Class meets TR 2:00-3:20 PM in Wean Hall 7316 (in person)
Professor Michael Widom, Office 6305 Wean Hall
e-mail widom@cmu.edu, Phone: 412-268-7645
Office hours: Any time my door is open, or by appointment
Course web site http://euler.phys.cmu.edu/widom/teaching/33-658
Grader: TBA
This course is an introduction to the physics of quantum information and quantum computing. The topic is highly interdisciplinary, touching upon many mathematical, scientific and engineering domains. It is assumed that students are mathematically proficient, and know the basics of quantum mechanics at the level of two state systems. We will develop principles of information theory and quantum dynamics leading up to the design and operation operation of quantum gates and algorithms that exploit their novel capabilities. Ultimately we will write simple codes to run on an IBM cloud quantum computer. Examples applications will include simulating quantum mechanics, solving optimization problems, and factoring integers.
A course web site at http://euler.phys.cmu.edu/widom/teaching/33-658 contains this syllabus plus links to day-by-day lecture coverage and weekly homework assignments.
Books:
1. Schumacher and Westmoreland, Quantum Processes Systems, and Information
2. Mermin, Quantum Computer Science
3. Nielsen and Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information
4. Feynman, Lectures on Computation
5. O'Reilly, Programming quantum computers
We mainly use the book by Schumacher and Westmoreland, chapters 1-9 and 18-20. The other books are useful and interesting references. O'Reilly is the easiest read but lacks Physics. Other papers and notes will be placed on Canvas.
Online Resources:
1. Preskill Lecture notes on quantum computing and quantum information
2. Aaronson Lecture notes! Intro to Quantum Information Science
3. de Wolf Quantum Computing: Lecture Notes
4. Whaley Qubits, Quantum Mechanics, and Computers
5. IBM Q Cloud quantum computing
6. Qiskit Textbook
7. O'Reilly code samples
Grading: Letter grades will be based on weekly homework, a midterm exam Oct. 12, and a final exam TBA, in proportions of 20:30:50. Homework assignments are listed at http://euler.phys.cmu.edu/widom/teaching/33-658/hw.html.
Course Outline:
Note this outline is only approximate. Actual class coverage can be found
http://euler.phys.cmu.edu/widom/teaching/33-658/coverage.html.
1. Classical Shannon information, Maxwell's demon and Landauers principle
2. Quantum review
3. Cryptography
4. Entanglement. Quantum key distribution
5. EPR, Bell and GHZ paradoxes. Quantum logic gates
6. Density operators
7. Midterm exam and break
8. Physical realizations
9. Quantum annealing and quantum circuits
10. Shor's algorithm
11. Grover search and error correction
12. Variational eigensolvers; quantum chemistry
13. Open systems
14. Quantum entropy