Quantum Information and Quantum Computation

Alice Flarend, Robert C. Hilborn

Abstract Quantum Computing: From Alice to Bob provides a distinctive and accessible introduction to the rapidly growing fields of quantum information science (QIS) and quantum computing (QC). The book is designed for undergraduate students and upper-level secondary school students with little or no background in physics, computer science, or mathematics beyond secondary school algebra and trigonometry. While broadly accessible, the book provides a solid conceptual and formal understanding of quantum states and entanglement—the key ingredients in quantum computing. The authors give detailed treatments of many of the classic quantum algorithms that demonstrate how and when QC has an advantage over classical computers. The book provides a solid explanation of the physics of QC and QIS and then weds that knowledge to the mathematics of QC algorithms and how those algorithms deploy the principles of quantum physics to solve the problem. This book connects the physics concepts, the computer science vocabulary, and the mathematics, providing a complete picture of how QIS and QC work. The authors give multiple representations of the concept—textual, graphical, and symbolic (state vectors, matrices, and Dirac notation)—which are the lingua franca of QIS and QC. Those multiple representations allow the readers to develop a broader and deeper understanding of the fundamental concepts and their applications. In addition, the book provides examples of recent experimental demonstrations of quantum teleportation and the applications of quantum computational chemistry. The last chapter connects to the growing commercial world of QC and QIS and provides recommendations for further study.

康弘 都倉

Joseph M. Landsberg

Gershon Kurizki, Goren Gordon

Henry and Eve have finally tested their quantum computer (QC) with resounding success! It may enable much faster and better modelling of complex pharmaceutical designs, long-term weather forecasts or brain process simulations than classical computers. A 1,000-qubit QC can process in a single step 21000 possible superposition states: its speedup is exponential in the number of qubits. Yet this wondrous promise requires overcoming the enormous hurdle of decoherence, which is why progress towards a large-scale QC has been painstakingly slow. To their dismay, their QC is “expropriated for the quantum revolution” in order to share quantum information among all mankind and thus impose a collective entangled state of mind. They set out to foil this totalitarian plan and restore individuality by decohering the quantum information channel. The appendix to this chapter provide a flavor of QC capabilities through a quantum algorithm that can solve problems exponentially faster than classical computers.

Frederick W. Strauch

This Resource Letter surveys the history and modern developments in the field of quantum information. It is written to guide advanced undergraduates, beginning graduate students, and other new researchers to the theoretical and experimental aspects of this field. The topics covered include quantum states and processes, quantum coding and cryptography, quantum computation, the experimental implementation of quantum information processing, and the role of quantum information in the fundamental properties and foundations of physical theories.