Unlocking Quantum Complexity: Insights by Jaco van Zyl 🔍

A Brief Introduction to Quantum Complexity


Speaker: Jaco van Zyl, UCT


Abstract:

The notion of quantum complexity aims to quantify the difficulty of preparing a desired quantum state with some set of operations at one's disposal. As a quantity it is thus rather ambiguous since it depends on the choice of the set of allowed operations as well as the cost function associated with each sequence of operations selected. In this introductory talk I will focus on two commonly encountered definitions (Nielsen complexity and Krylov / spread complexity) and unpack some of its applications in the context of quantum systems.

Short Bio:

Jaco van Zyl obtained his PhD from Stellenbosch University in 2015 after which he joined the University of Witwatersrand as a postdoctoral fellow. Since 2022 he has been a postdoc of the Laboratory for Quantum Gravity and Strings at the UCT department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics. His research interests include holography, conformal field theories, quantum chaos and quantum complexity. His current research at QGaSLab is supported by the Quantum Technologies for Sustainable development grant from the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences of South Africa.