Big Techday 24: The Potential and Limitations of Quantum Computing - Prof. Dr. Jens Eisert

Manic Depressive Phases: The Potential and Limitations of Quantum Computing

Quantum computing promises advantages for a number of structured computational problems. While the idea of quantum computing is not new, only within the last a bit more than five years protagonists have set out to actually build such devices to a reasonable scale. The quantum computers we have today are still somewhat noisy and not huge - but then, such devices seemed inconceivable not very long ago, creating an exciting state of affairs. This also comes along with lots of expectations and some hype. This talk will go on a journey deciphering what we can reasonably expect from such machines in the near future. It will present some exciting perspectives concerning achieving industrially relevant applications in machine learning and optimization. It will also debunk some of the most unreasonable of expectations and provide a reality check. Overall, this will give rise to a manic depressive ride through the landscape of one of the most exciting and promising future technologies.

About the speaker:
Jens Eisert is one of the most visible researchers worldwide on the theory of quantum computing. He is known for rigorous work, but is guided in his work by pragmatic questions and practical applications. For his work, he has received two ERC Grants, a EURYI Award (the predecessor of the ERC Starting Grant), and the Google NISQ Award.