Quantum Computing (Natural Computing Series)

Mika Hirvensalo maps out the new multidisciplinary research area of quantum computing. The text contains an introduction to quantum computing as well as the most important recent results on the topic. The presentation is uniform and computer science-oriented. Thus, the book differs from most of the previous ones which are mainly physics-oriented. The special style of presentation makes the theory of quantum computing accessible to a larger audience. Many examples and exercises ease the understanding. In this second edition, a new chapter on quantum information has been added and numerous corrections, amendments, and extensions have been incorporated throughout the entire text. After the first edition of this book was published, I received much positive feedback from the readers. It was very helpful to have all those comments sug­ gesting improvements and corrections. In many cases, it was suggested that more aspects on quantum information would be welcome. Unfortunately, I am afraid that an attempt to cover such a broad area as quantum informa­ tion theory would make this book too scattered to be helpful for educational purposes. On the other hand, ladmit that some aspects of quantum information should be discussed. The first edition already contained the so-called No­ Cloning Theorem. In this edition, I have added a stronger version of the aforementioned theorem due to R. Jozsa, a variant which also covers the no-deleting principle. Moreover, in this edition, I have added some famous protocols, such as quantum teleportation. The response to the first edition strongly supports the idea that the main function of this book should be educational, and I have not included furt her aspects of quantum information theory here. For further reading, I suggest [43] by Josef Gruska and [62] by Michael A. Nielsen and Isaac L. Chuang. Chapter 1, especially Section 1.4, includes the most basic knowledge for the presentation of quantum systems relevant to quantum computation. The basic properties of quantum information are introduced in Chapter 2. This chapter also includes interesting protocols: quantum teleportation and superdense coding. Introduction -- Quantum Information -- Devices For Computation -- Fast Factorization -- Finding The Hidden Subgroup -- Grover's Search Algorithm -- Complexity Lower Bounds For Quantum Circuits -- Appendix A: Quantum Physics -- Appendix B: Methematical Background. Mika Hirvensalo. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [205]-209) And Index. In connection to computational complexity, it could be stated that the theory of quantum computation was launched in the beginning of the 1980s.