Category Archives: Talks

Scott Aaronson Visits QUISCO

We’re delighted to announce that Prof. Aaronson will be visiting us from July 9 till July 13 and will present a series of lectures on quantum complexity theory covering topics on complexity of linear optics and information content of quantum states.

The venue is the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Room 4.33/4.31 on Tuesday,  Wednesday  and Thursday July 10, 11 and 12 from 15:00 till 16:30.

We hope you can all attend this unique rejuvenating QUISCO meetings.

Biography
Scott Aaronson is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.  He received his PhD in computer science from University of California, Berkeley and did postdocs at the Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Waterloo.  Scott’s research interests center around fundamental limits on what can efficiently be computed in the physical world.  This has entailed studying quantum computing, the most powerful model of computation we have based on known physical theory.  He also writes a popular blog, and is the creator of the Complexity Zoo, an online encyclopedia of computational complexity theory.  He is the recipient of NSF’s Alan T. Waterman Award for 2012.

I'm delighted to announce that Prof. Aaronson will be visiting us from July
9 till July 13 and will present a series of lectures on quantum complexity
theory covering topics on complexity of linear optics and information
content of quantum states.

The venue is the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Room 3.44
on Tuesday,  Wednesday  and Thursday July 10, 11 and 12 from 15:00 till
16:30.

I hope you can all attend this unique rejuvenating QUISCO meetings,
Elham

BIO
Scott Aaronson is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science at MIT.  He received his PhD in computer science
from University of California, Berkeley and did postdocs at the
Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Waterloo.  Scott's
research interests center around fundamental limits on what can efficiently
be computed in the physical world.  This has entailed studying
quantum computing, the most powerful model of computation we have based
on known physical theory.  He also writes a popular
blog<http://(www.scottaaronson.com/blog)>,
and is the creator of the Complexity Zoo <http://(www.complexityzoo.com)>,
an online encyclopedia of computational complexity theory.  He is the
recipient of NSF's Alan T. Waterman
Award<http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/aaronson-nsf-award-0308.html>for
2012.

Wednesday 30/11/2011 Talks, Edinburgh Informatics Forum

A glance of blind computing

Vedran Dunjko

13:30, IF 4.02

Abstract: In 1978, Rivest et al. have, by asking “Is computation over data which has been encrypted possible?”, opened up a proliferate area of research in cryptography. The following 30 years yielded partial results in both the classical and new domain of quantum computation: Feigenbaum et al (1989) showed that classical computation with unconditional privacy of an NP-hard function is impossible (unless PH collapses to the 3rd level) and Childs (2005) and later Aharonov et. al, reflected on this problem in the quantum domain with only partial success. Then, 2009. saw breakthroughs in both settings: Gentry offered a positive answer in terms of a classical efficient fully homomorphic encryption, and Boradbent, Fitzsimmons and Kashefi presented the Universal Blind Quantum Computation (UBQC) protocol. Gentry’s classical scheme offers computational security whereas the UBQC scheme is unconditionally secure, but the user needs modest quantum powers. In this talk we will note the highlights of the turbulent history of computation with encrypted data, address the interplay between classical and quantum results, and their impact on cryptography, interactive proof systems and the understanding of the separation between “classical” and “quantum” in information processing. Finally, we will briefly go through the details of the UBQC protocol, and provide alternative proofs of its security.

The ZX-Calculus: a graphical approach to quantum computing

Ross Duncan

4pm, IF 4.31-33

Abstract: The ZX-calculus is a graphical notation for quantum computing based on monoidal categories and the physical notion of “strong complementarity”. In this talk I’ll explain what string complementarity is, and introduce the ZX-calculus. I’ll also demonstrate some recent applications of the calculus to problems in and around quantum computing.