The School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh invites applications for two research assistant position for two years funded by EPSRC to work on the Benchmarking Quantum Advantage at the recently created Quantum Software Lab, the largest quantum computer science group in the UK.

We are looking for an excellent and motivated candidate with background in quantum computation, theoretical computer science or applied mathematics. The project is lead by Dr. Raul Garcia-Patron in collaboration with Dr. Hen Guo, Reader in Algorithms and Complexity, and Dr. Thomas Morstyn, lecturer in Power Electronics and Smart Grids, both at the University of Edinburgh. The objective of this project is to develop techniques to rigorously benchmark the quality of the solution of quantum computers to problems of interest, ranging from optimization to quantum simulation. By the end of the project, we aim to have built a unified framework that would allow for the design of problem-tailored benchmarking tests that are easy to implement, scalable, and require little quantum computing expertise for their use, making them ideal for its adoption among end-user with little quantum-awareness. It builds on previous work “Limitations of optimization algorithms on noisy quantum devices” published in Nature Physics in 2021.

Recruitment will aim at selecting those candidates with the best possible performance in all these criteria:

• Experience with the theoretical analysis of near-term quantum algorithms.
• Experience with quantum information theory.
• Experience with randomized algorithm, particularly Markov chains and the analysis of their mixing times, sampling from Gibbs distributions and computation of partition functions.
• Experience with the mathematical aspects of optimization problems, with specially focus on optimization problems with constraints.
• Experience with quantum algorithm to simulate quantum systems.

All informal enquiries should be directed to: Dr Raul Garcia-Patron [email protected]