Steven White Abstract

Steven White University of California, Irvine

"What Good Is A Non-Existent Quantum Computer"

ABSTRACT:

Since quantum computers have not yet been built, research into quantum computation seems like one of the least practical areas of theoretical physics. Surprisingly, the techniques developed in quantum information have turned out to be extremely useful in telling us how to simulate quantum systems on a CLASSICAL computer. A close connection has emerged between the density matrix renormalization group, an improved version of Wilson's numerical approach for the Kondo problem, and quantum information. The connection has translated into a variety of marvelous new simulation alogrithms and new types of variational states. I will discuss the connections between these two fields and give examples of some of the new algorithms, including simulating time evolution and treating two dimensional systems with frustration and /or fermions.