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This first talk of the series introduces the basic concepts of quantum computing. We start by looking at the difference in describing a classical and a quantum mechanical system. The talk discusses the Turing machine in quantum mechanical terms and introduces the notion of a qubit. We study the gate model of quantum computing and look at the famous quantum algorithms of Deutsch, Grover and Shor. Finally we talk about decoherence and how it destroys superposition states which is the main obstacle to building large scale quantum computers. We clarify widely held misconceptions about decoherence and explain that environmental interaction tends to choose a basis in state space in which the system decoheres while leaving coherences in other coordinate systems intact.

Speaker: Hartmut Neven