Making near-term quantum computers useful

15h15   Inaugural lecture Prof. Zoë Holmes
16h05   Inaugural lecture Prof. Giuseppe Carleo

Quantum computers are expected to substantially outperform classical computers for probing and simulating large entangled quantum systems. Such quantum algorithms have the potential to transform fields from materials science to quantum chemistry. However, while quantum hardware is rapidly developing, we remain solidly in the so called Noisy Intermediary Scale Quantum (NISQ) era in which the available devices are relatively small and prone to noise. This substantially limits what we can do with quantum hardware any time soon. Here we will discuss strategies to tease useful computations out of the small noisy quantum computers that are currently available. 

Biography
Zoë Holmes obtained her master's degree in Physics and Philosophy at the University of Oxford in 2015. During her PhD at Imperial College London she worked on quantum thermodynamics, receiving her degree in February 2020. After completing a temporary research position at Exeter university, she joined Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) as a post-doctoral researcher working on near-term quantum algorithms. In May 2021 she was awarded the Mark Kac post-doctoral fellowship to continue her work at LANL. Since August 2022, she has been a tenure track Assistant Professor of Physics in the School of Basic Sciences at the EPFL, where she founded the Laboratory of Quantum Information and Computation. Her current research focuses on the foundations of quantum machine learning and developing new approaches to quantum simulation.