T4EU: Introduction to the Mathematical Foundation of Quantum Information Theory

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Moritz Weber, Nicolas Faroß, Julien Schanz

Contents

Quantum information theory is an exciting and modern branch of science right at the intersection of mathematics, computer science and physics. To some extent, it can be seen as the „software“ side of quantum computing. It evolved from quantum physics and information theory, but nowadays it is a truly interdisciplinary field of its own. In this lecture, we will give a gentle introduction to quantum information theory in its mathematical formulation and we will discuss the basics of quantum algorithms.

The course will be accessible for Bachelor’s students in their second year or later, or Master’s students, in mathematics or physics or computer science or any related field. Absolutely no knowledge in quantum physics is required nor any deep knowledge in mathematics or computer science. However, we expect some basic knowledge in mathematics for the lecture. In particular, some basic understanding of complex numbers, Hilbert spaces and tensor products is helpful. The essentials will be provided throughout the lecture, but it is of advantage to be familiar with the material covered in Section 2.1 („Linear Algebra“, 20 pages) of „Quantum Computation and Quantum Information“, Michael Nielsen and Isaac Chuang, Cambridge, 2010. We can also recommend Section 1 („Introduction and Overview“, 60 pages) of that book, in case you are interested.

The course will be held in English and you may obtain 3 ECTS, graded or ungraded.