Preface

These are notes to accompany the course on quantum computing taught at Southern Illinois University. Until otherwise noted these notes are a work in progress. Therefore, if there are any suggestions, questions, comments, errors, etc. please let me know so that appropriate modifications can be made. (I would appreciate such contact. mbyrd at physics dot siu dot edu)

There are several good books on quantum computing. This is not an attempt to completely displace or replace them. The concentration on error prevention and noise is likely different than what has been done before and the desire is to have the notes self-contained so that few, if any, other resources are absolutely required. However, it is strongly recommended that other resources are consulted along with these notes since they are unlikely to be a complete resource any time soon. Furthermore, these notes are not likely to be a better resource for many topics which are better and more thoroughly treated elsewhere.

The main objective is to provide explanations which will be introductory enough to enable an undergraduate science major with some background in linear algebra to follow the course. This includes physics, mathematics, computer science, and engineering majors. The level of the discussion is also what is found in N. David Mermin’s book. His book is an excellent introduction in and of itself and I did not know about it until after I had decided to undertake this project.

N. David Mermin’s book, David J. Giffiths’s book, and (of course) Michael Nielsen and Isaac Chuang’s book have all greatly influenced these notes as well as did John Preskill's course notes. They have influenced many parts even if they are not explicitly cited. In the case of Griffiths’s book, I taught an undergraduate quantum mechanics course the semester before I taught this course. Therefore many of the examples, pedagogy, and exposition were influenced by his book, which I very much appreciate. The recommended text for the course was N. David Mermin's book. I should also state that I was influenced to post my notes on the web due to the fact that John Preskill posted an excellent set of notes for the course he taught at Caltech.

To emphasize the objective ... these notes are very introductory and are designed for undergraduate and/or beginning graduate students who are looking for a basic introduction to quantum computation and quantum error prevention methods. They also comprise a living document which can be edited by people other than me. So please feel free to submit comments, suggestions, etc. or ask for an account.