  Motivated by experimental limitations commonly met in the design of solid
state quantum computers, we study the problems of non-local Hamiltonian
simulation and non-local gate synthesis when only homogeneous local unitaries
are performed in order to tailor the available interaction. Homogeneous (i.e.
identical for all subsystems) local manipulation implies a more refined
classification of interaction Hamiltonians than the inhomogeneous case, as well
as the loss of universality in Hamiltonian simulation. For the case of
symmetric two-qubit interactions, we provide time-optimal protocols for both
Hamiltonian simulation and gate synthesis.
