover ( Grover, 1996b ) (Prefix-Match Oracle) | |||||
| EXISTS | Existence check | Grover ( Grover, 1996b ) (Quantum Counting) | |||||
| Join | Equi-join | column1 = column2 | Grover ( Grover, 1996b ) (Index Probing) | / probe | /probe | ||
Relational Databases
Relational databases store structured data in tables linked by keys, enabling reliable querying, updates, and analysis with SQL.
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