Topics in quantum computation

David Peter Divincenzo

Maryam Tavassoli Sabzevari, Arif Ali Khan

Quantum computing (QC) is increasingly transitioning toward practical and industrial adoption, highlighting the need to understand how developers engage with quantum technologies. In this study, we analyze 1,404 Stack Overflow posts related to quantum computing topics, including quantum programming, tools, and algorithms, to investigate real-world developer discussions. Using topic modeling and quantitative analysis, we identify the main discussion topics, their popularity, and the tools, programming languages, and quantum algorithms referenced by practitioners. We further assess the difficulty of developer questions using two metrics: (i) the percentage of questions without accepted answers and (ii) the median time required to receive an accepted answer. Our findings reveal seven main topics, with hybrid quantum--classical computing and quantum circuit implementation emerging as the most prevalent. We observe that Qiskit and Q-sharp dominate developer discussions, while Grover's and Shor's algorithms are the most frequently referenced. Moreover, our analysis highlights differences in engagement and difficulty across topics, tools, and algorithms, indicating varying levels of maturity and community support. These findings provide actionable insights for researchers, tool developers, and educators, supporting improvements in usability, documentation, and learning resources in quantum software engineering. To support transparency and reproducibility, the open-source dataset used in this study is publicly available at Zenodo.

ARTUR K. EKERT

Helmut Bez, Tony Croft

Quantum Computation presents the mathematics of quantum computation. The purpose is to introduce the topic of quantum computing to students in computer science, physics and mathematics who have no prior knowledge of this field. The book is written in two parts. The primary mathematical topics required for an initial understanding of quantum computation are dealt with in Part I: sets, functions, complex numbers and other relevant mathematical structures from linear and abstract algebra. Topics are illustrated with examples focussing on the quantum computational aspects which will follow in more detail in Part II. Part II discusses quantum information, quantum measurement and quantum algorithms. These topics provide foundations upon which more advanced topics may be approached with confidence. Features A more accessible approach than most competitor texts, which move into advanced, research-level topics too quickly for today's students. Part I is comprehensive in providing all necessary mathematical underpinning, particularly for those who need more opportunity to develop their mathematical competence. More confident students may move directly to Part II and dip back into Part I as a reference. Ideal for use as an introductory text for courses in quantum computing. Fully worked examples illustrate the application of mathematical techniques. Exercises throughout develop concepts and enhance understanding. End-of-chapter exercises offer more practice in developing a secure foundation.

Wenbo Qiao, Peng Zhang, Jiaming Zhao +1 more

Quantum machine learning aims to leverage quantum computing to enhance the computing capabilities and storage efficiency of classical machine learning. Among them, quantum generative models, as a type of unsupervised machine learning, have been proven to learn distributions that are outside of classical machine learning reach. However, there is limited work on how to truly utilize and validate a possible quantum advantage in practical applications, especially in the field of natural language processing. This paper proposes the first Quantum Topic Model (QTM) based on variational quantum circuits to validate and showcase the possible advantages of quantum computing for generative models. QTM not only generates random samples like generative models but also exhibits fitting capabilities similar to neural networks. Finally, we conducted experiments on real datasets, and the results showed that QTM achieved a 46.9% reduction in model parameters while obtaining 10.4% higher topic coherence and 0.2% higher topic diversity with fewer iterations than neural topic models.

ARTUR K. EKERT, Patrick M. Hayden, Hitoshi Inamori