Lower bound on the number of Toffoli gates in a classical reversible circuit through quantum information concepts

Abstract

The question of finding a lower bound on the number of Toffoli gates in a classical reversible circuit is addressed. A method based on quantum information concepts is proposed. The method involves solely concepts from quantum information - there is no need for an actual physical quantum computer. The method is illustrated on the example of classical Shannon data compression.

4 pages, 2 figures; revised version