About
Coursework
Modules
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Welcome to an interdisciplinary, introductory course in Quantum Computing!
- The course will be offered in Spring 2024, 3.45-5.00pm
Tuesdays/Thursdays.
- Course number for undergrads: CS-4345
- Course number for grads: CS-6345
- Important: to register
- First fill out this Google form
- We will send out emails after permission is given. This
could take a couple of weeks after registration opens.
There's enough space, so don't worry about not getting in provided
you have the background (see below).
The course is open to interested undergrads and grads from
computer science, engineering, mathematical and physical sciences,
and anyone else with the background and curiosity.
The most important prerequisites for the course are:
- A full (undergraduate) course in linear algebra, equivalent to
Math-2184, or Math-2185, or CS-4342.
- Willingness and interest in working through mathematical formalism and
notation.
- Curiosity.
Note: there will be no programming required in the course,
although students may opt to include programming for the final project.
What can you expect in terms of coursework?
- Homework problems
- A final exam
- Grad students will have additional work and will be separately graded.
Since this is an elective course with conceptually challenging
material, the overall workload will be less
than that of a typical required computer science course.
Finally, let's ask: why should anyone be interested in quantum
computing?
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Quantum computing is a new, exciting, and somewhat strange computing platform that works very differently than conventional computing. All the big industry players have quantum groups now, and governments around the world are investing significantly in a race to develop quantum computing. The hope is that it offers an entirely new way to compute and that it can solve some problems that cannot be reasonably solved on conventional computers. One example is breaking certain kinds of cryptography. Shor's celebrated quantum algorithm (which we will explain in the course) shows how to break conventional crypto in polynomial-time (i.e., efficiently), something thought be impossible with conventional hardware.
- Quantum computing involves a radically different type of
hardware and thinking, building on quantum mechanics (which
is itself quite different from Newtonian physics).
- Global investment in quantum computing is expected to
to grow to $10B/year in 2024
- See what others say:
IBM,
Microsoft,
Google,
Amazon.
The goal of the course is to learn how quantum computing works
and to prepare students with the foundation for employment or research in the field.
Some topics the course will address:
- How does quantum computing work, and how exactly does it
exploit the strange quantum properties of matter?
- How does quantum computing break conventional cryptography,
and why is a quantum network far more secure?
- What does it mean to write a quantum computing program?
- What is meant by quantum teleportation and entanglement?
- What did Einstein get wrong? (The EPR paradox and its resolution).
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