  Quantum computers are important examples of processes whose evolution can be
described in terms of iterations of single step operators or their adjoints.
Based on this, Hamiltonian evolution of processes with associated step
operators $T$ is investigated here. The main limitation of this paper is to
processes which evolve quantum ballistically, i.e. motion restricted to a
collection of nonintersecting or distinct paths on an arbitrary basis. The main
goal of this paper is proof of a theorem which gives necessary and sufficient
conditions that T must satisfy so that there exists a Hamiltonian description
of quantum ballistic evolution for the process, namely, that T is a partial
isometry and is orthogonality preserving and stable on some basis. Simple
examples of quantum ballistic evolution for quantum Turing machines with one
and with more than one type of elementary step are discussed. It is seen that
for nondeterministic machines the basis set can be quite complex with much
entanglement present. It is also proved that, given a step operator T for an
arbitrary deterministic quantum Turing machine, it is decidable if T is stable
and orthogonality preserving, and if quantum ballistic evolution is possible.
The proof fails if T is a step operator for a nondeterministic machine. It is
an open question if such a decision procedure exists for nondeterministic
machines. This problem does not occur in classical mechanics.
