Introduction to Quantum Computing

Welcome to the course webpage Introduction to Quantum Computing for winter-term 2018/19 at LMU Munich.
This course will be held in English!

Two scientific revolutions embossed the first half of the 20th century. First, pioneers like Konrad Zuse, Alan Turing and John von Neumann developed the principles for the first useful computers. On the other hand, the theories on quantum mechanics shattered the world of classical physics, which hasn't been significantly changed since the days of Isaac Newton.

While computers are ubiqutious in the modern world and changed our society in many ways, the impact of quantum mechanics is less obvious but equally important. Without the quantum mechanic description of atoms, semiconductors and lasers would not be possible. Modern technologies like CD/DVD players or computer hardware rely on this technology.

In the last decades, both scientific disciplines have been slowly merged together, forming a new discipline called Quantum Computing. The goal is to build a quantum computer, develop quantum algorithms and to study how quantum mechanics influences modern computer science.

This lecture will give an overview and introduction to quantum computing, including:

• mathematic fundamentals of quantum computing
• linear algebra
• introduction to quantum mechanics
• new classes of complexity for quantum computers
• quantum computers and quantum registers
• quantum teleportation
• challenges for modern cryptography caused by quantum computers
• (already existing) quantum hardware and quantum computers

Students who wish to attend the course should feel confident with the following topics:

• linear algebra (most of the lecture is about solving linear equations)
• cryptography, especially the RSA algorithm is advantageous
• basic understanding of quantum physics is an advantage

The course is intended for master students of computer science and related fields.
More formally, in German:
Die Vorlesung richtet sich an Studenten der Informatik bzw. Medieninformatik (Diplom) nach dem Vordiplom sowie an Studenten der Informatik, Bioinformatik bzw. Medieninformatik (Master) im Rahmen der vertiefenden Themen der Informatik. Bachelorstudenten können im Falle von freien Plätzen teilnehmen, Masterstudenten werden aber bevorzugt behandelt. Für Vorlesung und Übung werden 6 ECTS-Punkte vergeben.

The number of students will be limited to 16. The registration will open 06.08.2018 0:00 via UniWorx and closes 16.09.2018 23:59

Important:
All applicants for the course will receive an e-mail either if they are accepted or on the waiting list. Successful applicants will have to formally accept to attend the course and will be signed up for the final oral exam. Students who are signed up but do not show up at the course/exam will be reported with grade 5.0.

There will be a waiting list. Students on the waiting list will be contacted after 24.09.2018 if we have additional room in the course.

Registration Process

1. The registration will open 06.08.2018 0:00 via UniWorx and closes 16.09.2018 23:59
2. Accepted students have to register for the exam, until 24.09.2018 12:00
3. If there is room in the course, students on the waiting list will receive an invitation to register to the course until 30.09.2018 23:59

Course and Exercises

The course will be held as a blocked course from 08.10.2018 - 12.10.2018.

• Lecture: Oettingenstr. 67 Room 061.
• Exercise: Oettingenstr. 67 Room BU102.
• Exam (90 Minutes): 22.10.2018, 18:00, Oettingenstr. 67 BU101.

Please be aware that the following schedule is preliminary and the individual session may be swapped (lectures and exercises).

Optional FAQ session

There will be an optional FAQ session on Thursday, 18.10.2018 16:00 c.t. in Room U151 at Oettingenstr. 67.

KAYE, Phillip; LAFLAMME, Raymond; MOSCA, Michele.
An introduction to quantum computing
Oxford University Press, 2007

HOMEISTER, Matthias.
Quantum Computing verstehen: Grundlagen-Anwendungen-Perspektiven.
Springer-Verlag, 2015

Quantum Computation Lecture Notes and Homework Assignments
Cornell, Spring 2006
http://www.lassp.cornell.edu/mermin/qcomp/CS483.html

David McMahon
Quantum Computing Explained
John Wiley & Sons, June 2008
EAN: 9780470181362

Papers

Lov K. Grover
A fast quantum mechanical algorithm for database search

Seth Lloyd, Silvano Garnerone, Paolo Zanardi
Quantum algorithms for topological and geometric analysis of data

Peter W. Shor
Polynomial-Time Algorithms for Prime Factorization and Discrete Logarithms on a Quantum Computer

Emanuel Knill
Nature: PHYSICS -- Quantum Computing

Charles H. Bennett and David P. DiVincenzo
Nature: Quantum information and computation

Ashley Montanaro
Quantum algorithms: an overview

David P. DiVincenzo
The Physical Implementation of Quantum Computation

John Preskill
Quantum Computing in the NISQ era and beyond

Cristian S. Calude and Elena Calude
The Road to Quantum Computational Supremacy

Jay M. Gambetta, Jerry M. Chow and Matthias Steffen
Nature: Building logical qubits in a superconducting quantum computing system

Web Links

IBM Quantum Computer experience

• Graphical Editor: https://quantumexperience.ng.bluemix.net/qx/editorr
• User Guide: https://quantumexperience.ng.bluemix.net/qstage/#/user-guide

IBM Q Experience: Decoherence
https://quantumexperience.ng.bluemix.net/proxy/tutorial/full-user-guide/002-The_Weird_and_Wonderful_World_of_the_Qubit/006-Decoherence.html

QuIDE Quantum Simulator
http://quide.eu

QuASM Language
https://github.com/QISKit/openqasm

QISKIT Python API
https://www.qiskit.org/

Wolfram QUbit demostrators:

• Single-Qubit Quantum Gates on a Bloch Sphere
• Qubits on the Poincaré (Bloch) Sphee