quantum computing
pontiff | February 1, 2010Shameless self-promotion: an article I wrote with Wim van Dam, "Recent Progress on Quantum Algorithms" has appeared in the Communications of the ACM. Indeed if you have a copy of the magazine you can check out an artists rendition of a quantum computer/quantum algorithm on the cover. Clearly quantum computing is the new string theory: so abstract that it must be represented by beautiful, yet incomprehensible, figures. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing. (The article was actually written quite a bit back, so "recent" is a bit off. If we had to write it today I'm guessing we would…
pontiff | January 29, 2010The University of Waterloo is adding a quantum information graduate program, one step closer to being able to get a Ph.D. purely in quantum information. Application details here. Description of the program below the fold.
About the Program
The University of Waterloo, in collaboration with the Institute for Quantum Computing, offers graduate students unique opportunities to learn about and engage in world-leading research in quantum information through a wide range of advanced research projects and advanced courses on the foundations, applications and implementations of quantum information…
pontiff | January 28, 2010Martin passes along information that the quantum group at NEC labs has openings for summer interns:I wanted to let you know that the quantum group at NEC Labs America has openings for 2010 summer internships. If some of your students are interested, please refer them tohttp://www.nec-labs.com/careers/internship.php
A typical duration of a summer internship is three months (end of May-end of August in most cases, but this is quite flexible). The compensation will be competitive with other industrial internships. We will start looking at resumes around February 15.
If you are interested in…
pontiff | January 18, 2010People I've found who are blogging about QIP:
Physics and Cake
Quantum Moxie
Physics is Informational
Did I miss anyone?
Update: Oh and look photos are already up photogallery for QIP
pontiff | January 18, 2010"Ideal conversation must be an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory" - Emily Post(er)
As a literature major physicist, one of the biggest culture shocks I've encountered when attending theory computer science conferences (STOC and FOCS) is the lack of a poster session at these conferences (or at least the ones I attended, which, truth be told, is not many.) Admittedly, I'm a sucker for free wine, beer, and cheese (or at least a cash bar peoples) and some of my warmest thoughts are of the…
pontiff | January 15, 2010QIP 2010 talks and associated papers if I could find them (amazing how almost all papers for this conference are available, for free, online at one location....also interesting how papers seem to cluster in the 10-12 months of the listings :) ) If anyone has corrections please leave a comment.
Monday
Daniel Gottesman and Sandy IraniThe quantum and classical complexity of translationally invariant tiling and Hamiltonian problemsarXiv:0905.2419
Rahul Jain, Iordanis Kerenidis, Greg Kuperberg, Miklos Santha, Or Sattath, and Shengyu ZhangOn the power of a unique quantum witness arXiv:0906.4425…
pontiff | January 13, 2010"The miracle of the appropriateness of the language of mathematics for the formulation of the laws of physics is a wonderful gift which we neither understand nor deserve." - E. P. Wigner
Our universe, or at least our understanding of the universe, appears to allow us to see its naked underbelly only through the use of mathematical reasoning. As Wigner says about this state of affairs, we neither understand nor deserve this. On the other hand, I've come to believe, this observation can also be a huge aid in describing the world of theoretical computer science. There is no doubt in most…
pontiff | January 13, 2010As you can imagine, due to extenuating circumstances, I won't be able to attend QIP in Zurich. Luckily my collaborator Steve Flammia will be there to give the talk on our recent work on adiabatic protocols (arXiv:0905.0901 and arXiv:0912.2098.) I know there will probably be a few bloggers attending QIP, but if anyone is interested in making guest posts here on the Pontiff about the conference (anonymously, using your real name, or any combination thereof) please send me an email (see contact tab above).
Anyone know if the conference talks will be taped? Enjoy Zurich all, but make sure to…
pontiff | December 17, 2009The Optimizer has gotten tired of everyone asking him about D-wave and gone and written a tirade about the subject. Like all of the optimizer's stuff it's a fun read. But, and of course I'm about to get tomatoes thrown on me for saying this, I have to say that I disagree with Scott's assessment of the situation. (**Ducks** Mmm, tomato goo.) Further while I agree that people should stop bothering Scott about D-wave (I mean the dudes an assistant professor at an institution known for devouring these beasts for breakfast), I personally think the question of whether or not D-wave will…
pontiff | December 14, 2009A paper dance today! Yes, indeed, it's another slow dance (scirate, arXiv:0912.2098):Adiabatic Cluster State Quantum Computing
Authors: Dave Bacon, Steven T. Flammia
Abstract: Models of quantum computation are important because they change the physical requirements for achieving universal quantum computation (QC). For example, one-way QC requires the preparation of an entangled "cluster" state followed by adaptive measurement on this state, a set of requirements which is different from the standard quantum circuit model. Here we introduce a model based on one-way QC but without measurements…
pontiff | November 30, 2009Stuff to read while you wait around for finals and the Christmas holidays:
Via alea one of the odder invocations of NP-completeness: Rowing and the Same-Sum Problem Have Their Moments
An update on the status of US science funding for the next budget year at Computing Research Policy Blog
An interesting paper is out on Quantum Metropolis Sampling. The key insight (slaps head) in getting a Metropolis like algorithm to work is not to make a full energy measurement but to only reveal a small bit of the information relevant for whether to accept or reject the move. I spent many an hour trying to…
pontiff | November 27, 2009The list of talks accepted at QIP 2010 is now online. As a member of the PC I can tell you that there were way more good papers than available speaking slots and made some of the final decisions hard to make.
One talk that I think will be a highlight is the invited talk by the optimizer: "Efficient simulation of quantum mechanics collapses the polynomial hierarchy." Quantum computing skeptics of the "BQP=BPP" kind may just found their island significantly smaller and lonelier. The QIP=PSPACE will also be given a talk slot. Quite a year for quantum complexity theory, I think.
pontiff | November 24, 2009Some notes for quantum computing people:
IARPA will be hosting a Proposers' Day Conference for the Quantum Computer Science (QCS) Program on December 17, 2009 in anticipation of the release of a new solicitation in support of the program. Details here
Submissions for TQC 2010 in Leeds are now open at http://tqc2010.leeds.ac.uk.
Digging through my inbox I noticed that I forgot to advertise the following quantum postdoc:The physics of quantum information group at the department of physics of the Universite de Sherbrooke invites applications for up to three postdoctoral positions. The group is…
pontiff | November 2, 2009SqUinT will be held in Santa Fe, NM from Feb 18-21, 2010. The submission page is now open and available at http://panda.unm.edu/SQuInT. Note that speakers outside the network should contact the organizers if they wish to inquire about attending. It's an El Nino year, so New Mexico should have some good snow this year :)
pontiff | November 2, 2009The 5th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography has put up its first announcement. It will be held at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, from 13th - 15th April 2010. The first upcoming deadline to be aware of is the submission deadline of Monday January 4, 2010:The 5th Conference on Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication, and Cryptography
---- TQC 2010 ----
University of Leeds, UK
13 - 15 April 2009http://tqc2010.leeds.ac.uk
====================================================================
Quantum computation, quantum communication,…
pontiff | November 2, 2009Update 4/5/09: The wandering Australian does an analysis by institution.
Today, because I have way to many deadlines fast approaching, I needed to waste some time (procrastineerering), I decide to take a look at the last years worth of scited papers on the quant-ph section of scirate.com. The question I wanted to investigate is where quantum computing theory is occurring worldwide. So I took the top scited papers scoring over 10 scitations (42 papers in all) and looked at the affiliations of the authors: each co-author contributed a fractional score to their particular region (authors with…
pontiff | October 26, 2009Michael Green's appointment to replace Stephen Hawking as the Lucasian chair, has, quite predictably, brought back into the spotlight the ever simmering STRING WARS!!!OMG!!!STRINGTHEORYRLZ!!. Okay, maybe not the spotlight, per se, but I did find the article about Green in the Guardian interesting (via the so wrong it hurts fellow):But that was one of their arguments, that the academy is so biased towards string theory - hiring mostly string theorists, crowning mostly string theorists - that it has driven out all other ways of seeing (Smolin compared it to deciding that there was only one way…
pontiff | October 23, 2009Oh man sometimes even I, a staunch Caltech grad, wish I could be at MIT. The MIT QIP seminar this next Monday looks...intriguing (Monday 10/26 at 4:00 in 36-428 silly MITers and their numbered buildings, so cold.):
David Kaiser (MIT)
How the Hippies Saved Physics
Abstract:
In recent years, the field of quantum information science-an amalgam of topics ranging from quantum encryption, to quantum computing, quantum teleportation, and more-has catapulted to the cutting edge of physics, sporting a multi-billion-dollar research program, tens of thousands of published research articles, and a…
pontiff | October 20, 2009Two notes on chairs. Michael Green is the new Lucasian chair of Mathematics replacing the esteemed Stephen Hawking. Green helped sparked the great optimism in string theory by discovering with John Schwarz the Green-Schwarz anomaly cancellation mechanism.
Elsewhere, the Perimeter Institute has named ten new distinguished research chairs, among them a host of the quantum computing afflicted:Dorit Aharonov is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She has made major contributions to the theoretical foundations of quantum…
pontiff | October 15, 2009The deadline for submissions to QIP 2010 is next week, October 22. Website here