"Quantum Algorithms for Simulating Quantum Mechanics"

Location: LTS Auditorium, 8080 Greenmead Drive

Speaker:
Andrew Childs
UMIACS and UMD Department of Computer Science

Abstract:
Simulating the dynamics of quantum systems is a major potential application of quantum computers.

Quantum simulation can be applied to model chemical reactions and to predict the behavior of materials. It can also be used as a tool to develop other quantum algorithms.

While it has long been known that quantum computers can efficiently simulate quantum dynamics, recent work has led to dramatically improved algorithms.

In this talk, I will describe some of these advances, including a quantum algorithm with exponentially improved performance as a function of the allowed error.

Bio:
Andrew Childs is an associate professor of computer science and co-director of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS) at UMD.

He is an expert in the theory of quantum information processing, with a particular emphasis on algorithms for quantum computers.

Before joining UMD, he was an associate professor in the Combinatorics & Optimization Department and the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo.

Childs received his doctorate in physics from MIT in 2004.

After receiving his doctorate, Childs was a DuBridge Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology. He is a senior fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.