AMUSE

Date: February 15, 2023

Time: 6:00PM - 7:00PM

Location: BLOC 306

Speaker: Kyle Thicke, Texas A&M University

Title: Why simulating quantum physics on a computer is hard (and why quantum computers are awesome)

Abstract: Despite how it sounds, simulating a single quantum particle on a computer is actually quite easy. However, simulating several quantum particles turns out to be an incredibly hard problem. But why? After introducing some quantum mechanics (no prior knowledge required), I will simulate a hydrogen atom with a few lines of code. We will then look into why it is so much more difficult to simulate, e.g., 10 particles. Rather than being 10 times as hard, it turns out to be more like 10,000,000,000 times as hard! As an added bonus, we will show that the reason simulating quantum particles is hard is precisely the reason why quantum computers will be powerful. We will see how a quantum algorithm can easily solve a difficult problem by essentially trying all possibilities at once.