A Primer on Quantum Computing for the Condensed Matter Theorist
James Freericks
Department of Physics
Georgetown University
Quantum computing currently has two main forms—analog simulation of model Hamiltonians and digital quantum computation. I will describe some of the successes in both areas along with some of the open challenges needed to make it an effective tool for advancing condensed matter theory. In particular, I will describe how analog simulators can directly simulate simple spin models and how digital computation can be employed to determine Green’s functions and susceptibilities. Along the way, I will sketch some of the key issues one must confront in performing quantum computation and describe some of the critical open problems we still need to solve to enable exciting science to be performed on these machines.