Compilation··3:12·Mathematical physics
QAOA Reaches the SK Optimum, Laughlin Spectral Gap Conjecture and 7 More
Watch on YouTubeAbout the problem →
About this video
9 results from OpenAI's public mathematics catalogue, one per chapter. Each chapter names the problem, shows the real objects, and states what OpenAI claims; none of it is peer reviewed yet.
Chapters:
0:00 Kohn–Sham Representability
0:21 QAOA Reaches the SK Optimum
0:43 Scale vs Conformal Symmetry in 4D Quantum Field Theory
1:04 Unitary Synthesis from a Boolean Oracle
1:25 Mutually Unbiased Bases in Dimension 6
1:46 Laughlin Spectral Gap Conjecture
2:07 Parity Is Not in QAC0
2:29 Generalized Amplitude Damping
2:51 Threshold Repetition for Entangled Games
Kohn–Sham Representability: Density functional theory, the workhorse of computational chemistry, rests on the Kohn–Sham idea: replace interacting electrons by fake non-interacting ones in one shared potential well that reproduces the same electron…
Explained: gradientdamage.com/p/278
Paper: github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/A-Coulomb-Ground-S…
QAOA Reaches the SK Optimum: The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) alternates two simple quantum steps, layer after layer, to push a quantum state toward low-energy answers.
Explained: gradientdamage.com/p/281
Paper: github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/QAOA-attains-the-S…
Scale vs Conformal Symmetry in 4D Quantum Field Theory: If a quantum field theory looks the same at every zoom level (scale symmetry), must it also have the much larger conformal symmetry, which allows a different zoom at every point while keeping all angles? In two…
Explained: gradientdamage.com/p/282
Paper: github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/Scale-and-conforma…
Unitary Synthesis from a Boolean Oracle: Aaronson and Kuperberg asked whether one small quantum circuit can build every quantum gate, if it may consult a Boolean oracle (a table of bits) chosen for the gate you want.
Explained: gradientdamage.com/p/283
Paper: github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/Polynomial-Time-Un…
Mutually Unbiased Bases in Dimension 6: In quantum mechanics, two measurements are mutually unbiased when knowing the result of one tells you nothing about the other: every vector of one basis overlaps every vector of the other equally, with squared overlap…
Explained: gradientdamage.com/p/266
Paper: github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/The-maximum-number…
Laughlin Spectral Gap Conjecture: In the fractional quantum Hall effect, electrons in a strong magnetic field at filling 1/3 form the Laughlin state, a liquid in which they dodge each other perfectly.
Explained: gradientdamage.com/p/269
Paper: github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/Uniform-Stability-…
Parity Is Not in QAC0: Parity asks whether a string of bits contains an odd number of 1s.
Explained: gradientdamage.com/p/274
Paper: github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/Product-projection…
Generalized Amplitude Damping: A qubit sent through a real device loses energy (damping g) and picks up heat from its surroundings (thermal population N).
Explained: gradientdamage.com/p/276
Paper: github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/Classical-capacity…
Threshold Repetition for Entangled Games: In a nonlocal game two players who cannot talk answer questions and win or lose together; sharing quantum entanglement can raise their best win rate, the entangled value v.
Explained: gradientdamage.com/p/277
Paper: github.com/openai/math/blob/main/preprints/Threshold-parallel…
The animations illustrate the results; they are not proofs.
Gradient Damage: mathematics you can see, equations you can hear.
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Chapters
One problem per chapter. Each name links to the result's own page, each time to that moment on YouTube.
- Kohn–Sham Representability Mathematical physics
- QAOA Reaches the SK Optimum Mathematical physics
- Scale vs Conformal Symmetry in 4D Quantum Field Theory Mathematical physics
- Unitary Synthesis from a Boolean Oracle Mathematical physics
- Mutually Unbiased Bases in Dimension 6 Mathematical physics
- Laughlin Spectral Gap Conjecture Mathematical physics
- Parity Is Not in QAC0 Mathematical physics
- Generalized Amplitude Damping Mathematical physics
- Threshold Repetition for Entangled Games Mathematical physics
Chapter 1: about the problem
Mathematical physics·OpenAI Math·Result 278
Failure of Kohn–Sham ensemble representation
Constructs a three-electron Coulomb molecule with two equal positive-integer-charge nuclei whose absolute ground-state density has no noninteracting ground-state ensemble representation by a single real spin-independent local potential in L3/2(ℝ3)+L∞(ℝ3). This disproves Kohn–Sham ensemble representability for that potential class; the required nuclear charge is specified nonnumerically.
Chapter 2: about the problem
Mathematical physics·OpenAI Math·Result 281·from 0:21
QAOA attains the SK optimum in the thermodynamic-first limit
Proves that QAOA approaches the ground-state energy of the Gaussian zero-field Sherrington–Kirkpatrick model when system size tends to infinity before circuit depth. For every accuracy, finite depth and deterministic angles independent of size and disorder achieve the required limiting expected energy per spin. This also yields leading-order optimal expected MaxCut values on large-degree random regular graphs, with size tending to infinity before degree. (Lean)
Chapter 3: about the problem
Mathematical physics·OpenAI Math·Result 282·from 0:43
From scale symmetry to local conformal symmetry in four-dimensional QFT
Under the stated bounded-local-net and field-reconstruction hypotheses, proves that scale symmetry implies local conformal symmetry for four-dimensional unitary positive-energy theories with a discrete bounded-below scaling spectrum of finite multiplicity, finite scaling support and a physical local scale current. The stress tensor has a traceless improvement with unchanged spacetime charges. The conclusion concerns local Ward identities, not a global conformal action on the whole net.
Chapter 4: about the problem
Mathematical physics·OpenAI Math·Result 283·from 1:04
Polynomial-time unitary synthesis from a Boolean oracle
Solves the constant-error Aaronson–Kuperberg unitary synthesis problem: a uniform polynomial-size quantum oracle circuit approximates every n-qubit unitary channel within diamond-norm error 1/2, after a suitable Boolean oracle is chosen. Gates, qubits, oracle calls and query length are polynomially bounded. The target-dependent oracle may have an unrestricted truth table; its efficient classical construction is not asserted.
Chapter 5: about the problem
Mathematical physics·OpenAI Math·Result 266·from 1:25
Exactly three mutually unbiased bases in dimension six
Proves N(6)=3, resolving Zauner's dimension-six mutually unbiased bases conjecture: three such bases exist in ℂ6, but four cannot. The exclusion is a complete certified computation under the stated binary64 arithmetic and compiler conditions. An independent companion proves the Matolcsi–Ruzsa–Weiner Fourier-vanishing conjecture for order-six complex Hadamard matrices outside Tao's cubic equivalence class. (Lean)
Chapter 6: about the problem
Mathematical physics·OpenAI Math·Result 269·from 1:46
Uniform Laughlin gap and stability under bounded scalar disorder
Proves the fermionic Laughlin spectral-gap conjecture for the full V1 interaction at filling 1/3 on the round sphere. The unique ground state remains uniformly gapped under sufficiently weak bounded real scalar one-body potentials projected to the lowest Landau level. Both the gap and disorder threshold are uniform over all sufficiently large particle numbers and all normalized potential profiles. (Lean)
Chapter 7: about the problem
Mathematical physics·OpenAI Math·Result 274·from 2:07
Parity is not in QAC0
Resolves Moore's parity conjecture in the measured-output model: constant-depth quantum circuits with arbitrary one-qubit gates, unbounded-arity Toffoli gates and polynomially many total qubits cannot compute parity with any fixed positive worst-case advantage. Ancillas start in zero, one output qubit is measured, and all other registers may be discarded. Xu–Li's reductions give the same bounded-error obstruction for strict majority. (Lean)
Chapter 8: about the problem
Mathematical physics·OpenAI Math·Result 276·from 2:29
Classical capacity of generalized amplitude damping
Determines the unassisted classical capacity of every qubit generalized amplitude-damping channel, including all damping and thermal parameters. An explicit one-variable optimization gives the capacity, attained by independent two-state signal ensembles with collective decoding. Holevo capacity, minimum output entropy and regularized classical capacity are additive when tensoring with any finite-dimensional quantum channel. (Lean)
Chapter 9: about the problem
Mathematical physics·OpenAI Math·Result 277·from 2:51
Threshold repetition for entangled games
Proves exponential threshold repetition for every finite two-player one-round game: if its entangled value is v < 1, the probability of winning at least a fraction v+δ of k independent repetitions decays exponentially in k, for 0 < δ < 1-v. Arbitrary joint finite-dimensional entangled strategies and correlated question distributions are allowed. (Lean)
Topics
Kohn-ShamQAOAscale invarianceunitary synthesismutually unbiased basesLaughlin stateQAC0quantum channel capacitynonlocal gamesMathematical physicsOpenAI mathAI proofAI mathematicsmathsGradient Damage