The topic of this dissertation stands at the crossroads of two emerging technologies: highly-parallel computing and quantum computing. Both seek to go beyond the limits of current computing practice: in the absence of further miniaturization, highly-parallel computing seeks to increase the available computer power substantially. Quantum Computing looks beyond the classical approach to computation, leveraging quantum-mechanical effects to increase computing power in a fundamental way. In the absence and also in the presence of actual quantum computers it is crucial to support the development of quantum computer applications by creating an appropriate software framework. Creating such a framework currently faces two major research challenges. First, one needs to separate the realization of the quantum computer from the software running on it, whether it is an actual physical or a simulated realization. Our first contribution lies with defining a layered software architecture, ranging from a design tool at the higher abstraction levels to a simulated execution layer underneath. At its core sits a ‘Quantum Virtual Machine’ using the Measurement Calculus as the underlying quantum computational model. Such a virtual machine layer makes the application developed on top of it oblivious to how it is executed. The simulated execution of this quantum virtual machine is fundamentally a computationally intensive task. Parallel computing offers a way to throw more computational resources at the problem, in the light of the saturation of sequential performance of current computers. Simulation is the domain of the second challenge, as it has very high performance requirements. The simulation problem thus becomes: how does one expose the inherent parallelism of quantum computing simulation in a fundamental way, so as to be usable for the highly-parallel computers to come? Our second contribution is to provide a formal translation of quantum programs to highly-parallel dataflow computations, and to develop a virtual environment that compiles and executes such programs. This work demonstrates several properties of both the formal as well as the virtual level of computation that validate our approach.
The topic of this dissertation stands at the crossroads of two emerging technologies: highly-parallel computing and quantum computing. Both seek to go beyond the limits of current computing practice: in the absence of further miniaturization, highly-parallel computing seeks to increase the available computer power substantially. Quantum Computing looks beyond the classical approach to computation, leveraging quantum-mechanical effects to increase computing power in a fundamental way. In the absence and also in the presence of actual quantum computers it is crucial to support the development of quantum computer applications by creating an appropriate software framework. Creating such a framework currently faces two major research challenges. First, one needs to separate the realization of the quantum computer from the software running on it, whether it is an actual physical or a simulated realization. Our first contribution lies with defining a layered software architecture, ranging from a design tool at the higher abstraction levels to a simulated execution layer underneath. At its core sits a ‘Quantum Virtual Machine’ using the Measurement Calculus as the underlying quantum computational model. Such a virtual machine layer makes the application developed on top of it oblivious to how it is executed. The simulated execution of this quantum virtual machine is fundamentally a computationally intensive task. Parallel computing offers a way to throw more computational resources at the problem, in the light of the saturation of sequential performance of current computers. Simulation is the domain of the second challenge, as it has very high performance requirements. The simulation problem thus becomes: how does one expose the inherent parallelism of quantum computing simulation in a fundamental way, so as to be usable for the highly-parallel computers to come? Our second contribution is to provide a formal translation of quantum programs to highly-parallel dataflow computations, and to develop a virtual environment that compiles and executes such programs. This work demonstrates several properties of both the formal as well as the virtual level of computation that validate our approach.
Quantum computing promises new opportunities for solving hard computational problems, but harnessing this novelty requires breakthrough concepts in the design, operation, and application of computing systems. We define some of the challenges facing the development of quantum computing systems as well as software-based approaches that can be used to overcome these challenges. Following a brief overview of the state of the art, we present models for the quantum programming and execution models, the development of architectures for hybrid high-performance computing systems, and the realization of software stacks for quantum networking. This leads to a discussion of the role that conventional computing plays in the quantum paradigm and how some of the current challenges for exascale computing overlap with those facing quantum computing.
Abstract Quantum computing leverages fundamental quantum-mechanical phenomena—most notably superposition, entanglement, and quantum tunneling—to perform computations in ways that differ fundamentally from classical digital processing. Compared to conventional computing architectures, quantum systems promise significant reductions in computational time and potentially lower energy consumption for specific classes of problems. These advantages, combined with advances in nanoscale engineering and the slowing of traditional hardware scaling trends such as Moore’s Law, have led to substantial commercial and national-security-driven investments in quantum technologies over the past decade. A major milestone was reached when Google announced the experimental demonstration of “quantum supremacy,” showing that a quantum processor could execute a specific computational task infeasible for a classical supercomputer within practical time constraints. Although the demonstrated problem had no immediate practical application, this achievement marked a crucial step toward the development of quantum systems capable of delivering real-world computational advantages and provided a more precise technical framing of the concept of quantum advantage. Despite the fact that the mathematical foundations, programming models, and principal quantum algorithms were established in the 1990s, quantum computing remained largely confined to a specialized research community for decades. Today, the increasing accessibility of cloud-based quantum hardware calls for a broader dissemination of implementation-oriented knowledge among researchers and practitioners in computer science, software engineering, and related fields. The quantum programming paradigm differs fundamentally from classical programming models and often relies on physical and algebraic notations that may pose barriers to traditionally trained computer scientists. This series of articles provides a self-contained and concise introduction to quantum computing and its core algorithms, with a strong emphasis on practical implementation. Given that real quantum processors—such as those accessible via the IBM quantum ecosystem—are now available as cloud services, experimental validation can be conducted both on simulators and on actual hardware for small-scale inputs. While other platforms such as Rigetti and IonQ also offer cloud-based quantum computing services, this review focuses exclusively on the IBM quantum computing ecosystem.
There are signs that we are approaching a technical revolution that might take humankind’s computational capabilities to a new level. Quantum Computing leverages the principles of quantum mechanics, enabling the computational power to solve specific problems currently intractable for classical computers (e.g., cracking cryptographic keys). Since we are getting to a point where we can no longer build smaller, more powerful, more efficient devices with conventional methodologies, we need to think of new ways for technological progress. The manufacturing of microchips is reaching its limits in the use of traditional architectures. Hence, new and more advanced technologies need to address the challenges of increasing energy consumption and data processing. Connectivity, scalable architectures and concepts like Cloud Computing and Software-as-a-Service have already helped to scale computational-intense applications in the last years and have attracted the interest of IS researchers (e.g., Benlian et al. 2009 ; Benlian et al. 2018 ; Messerschmidt and Hinz 2013 ). Looking ahead to the next generation, computing will comprise technologies that enable high-performance applications far beyond today’s possibilities. One prominent example with a disruptive potential is Quantum Computing. While there are abundant open questions and directions for further developments, researchers in this area have made substantial progress in the last decade, indicating that, after medical imaging, lasers, and superconductors, another quantum-technological innovation might be approaching. We, therefore, intend to provide an overview of the current state of Quantum Computing research and outline how this new technology might stimulate research in Information Systems.
Quantum computing is at an inflection point, where 50-qubit (quantum bit) machines have been built, 100-qubit machines are just around the corner, and even 1000-qubit machines are perhaps only a few years away. These machines have the potential to fundamentally change our concept of what is computable and demonstrate practical applications in areas such as quantum chemistry, optimization, and quantum simulation. Yet a significant resource gap remains between practical quantum algorithms and real machines. There is an urgent shortage of the necessary computer scientists to work on software and architectures to close this gap. I will outline several grand research challenges in closing this gap, including programming language design, software and hardware verification, defining and perforating abstraction boundaries, cross-layer optimization, managing parallelism and communication, mapping and scheduling computations, reducing control complexity, machine-specific optimizations, learning error patterns, and many more. I will also describe the resources and infrastructure available for starting research in quantum computing and for tackling these challenges.
We define some of the programming and system-level challenges facing the application of quantum processing to high-performance computing. Alongside barriers to physical integration, prominent differences in the execution of quantum and conventional programs challenges the intersection of these computational models. Following a brief overview of the state of the art, we discuss recent advances in programming and execution models for hybrid quantum-classical computing. We discuss a novel quantum-accelerator framework that uses specialized kernels to offload select workloads while integrating with existing computing infrastructure. We elaborate on the role of the host operating system to manage these unique accelerator resources, the prospects for deploying quantum modules, and the requirements placed on the language hierarchy connecting these different system components. We draw on recent advances in the modeling and simulation of quantum computing systems with the development of architectures for hybrid high-performance computing systems and the realization of software stacks for controlling quantum devices. Finally, we present simulation results that describe the expected system-level behavior of high-performance computing systems composed from compute nodes with quantum processing units. We describe performance for these hybrid systems in terms of time-to-solution, accuracy, and energy consumption, and we use simple application examples to estimate the performance advantage of quantum acceleration.
We define some of the programming and system-level challenges facing the application of quantum processing to high-performance computing. Alongside barriers to physical integration, prominent differences in the execution of quantum and conventional programs challenges the intersection of these computational models. Following a brief overview of the state of the art, we discuss recent advances in programming and execution models for hybrid quantum-classical computing. We discuss a novel quantum-accelerator framework that uses specialized kernels to offload select workloads while integrating with existing computing infrastructure. We elaborate on the role of the host operating system to manage these unique accelerator resources, the prospects for deploying quantum modules, and the requirements placed on the language hierarchy connecting these different system components. We draw on recent advances in the modeling and simulation of quantum computing systems with the development of architectures for hybrid high-performance computing systems and the realization of software stacks for controlling quantum devices. Finally, we present simulation results that describe the expected system-level behavior of high-performance computing systems composed from compute nodes with quantum processing units. We describe performance for these hybrid systems in terms of time-to-solution, accuracy, and energy consumption, and we use simple application examples to estimate the performance advantage of quantum acceleration.