Quantum computing: a brief introduction

Author: Alexandra Semposki

To fully grasp the following chapters of this Jupyter Book, a brief—but firm—foundation in quantum computation should first be established. In order to do this quickly and efficiently, this chapter is dedicated to the construction of this foundation in the reader’s mind. These sections are drawn heavily from multiple sources listed below, which we recommend the reader to if you find the material here lacking in any way, or if you would like to dig deeper into any of these subjects.

We begin on the next page with a comparison between classical and quantum bits, and continue to discuss some of the quantum mechanics and mathematics of these so-called “qubits”, as well as some introductory circuitry.

Recommended reading:

• Nielsen, M. A., & Chuang, I. L. (2011). Quantum Computation and Quantum Information: 10th Anniversary Edition. Cambridge University Press.

• FRIB-TA Summer School: Quantum Computing and Nuclear Few- and Many-Body Problems

• Qiskit Textbook (https://qiskit.org/learn/)

• PennyLane Docs (https://pennylane.ai/)