Welcome and introdction to JSC

• Kristel Michielsen

Introduction to gate-based quantum computing

• Dennis Willsch (Forschungszentrum Jülich, JSC)

Introduction to quantum bits and quantum gates Programming and Simulating quantum circuits Applications: QFT, Quantum Adder, QAOA

Introduction to quantum annealing

• Madita Willsch

This talk is a general introduction to quantum annealing. It covers - how does a quantum annealer work in theory and what can it be used for - what are the theoretical and practical limitations - how to solve problems on quantum annealers, in particular D-Wave quantum annealers as the one hosted by JSC: - the basic information about the architecture of D-Wave quantum annealers - how to formulate an optimization problem as a QUBO or Ising problem - different encoding strategies - how to incorporate constraints - how to embed a (logical) problem onto the given hardware graph (considering physical connectivity) - how to send a problem to the quantum annealer using D-Wave's Ocean SDK and how to interpret the response Finally, some small examples are presented and the talk ends with a short hands-on exercise.

Quantum annealing applications

• Dennis Willsch

Optimization Problems: Airline Scheduling, TSP, Garden Optimization Constraint Problem: 2-SAT Machine Learning Problem: Quantum Support Vector Machine Sampling Problem: Quantum Boltzmann Machin

QUBO Formulation and QAOA: A tutorial on encoding and solving combinatorial optimization problems - part I

• Alejandro Montanez

In this tutorial, we will dive into combinatorial optimization problems and explore how effectively encode these problems using the Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) formulation and how to tackle them using the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA).

Introduction of hands-on topics In this session, the topics for the hands-on sessions will be introduced.

Hardware & Software Setup

Hands-on session

QUBO Formulation and QAOA: A tutorial on encoding and solving combinatorial optimization problems - part II

• Alejandro Montanez

In this tutorial, we will dive into combinatorial optimization problems and explore how effectively encode these problems using the Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) formulation and how to tackle them using the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA).

Hands-on session

Simulation of quantum systems

• Kristel Michielsen

- Full dynamics of a CLOSED quantum spin-1/2 system: gate-based quantum computer & quantum annealer - Full dynamics of an OPEN quantum spin-1/2 system: gate-based quantum computer & quantum annealer - Solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation numerically - (Part of) our histrory of simulating quantum computers

Developing a theory of macroscopic resonant tunneling of flux in a double-well potential in the presence of realistic flux noise - a pen & paper excercise

• Jaka Vodeb

Superconducting qubits based on different forms of quantum dynamics of magnetic flux in SQUIDs continue demonstrating steady progress. Nevertheless, the low-frequency flux noise in SQUID structures remains the major obstacle to their further development to the level necessary for quantum computing applications. Because of this noise, quantum coherence is essentially reduced to the states with the same qubit value of either 0 or 1 (characterized by the same average value of flux). Only minimal coherence exists between states 0 and 1. We will develop a theory of macroscopic resonant tunneling of flux in a double-well potential in the presence of realistic flux noise with a significant low-frequency component.

Quantum simulation using quantum annealers

• Jaka Vodeb

I will talk about the first experimental signatures of two-dimensional many-body false vacuum decay in a quantum material emerging from microscopic interactions. We used a programmable noisy superconducting quantum simulator with 2008 qubits in order to perform simulations corresponding to our specific experiment on quantum domain reconfiguration in a topical electronic crystal. We carefully chose a simulator with the same measured noise spectrum to ensure the fidelity of the model correspondence between the two systems, thereby presenting a realization of simulating real-world open quantum systems according to the original vision of Feynman.

Hands-on session

Simulating noise of quantum computers

• Kevissen Sellapillay

As much as we want to isolate them, we must see quantum machines as open systems. Interactions happen between the quantum machine and its environment leading to decoherence. This effectively give different types of noise at the level of the machine. What are they and how can we take them into account when doing simulation on our classical computer?

Hands-on session

Gate-based Quantum Computing - A Broader Perspective

• David DiVincenzo

Hands-on session

Quantum Annealing - A Broader Perspective

• Viv Kendon

Hands-on session

Feedback session

The future of quantum computing

• Kristel Michielsen

Wrap-up and goddbye

• Nils Küchler