Course code:     P700 - Topics in Theoretical Physics
Title:           Quantum Info & Computation
Level:           Introductory
Credit rating:   3 credits
Lecturer:        Gerardo Ortiz

Description

Recently, a new paradigm in Information Theory and Computer Science has
emerged as a result of the application of the fundamental laws of Quantum
Mechanics.  The development of this paradigm was based on the recognition
that useful information is necessarily physically realizable and therefore
subject to laws of physics that both enable and limit computation. The close
connection between information processing and its physical realization is one
of the most remarkable aspects of this new paradigm whose set of ideas
constitute what is now known as ` "Quantum Information and Computation''. The
fundamental unit of quantum information is called the quantum bit or qubit,
which is a quantum two-level system. The device that performs manipulation of
quantum information is the "quantum computer". The perspective that quantum
phenomena brings to the questions of information and computation is quite
unlike the conventional one. In particular, selected problems which
classically have only inefficient algorithms, have in the quantum domain,
algorithms which are exponentially faster. Most important among these is the
factoring of large numbers, whose difficulty underpins the security of
certain encryption protocols, used for example in the secure socket layer of
the Internet. If a large quantum computer could ever be built, the Internet
would become instantly insecure. This course aims to give the student an
introduction to this unusual new field. The course covers the foundations of
quantum information and selected topics in quantum computation, communication
and quantum components, including physical implementations, and the Physics
of computation.