Quantum Pod Launches Colloquium Series

The Simons Institute’s Research Pod in Quantum Computing has launched a new Quantum Colloquium series. 

These weekly colloquium talks are intended as "an introduction to research in area X," aiming to declutter and identify the key results and techniques in the area, as well as the most important directions for further research. The talks are an invitation to the larger CS community to participate more fully in the quantum revolution, by illuminating the deep connections between ideas in quantum computation and classical computer science, including complexity theory, algorithms, etc. Mathematical and physical science researchers may also find these colloquia helpful to cut through the clutter and make connections to CS-style results in quantum computation. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion, as well as an opportunity to meet and hang out with colleagues on Gather.town afterward. 

The series kicked off on January 26 with a talk by Aram Harrow (MIT) on “Hybrid Classical-Quantum Algorithm.” Watch the video recording of that presentation. 

Talks take place on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. PST. You can watch the events live via the public Zoom webinar link or register for the event to enable you to ask questions. Note that there will be no talk on February 2. Upcoming talks are as follows:

2/9:     Scott Aaronson (University of Texas), “Quantum Supremacy via Boson Sampling: Theory and Practice”
2/16:   Nathan Wiebe (University of Washington), “Quantum Algorithms for Hamiltonian Simulation”
2/23:   Dorit Aharonov (Hebrew University), “Quantum Algorithmic Measurements”
3/2:     Daniel Gottesman (Perimeter Institute), “Fault Tolerance with LDPC Codes”

About the Quantum Pod
Alongside our semester-long research programs, summer clusters, and weeklong workshops, the Simons Institute now hosts sustained research efforts by small groups of collaborators working on a specific topic over several years. Launched in 2020-21, our Research Pods initiative kicked off with two projects — one in machine learning and one in quantum computing. Each pod features a small number of junior and senior researchers to be in residence at the Institute for the duration. Sustained effort will be articulated by intense shorter convenings, including summer clusters and semester-long research programs. 

In the wake of the National Quantum Initiative, the Simons Institute’s Research Pod in Quantum Computing brings together researchers from computer science, physics, chemistry, and mathematics to study pressing issues in quantum algorithms, complexity theory, error correction, and near-term quantum devices. This research pod will facilitate deep interactions between quantum computing and the rest of theoretical computer science and will help introduce and welcome the larger TCS community into quantum computing research issues. This initiative is led by Simons Institute Research Director for Quantum Computing Umesh Vazirani and is supported in part by the Department of Energy, via the newly established Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA), and by the National Science Foundation via the Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes (QLCI) award.