Current students

Tian Zhang, University of Oxford

In ordinary, non-relativistic quantum theory, especially in quantum information, space and time are treated differently. For example, time is a parameter rather than an operator; states are defined across the whole space but only at one time, and then evolve under the prescribed dynamics. These go against our intuition from relativity. Thus, space-time density matrices have been introduced and here we discuss one of these formulations called pseudo-density matrix (PDM) which treats space and time indiscriminately.

Matthew Amy, PhD candidate
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science

IQC Colloquium - Layla Hormozi, IQC

We study the role of Hamiltonian complexity in the performance of quantum annealers. It is well-known that non-stoquastic Hamiltonians are more complex than stoquastic Hamiltonians and universal adiabatic quantum computing is possible when they are employed. Here we ask whether utilizing non-stoquastic Hamiltonians in quantum annealers can lead to a better performance in solving optimization problems.

Security Proof for Discrete-Modulated Continuous Variable Quantum Key Distribution

Speaker: Twesh Upadhyaya

Charles W. Thiel​, Montana State University

Colloquium

Entanglement in single-shot quantum channel discrimination

PhD candidate: Daniel Puzzuoli
Supervisor: John Watrous

Thesis available from MGO - mgo@uwaterloo.ca

Polarization Entangled Photon Sources for Free-Space Quantum Key Distribution

M.Sc. Candidate: Ramy Tannous​
Supervisor: Thomas Jennewein

​The thesis has been deposited in the Faculty of Science Graduate Office, PHY 2013, and is available for perusal.

Exploring Practical Methodologies for the Characterization and Control of Small Quantum Systems

PhD Candidate: Ian Hincks
Supervisors: David Cory, Joseph Emerson

Thesis available from MGO - mgo@uwaterloo.ca

Yaoyun Shi, Director, Alibaba Quantum Laboratory (AQL)

I will take this opportunity to share with the Waterloo quantum community the thinkings behind Alibaba Group's quantum computing program and our main activities. Questions and comments from the audience are welcome.

About the speaker: Yaoyun Shi is a computer scientist trained at Beijing University, Princeton, and Caltech. He taught at University of Michigan before moving to Alibaba to launch its quantum computing program.

Nick Spooner, University of Southern California, Berkeley

Understanding the computational power of multi-prover interactive proofs where the provers may share entanglement -- the complexity class MIP* -- is a central question in quantum computation. In 2012, Ito and Vidick showed that this model is at least as powerful as MIP, i.e. NEXP is contained in MIP*.