Introduction to Quantum Annealing: from Fundamentals to Applications

Sep. 2 (Mon) 10:30-12:00, 13:30-15:00, 15:30-17:00
Lecture 1: What is quantum annealing and quantum computation?
Lecture 2: Quatum Ising models as flux-qubit degree of freedom
Lecture 3: Basic usage of quantum annealer

Sep. 3 (Tue) 10:30-12:00, 13:30-15:00, 15:30-17:00
Lecture 4: Optimization problems and computational complexity
Lecture 5: Real-world applications
Lecture 6: Some other topics

Room:
435-437 (main research building): Sep.2 (Mon) am
424-426 (main research building): Sep.2 (Mon) pm & Sep.3 (Tue) am+pm

Abstract:
Quantum annealing is a quantum-computational scheme which tackles computationally hard optimization problems. Its quantum-mechanically implemented machine, called quantum annealer, is commercially manufactured by D-Wave Systems, Inc., and is currently available with more than 2000 quantum bits. In this two-day lecture, I would like to discuss fundamental aspects of quantum annealing (1st day) and its real-world applications (2nd day). In particular, I try to overview the current status of the machine and several problems which we should theoretically overcome. In the first day, I will start with discussing what is quantum annealing and then review how quantum Ising model is implemented with flux-qubit degree of freedom. Later on, I will discuss the basic usage of the quantum annealer as a preparation for applications. In the second day, I will first summarize several classes of optimization problems and their computational complexity, and then discuss examples of real-world applications of quantum annealing. Finally, if I have enough time, I would like to discuss other related topic on quantum annealing.