PHYS 4481 - Quantum Information Processing

(crosslisted)
(also CS 4812) (PBS)

Spring. 3 credits.

Prerequisite: Linear algebra at the level of MATH 2940 or MATH 2210. Substantial familiarity with complex numbers (either through physics or mathematics courses). Prior exposure to quantum mechanics (such as PHYS 3316) and group theory is very helpful, but not essential. Co-meets with PHYS 7681.

P. Ginsparg.

Hardware that exploits quantum phenomena can dramatically alter the nature of computation. Though constructing a working quantum computer is a formidable technological challenge, the theory of quantum computation is of interest in itself, offering strikingly different perspectives on the nature of computation and information, as well as providing novel insights into the conceptual puzzles posed by the quantum theory. The course is intended both for physicists, unfamiliar with computational complexity theory or cryptography, and also for computer scientists and mathematicians, unfamiliar with quantum mechanics. Topics include: simple quantum algorithms, period finding, search, error correction, cryptography, superdense coding, teleportation, and other forms of quantum information processing. people.ccmr.cornell.edu/~ginsparg/P4481-P7681-CS4812/.