Unifying and Optimising Resources for Quantum Computation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Tobias J. Osborne
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 532803137

Quantum computers offer the potential to revolutionise our world. To realise this potential, however, we must overcome many challenges, from deep foundational issues in quantum information theory through to the extreme technical demands of high-tech engineering. On the theoretical side, one of the longest standing open questions is to understand exactly which quantum resources are relevant for the advantages afforded by quantum computation. Without knowing this, we can only ever be rather imprecise in what we are ultimately asking the engineers to create. In ResourceQ there are two key aspects to this problem that we seek to address. The first is that, to date, many seemingly disparate resources have been identified as being responsible for the quantum speedup, and which of these is actually relevant seems to depend on which model of computation one considers. We seek to understand whether or not there is any underlying resource which underpins all of these, that is, to find a model independent resource which is responsible for the speedup. The second is that there is a large gulf between the kinds of resources which are considered fundamental quantum resources and those that are typically relevant in a given experimental implementation. For example, nonlocality and contextuality are often considered the most fundamental signatures of the nonclassicality of nature, but (at least for near term devices) the more relevant resources are typically things such as quantum volume, cluster states, the number of T gates, or the depth of the quantum circuit. We aim to bridge this gulf by understanding how these fundamental and practical resources relate to one another.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France, Poland
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency
• Cooperation Partners: Shane Mansfield; Privatdozent John Selby, Ph.D.