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SUMMARY:Quantum Complexity and Computation - Richard Jozsa\, Leigh Trapnel
 l Professor of Quantum Physics
DTSTART:20111005T163000Z
DTEND:20111005T173000Z
UID:TALK33325@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:17945
DESCRIPTION:*Professor Richard Jozsa\, DAMTP\n\nInaugural lecture as Leigh
  Trapnell Professor of Quantum Physics*\n\nThe lecture will be introduced 
 by Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz\, Vice-Chancellor of the University of
  Cambridge.\n\nAbstract:\nTheoretical physics and computer science are oft
 en regarded as disparate disciplines but surprisingly they share a deep fu
 ndamental connection - if we recognise that any computer is a physical dev
 ice and information\nis always represented in physical degrees of freedom\
 , then it follows that the possibilities and limitations of information pr
 ocessing and communication must depend on the laws of physics and not upon
  mathematics alone. Indeed our familiar computational paradigm is an expre
 ssion of the computational possibilities of classical physics. Quantum phy
 sics is well known to give rise to a notoriously strange picture of the wo
 rld and correspondingly it offers extraordinary novel\npossibilities for c
 omputation and communication. Two notable examples are the process of quan
 tum teleportation\, a new communication primitive\,\nand computationally\,
  a quantum method for factorising integers\, that is exponentially more po
 werful than any known conventional (classical) algorithm for this importan
 t task.\n\nIn this talk we will give an intuitive discussion of the ingred
 ients of quantum mechanics\, emphasising their surprising significance for
  computational issues. We will introduce the basic notion of computational
  complexity of a given task and discuss in general terms\,\nsome novel pos
 sibilities and limitations of a quantum computer.  Finally we will give an
  overview of some recent results on the intriguing relationship between th
 e computing power of quantum physics and classical physics. Although still
  not well understood\, this relationship appears to be remarkably rich\, i
 ndicating a great fertility for ideas from computational complexity as a n
 ew tool for illuminating some of the\nmost fundamental questions in physic
 s. 
LOCATION:Meeting Room 2 at the Centre for Mathematical Sciences
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