Quantum computation is a new conceptual arena for trying to come to a better understanding of quantum weirdness.
N. D. Mermin
The course, usually held in Italian (Teoria Quantistica della Computazione), aims to provide students with a general understanding of how quantum mechanics can be applied to computational problems. A specific purpose is to provide students with the mathematical and physical tools necessary to deal with the problems discussed throughout the course and to develop knowledge of the physical systems used to implement a quantum computer, highlighting the experimental problems associated with them.
- Syllabus and general info.
- Educational website (for UniMi students only).
Lecture notes on Quantum Computing
THERE ARE MANY BOOKS on the subject of quantum computation. The student or the researcher can find the one he/she prefers according to his/her own interests, ranging from the quantum algorithms to the physical implementations of quantum information processing and computation. In the “Suggested bibliography” reported at the end of the preface of the Lecture notes, the reader can find the list of references I considered to prepare the lectures on quantum computing I have been holding at the Department of Physics of the University of Milan: each book has particular aspects that I appreciated and, therefore, I wanted to communicate to my students. However, it is sometimes necessary to provide some useful tools to help the students to follow the lectures and not to get lost into the flow of information coming from the suggested readings.
Motivated also by the requests of my students, I wrote the Lecture notes that, year by year, will be corrected (sic!), enhanced and improved with further comments to the old material and by adding new topics concerning quantum computation. Nevertheless, the notes may contain imprecisions and misprints: comments and suggestions are always welcome!
In order to further help the students, at the end of each chapter I put the references to the corresponding chapters of the books or to the research articles that inspired my lectures and should be considered the main resource to begin the advanced study in the field of quantum computation.
I hope these pages will bring the reader to better understand and appreciate some aspects of our world as described by quantum mechanics.
Here you can download the current version of the Lecture notes on Quantum Computing: