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Scheduled for Friday, November 6, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

Efficiently Verifiable Quantum Advantage Using Error Correction

Presenter: Soumik GhoshSoumik Ghosh is a postdoctoral researcher at MIT and a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, hosted by Umesh Vazirani. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Chicago, where he was advised by Bill Fefferman. His research aims to use complexity theory to solve interesting problems in quantum computation and quantum physics. (MIT / UC Berkeley)

A key issue with existing quantum advantage experiments is that their verification requires exponential classical time. In this work, we address this challenge by designing a new proposal—Hidden Code Sampling—with efficient classical verification. We use properties of quantum error correction to build an experiment that is "conditionally peaked": conditioned on a subset of qubits, the distribution on another subset is peaked. We give evidence for the classical intractability of this protocol by showing complexity-theoretic hardness of classical simulation, putting our scheme on par with other quantum advantage schemes. A major hurdle in instantiating the scheme concerns distinguishing between two noise channels, one involving local coherent noise and the other involving local Pauli noise. We identify algebraic properties of the underlying codes that enable an efficient distinguisher and construct an explicit code family satisfying these properties while preserving the hardness guarantees. We provide further evidence for soundness of our verification tests by proving an exponential query lower bound for classical algorithms that pass our verification tests in a black-box model.

Resources will be posted here after the meeting.

Scheduled for Friday, October 30, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

From Algorithm to Hardware: High-Level Quantum Programming and the Path to Fault Tolerance

Presenter: Amit BhattacharyyaAmit is a Quantum Solutions Architect at Classiq with 25+ years of industry experience across financial services, machine learning, and AI. He works to articulate the value of quantum computing and how Classiq is transforming the development of quantum algorithms. After finishing a PhD in astrophysics, he spent 12 years at banks and hedge funds as both a quant and a trader. For the past 15+ years, Amit has worked in data science, machine learning, and AI. He is also an award-winning lecturer in UC Berkeley's top-ranked data science graduate program, where he has taught machine learning and natural language processing for ten years. Amit lives outside New York City and in his free time, he enjoys photography, classical music, and skiing uphill. (Classiq)

Writing quantum algorithms at the gate level does not scale. This talk introduces a higher level of abstraction for quantum software development and examines what it means for the gap between algorithm design and hardware execution. We start with Classiq's functional programming model: describe what a circuit should compute, and let a synthesis engine find an optimized, hardware-targeted implementation. Central to the talk is a sharp distinction between synthesis (true compilation, a genuine change in abstraction level) and transpilation (circuit-to-circuit rewriting), and why that distinction matters for building and optimizing large circuits. The second half includes multi-backend benchmarking across simulators and real hardware, a look at Classiq's fault-tolerant engine (which estimates physical qubit count, code distance, and runtime on a surface-code architecture from a logical circuit). Finally, we will save time for a hand-on demonstration of the new AI coding platform that showcases the ability to easily get started in programming quantum computers in a fully agentic way.

Scheduled for Friday, October 23, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

Quantum Optimization with QAOA: Breaking Limitations but not Constraints

Presenter: Brayden Goldstein-GelbBrayden Goldstein-Gelb is a computer science PhD student at Boston University, advised by Alexander Poremba. (Boston University)

The Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) is a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for solving combinatorial optimization problems that has gained attention in recent years. However, most real-world optimization problems are subject to a set of constraints, which QAOA doesn't enforce by default. This talk covers the basics of QAOA, its generalization QAOA⁺, and how mixing operators can be used to restrict the algorithm's evolution to a feasible subspace.

Scheduled for Friday, October 16, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

Simulating Many-Body Quantum Systems

Presenter: Srishti NautiyalSrishti Nautiyal is a physics PhD student at Boston University. (Boston University)

Simulating many body quantum systems is a computationally hard problem, especially for larger system sizes. In his 1981 keynote speech, Richard Feynman addressed this problem with the following proposal—to use a controllable quantum system to study a less controllable one, i.e, quantum simulation. The field has demonstrated applications in various areas, eg, condensed matter physics, quantum computing, quantum chemistry, etc. This talk is an introductory review of the basics of Hamiltonian simulation: both time independent and dependent, emphasizing the significance and challenges faced by different methods relevant in the field. I will also discuss the insightful result of Poulin et al. which remarks upon the non physicality of the illusive Hilbert Space.

Scheduled for Friday, October 9, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

Harnessing Randomness on a Quantum Computer

Presenter: Maximus MorrisMaximus Morris is a graduate student studying computer science (data-centric computing) with a bachelors in Mathematics and Computer Science. (Boston University)

The goal of this presentation is to delve into the differences between quantum probability, and classical probability. The focus of this presentation will be on how to represent stateless memory such as Markov chains within quantum computing emulations. Start with an introduction of concepts that will be important such as Markov chains, and density matrices, describe similarities and differences. Delve into important quantum findings such as Bells inequality, and detailing how classical results cannot constrain quantum results. Density matrices, and how despite the trace being able to be mapped to probabilities what the difference behind this is versus say a Markov chain matrix. How randomness of classical bits helps play a role in finding faster solutions, and how quantum advantage can utilize randomness, but also much more to get stronger results.

Scheduled for Friday, October 2, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

Runtime Lower Bounds for Quantum State Transfer with Imperfect Initialization

Presenter: Twesh UpadhyayaTwesh is a physics doctoral student advised by Nicole Yunger Halpern. He was a QuICS Lanczos Graduate Fellow from 2021 to 2023. (University of Maryland)

Quantum state transfer, the primitive of transporting an unknown state from one site of a lattice to another, is a crucial step in many quantum information processing tasks. Recent protocols use the intermediate lattice sites as ancillas to achieve fast state transfer. Understanding state transfer's fundamental limits in the presence of practical imperfections and developing protocols to overcome these imperfections remain pressing open questions. We initiate the study of state transfer's robustness to errors in the initial ancilla state. In the Heisenberg picture, state transfer grows operators supported on the final site such that they no longer commute with all operators on the starting site. We prove that increased robustness necessitates larger Schatten p-norms of the commutators between initial- and final-site operators. This generalizes the previously known cases of infinite p and p=2, which govern complete ancilla-state-dependence and independence; intermediate values of p govern partially ancilla-state-dependent transport. We exhibit saturating protocols establishing the tightness of our bounds. In 1D power-law systems, our commutator bounds combined with existing light cones give exponentially stronger runtime bounds in certain regimes. For thermal ancilla states, we observe a phase transition in state transfer runtimes with temperature. We also introduce new robust state transfer protocols, charting the landscape between complete state-dependence and state-independence.

Scheduled for Friday, September 25, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

From Quantum Curiosity to Quantum Utility: Roadmap to Real-World Impact

Presenter: Chris WildgooseChris Wildgoose is an IBM Quantum Ambassador and technologist with more than 20 years of experience in artificial intelligence, data, and emerging technologies. His career has included leadership roles at IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Deloitte, as well as founding and growing AI and analytics startups. At IBM, Chris works with organizations applying data and AI while collaborating with IBM Research and the broader quantum ecosystem to advance understanding of quantum computing and quantum-centric supercomputing. He is a member of IBM's Financial Services Quantum Guild, engaging with researchers, technologists, and industry practitioners on emerging quantum applications. Chris holds a bachelor's degree in Physics from St. Olaf College and a master's degree in Physics from Boston University. His work focuses on bridging scientific innovation and practical application across AI and quantum computing. (IBM)

How does a technology evolve from scientific curiosity to practical utility? This session explores IBM's vision for quantum computing, recent advances in quantum hardware and error correction, and the path toward large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum systems. Attendees will gain a practical understanding of the current state of the technology, the challenges that remain, and how quantum computing may transform scientific discovery and industry in the years ahead.

Scheduled for Friday, September 18, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

VQE for Quantum Chemistry

Presenter: Artem ArefevArtem Arefev is a sophomore undergraduate studying mathematics and physics at Boston University. (Boston University)

Learn about the implementation of the Variational Quantum Eigensolver for processing many-electron molecules. The talk will cover the Hartree-Fock method, second quantization, and the Jordan-Wigner mapping; we will get into the weeds! Some linear algebra and quantum experience is recommended.

Scheduled for Friday, September 11, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

Quantum Computing Basics Workshop

Presenter: Yebin SongYebin Song is a junior undergraduate studying data science at Boston University. (Boston University)

Learn about single qubit gates, two qubit gates, their mathematical representations, and how they can be applied.

Scheduled for Friday, September 4, 2026 · 3-5pm · CDS 701

The Variational Quantum Eigensolver

Presenter: Adam GodelAdam Godel is a senior undergraduate studying mathematics and computer science at Boston University. The primary goal of his research is to make computers run interesting and complex workloads under heavily constrained computational environments. He currently works on systems for quantum computation as well as secure computation. (Boston University)

Learn about an important quantum algorithm for optimization, which is largely functional even on the very small-scale, noisy quantum computers that exist today. No prior experience in quantum computing is required!