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Quantum Computation (Ph219) lecture notes
Caltech
3 recommenders · 3 threads · recommended in 3 years, 2017–2024 · score 2.8
A set of lecture notes from Caltech's Ph219 quantum computation course, written by John Preskill, covering topics from basic quantum computing through quantum theory to advanced material such as topological quantum computation.
Commenters call Preskill's notes invaluable and amazing, praising their coverage from basics to advanced concepts and their explanation of decoherence.
Science & Engineeringmixedfreeself-paced text#quantum computing#quantum information#decoherence#topological quantum computation#preskill
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Linear Algebra is very important for Quantum Computing. You have a masters in engineering, so you shouldn't have any problems with the math. I suggest you review the basics of Linear Algebra if you haven't applied that knowledge in a while.
John Preskill's lecture notes are invaluable. They start from the basics of Quantum Computing, to Quantum Theory, all the way to advanced concepts such as Topological Quantum Computation:http://www.theory.caltech.edu/people/preskill/ph229/
You can also look over the Quantum Computation course that is hosted at OCW. The instructor for this course was Peter Shor who invented the seminal "Shor's Algorithm":https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-435j-quantum-comp...
These will be enough to get you started, but it is good apply your knowledge by implementing the quantum algorithms that you have learned.There is a huge list of simulators you can use:https://www.quantiki.org/wiki/list-qc-simulators
I know you want references to open courses, but reading papers shouldn't hurt either. I don't know how much experience you have with Quantum Mechanics, but this paper:https://arxiv.org/abs/0708.0261 explains Quantum Computing very well by referring to concepts in Classical Computing. You should read this first if you are not familiar with Quantum Mechanics.
Let me know if you have any questions and good luck!
This paper talks about Gibbs states, i.e., thermal states. These are very specific states that naturally occur if the system is in thermal equilibrium.
The other thing you talk about is true. If you have a system in quantum superposition, to measure it you need to entangle it with some macroscopic system. Macroscopic systems decohere very fast. This concept is well explained in excellent John Preskill's quantum computing lecture notes [1]
Note that the system for which wavefunction collapses is not in equilibrium with the measurements equipment (otherwise it wouldn't be measured), so the claims of the paper do not apply to this case.
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20231005202201/http://theory.cal...
If you are comfortable (mathematically) with the idea of "a gate" and "a qubit", then Wikipedia is surprisingly good at explaining what each new gate does.
Otherwise the standards reference that starts from scratch (prerequisites being linear algebra and intro quantum mechanics) is Quantum Computation and Quantum Information by Nielsen and Chuang. It is a very thick book and it takes a sustained effort to read it, but stackexchange is always eager to help. Preskill's lecture notes are amazing as well.
Regrettably, I do not know of a good book that does not have the prerequisites I mentioned.