Quantum Algorithms

Project Description

Quantum Algorithms is a hot research area, and quantum algorithms like Shor’s factorization algorithm have threatened the current state-of-the-art cryptosystems like the RSA. Shor’s algorithm has brought an exponential speedup to the integer factorization problem compared to its classical counterpart. It has forced the cryptography community to build cryptosystems resilient to attacks from quantum computers. The main aim of the project was to understand the quantum computational model and finally understand Shor’s factorization algorithm.

Mentors

• Rishabh Kothary

Learning Roadmap

We covered chapters 1,2,5 of the book mentioned in the Resources Section. We covered chapter 1 in the first two weeks, which gave a brief overview of the field of quantum computing. Then we covered the Linear Algebra section in chapter 2 for the next two weeks for a strong foundation. After that, we covered the quantum mechanics section of chapter 2 for the next two weeks. Then we started chapter 5, where we first covered the quantum Fourier transform algorithm and the order finding algorithm and finished understanding Shor’s algorithm. The mentees spent a lot of time solving the exercises in the book for a firm understanding.

Resources

Nielsen, M. A., & Chuang, I. (2002). Quantum computation and quantum information.