Quantum Computation for Quantum Chemistry: Status, Challenges, and Prospects - Session 1

Опубликовано 28 июля 2016, 23:15

9:00 – 9:15 AM Welcome and Introduction Speaker: Michael Freedman, Microsoft Station Q Bio: Michael Freedman is Director of Station Q, Microsoft’s Project on quantum physics and quantum computation located on the UCSB campus. The project is a collaborative effort between Microsoft and academia directed towards exploring the mathematical theory and physical foundations for quantum computing.
9:15 – 9:30 AM Quantum Computing: A Short Tutorial Speaker: Krysta Svore, Microsoft Research QuArC Bio: Krysta Svore is a Researcher in the Quantum Architectures and Computation Group (QuArC) at Microsoft Research in Redmond, WA.
9:30 – 9:45 AM Motivation for the meeting Speaker: Matthias Troyer, ETH Zurich Abstract: While a quantum computer can solve many electronic structure problems in polynomial time, the time needed for interesting problems might still exceed the age of the universe on the fastest imaginable quantum computer. In this introductory presentation I will present limitations of the largest and fastest quantum computer that we might imagine building. I will then discuss the consequences of these limitations for solving problems in quantum chemistry and materials science, to set the stage for the discussions during the meeting.
9:45 – 10:30 AM What Could Quantum Computers Accomplish for Chemical Reactions? Speaker: Markus Reiher, ETH Zurich Abstract: In the past 15 years, my group has worked on various problems in chemistry ranging from its fundamental relativistic basis to applications in template chemistry and transition metal catalysis. While the electron correlation problem is one of the major issues in Theoretical Chemistry and seemingly prone to be tackled by quantum computers, other issues involving the huge size of chemical compound / configuration space are probably much more important when actual chemical problems shall be solved. In my talk, I will elaborate on some prominent examples which we encountered in our work in order to highlight persistent difficulties. Then, I shall discuss whether or not these problems will be amenable to solution by virtue of quantum computers.