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About this course

Welcome to 8.371.3x Quantum Information Science II, Part 3 - Advanced quantum algorithms and information theory

This course is part of a three-course-module series that addresses advanced topics in quantum computation and quantum information, including:

  • quantum error correction code techniques

  • efficient quantum computation principles, including fault-tolerance

  • quantum complexity theory and quantum information theory

This course module will help you advance to the frontier of knowledge in the field, in preparation for discovering new things and solving problems in quantum information science and engineering.

The three-course-module series comprises:

  • 8.371.1x: Quantum states, noise and error correction

  • 8.371.2x: Efficient quantum computing - fault tolerance and complexity

  • 8.371.3x: Advanced quantum algorithms and information theory

Prior knowledge of quantum circuits and elementary quantum algorithms is assumed. A working understanding of quantum mechanics and familiarity with linear algebra is strongly recommended.

A first course-module sequence, 8.370x, preceeded this, covering more introductory content, including the physics of information processing, quantum logic gates, quantum algorithms including Shor's factoring algorithm and Grover's search algorithm, quantum error correction, and quantum communication and key distribution.

The three sub-units of 8.371.3x Quantum Information Science II, Part 3 - Advanced quantum algorithms and information theory

Textbook and Refernces

You may find it helpful to refer to: Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, by Nielsen and Chuang. There are also excellent, freely available lecture notes by John Preskill, and superb video lectures by Daniel Gottesman.

Also possibly available are: MIT 8.05x courses on quantum mechanics, and Berkeley's CS191 course. The Caltech-TU Delft course on quantum cryptography may also be insightful.

This is an intermediate, graduate-level course, and you are expected to largely learn the material on your own. The discussion forums may be a good avenue for help from peers; there will be occasional (but not full-time) help from course staff, on the forums.

Assessments and Deadlines

This course module formally begins on Monday, June 18, 2018, and all the content is available immediately. The four subunits each has concept questions embedded within the lectures, and assessment problem sets, all of which are due before July 13, 2018.

Grading and Certificates

The course grade is determined entirely by the concept questions (30%) and problem sets (70%), with the following cutoffs:

  • 90% : A

  • 80% : B

  • 70% : C

The minimum passing grade for a verified-ID certificate is 70%.

Honor Code

As described in the edX Honor code, you are expected to:

  • Complete all tests and assignments on my own, unless collaboration on an assignment is explicitly permitted.

  • Maintain only one user account and not let anyone else use my username and/or password.

  • Not engage in any activity that would dishonestly improve my results, or improve or hurt the results of others.

  • Not post answers to problems that are being used to assess student performance.

Acknowledgements

This course has been authored by one or more members of the Faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Its educational objectives, methods, assessments, and the selection and presentation of its content are solely the responsibility of MIT. MIT gratefully acknowledges major support for this course, provided by IBM Research. This course on quantum information science is a collective effort to further advance knowledge and understanding in quantum information and quantum computing.

Entrance Survey

We would greatly appreciate if you could please fill in the entrance survey as you begin the course, if you haven't already. This will help us improve understand who is using this material, and how it may be improved for future users like you.