Niels Bohr Lecture by Aram Harrow, MIT
Title: Many-body entanglement in quantum computing
Abstract: The idea of quantum computers is that "More is different" when it comes to qubits. One qubit is not so interesting but many of them together can create exotic and computationally Powerful forms of many-body entanglement.
Given this, we might expect that many-body physics and quantum information would often be related. I will describe two recent examples.
1. The Ising model is a simple model of a magnet. But it turns out to also describe the competition between quantum interactions creating entanglement and measurements destroying entanglement. This can tell us about the power of near-term quantum computers.
2. How can a closed system reach thermal equilibrium? There have been many answers to this question dating back to the 19th century. I will explain how entanglement is a plausible source of thermalization.
About the speaker
Aram Harrow is a Professor of Physics at MIT where he has worked since 2013. Previously he worked at the University of Bristol (2005-2010) and the University of Washington (2010-2012).
His research focuses on quantum information and computing. He works to understand the
capabilities of the quantum computers and quantum communication devices we will build in the future, and in the process, he creates connections to other areas of theoretical physics, mathematics and computer science.