Quantum Numerical Linear Algebra

The position is based in the Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics (NUMA) section in the department of Computer Science at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven).
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Project

Quantum computing holds the promise of speeding up computations in a wide variety of fields. However, this novel way of computing requires to completely rethink our algorithmic design of numerical methods. Current Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) computers are characterized by low qubit counts, suffer from short qubit decoherence times, and have high gate error rates. On the other hand, it is expected that early fault-tolerant quantum computers are on the horizon.

This research project aims at developing hybrid quantum-classical algorithms to bridge the gap between the era of large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers and the NISQ devices with their inherent limitations. These hybrid algorithms combine both classical and quantum resources by already leveraging the operational capacity of NISQ hardware, while simultaneously mitigating their constraints through classical computational techniques.

The PhD candidate will

• develop and optimize numerical linear algebra techniques for accelerating quantum computing on NISQ hardware.
• develop software tools that can be integrated with quantum hardware and quantum simulators.
• publish results in peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

Profile

The successful candidate has

• a Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics, or a relevant field.
• a strong background in numerical linear algebra and multi-linear (tensor) algebra.
• knowledge of quantum computing and quantum information.
• programming experience with MATLAB/Python/Qiskit.
• excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Offer

KU Leuven offers a young and dynamic working environment with access to state-of-the-art infrastructure, a competitive salary and outstanding health care benefits. We offer a PhD position for 4 years which should be sufficient to complete a PhD on the topic. You start with a full-time position for 1 year, which can be extended to 4 years upon positive evaluation. Other working conditions can be found at https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/en/phd/phd-information. 
https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/en/phd/phd-information

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. ir. Stefan Vandewalle, tel.: +32 16 32 76 54, mail: [email protected].

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