Applied Quantum Algorithms Leiden

Applied Quantum Algorithms course web-page


Aurora, Trømso




Teaching: Applied Quantum Algorithms


On this web-page you will be able to see all the organizational announcements regarding the course Applied Quantum Algorithms. This course is intended for students from Computer Science, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematical sciences who have had exposure to quantum computing and quantum information and have interests in applying quantum computing algorithms to various fields.

This course is taught by Vedran Dunjko (LIACS/LION) and Thomas O'Brien (LION), and is one of the joint activities of aQa - Applied Quantum Algorithms Leiden interdepartmental initiative. More information can be found here.
The TAs for the course will be listed shortly.

Student confidential data should be accessed via blackboard, accessible from the course web-site.

For any questions regarding the course, email me (v.dunjko [at] liacs.leidenuniv.nl) or Tom O'Brien (obrien [at] lorentz.leidenuniv.nl). Please use a subject line starting with "aQa:", otherwise we cannot guarantee a prompt answer.

For consultations, please email first.

Grading: two take-home assignments (50%) and two mini projects (50%). The first take-home assignment is already available , see Updates and uploads below.

Lecture notes/slides will be provided immediately after the lectures on this page.

Study materials: see introductory lecture slides.

Where & when (Lectures): The lectures will take place Fridays 11:15-13:00 in three lecture rooms: Sitterzaal (Huygens/Oort) on: 7-Feb, 14-Feb, 28-Feb, 6-Mar, 20-Mar, and all lectures after and including 3-Apr. We will be in C4-5, Gorlaeus on: 21-Feb, 27-Mar. Finally we are in C3 Gorlaeus on 13-Mar.

Where & when (Tutorials): All tutorials are scheduled to take place in SNELLIUS/403 at 16:15-18:00.

The recordings of the lectures can be found here.

Updates and uploads

18-05-2020: UPDATE: for students who opt to do the more demanding miniproject involving GANs, here is some additional literature and materials:
Pennylane tutorials on the topic: https://pennylane.ai/qml/demos/tutorial_QGAN.html
Two relevant papers: https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.09139 and https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.08641.

14-05-2020: We were informed that the slides for the VQE lecture hadn't been uploaded, sorry about that. You can find Casper's slides here (VQE - Slides) .
The recoridngs of the last QML lecture are available here:
[Part 1]
[Part 2]
[Part 3]

14-05-2020: The cleaned up slides for the last lecure can be found here: here (QML-2 Lecture) . The solutions to last Friday's tutorials can be found here (QML-2 Tutorial solutions).

11-05-2020: Update (typo fixed): in the QML miniproject specification, problem 3, the dual and primal problem were accidentally exchanged (indeed, primal corresponds to the explicit model, and dual to the implicit). This is now corrected eveywhere. For your convenience, the miniproject can be found here (QML miniproject) .

08-05-2020: For today's lecture and tutorials, you can use the same links as previously.

08-05-2020: UPDATE: The updated second miniproject can be found here (QML miniproject). (this is the updated version from 11th May.). Only cosmetic changes and additional explanations given relative to the initial draft, all questions and problems remained the same. The tentative deadline is May 22nd. Please let us know if you realize need more time, and if anything is unclear do ask by emailing Casper and Vedran.

06-05-2020: The tutorials for the upcoming Friday can be found here (QML-2 Tutorials). The sneak preview of next lecure is found here (QML-2 Lecture) (updated on 14th May).

04-05-2020: UPDATE: a corrected derivation for the count in UCCSD (from the lectures on strongly correlated systems) is found here (UCCSD derivation).

04-05-2020: The presented slides on variational quantum Support Vector Machines can be found here (QML-1 Lecture). The complete lecture can be found here:
[entire lecture]
The solutions to the tutorial are here (QML-1 tutorial solutions).

01-05-2020: UPDATE: The draft for the second miniproject can be found here (QML miniproject) . (TIMETRAVEL! this file was updated on May 8th). The tentative deadline will be May 22nd (it will not be earlier).

01-05-2020: For your convenience we repeat the links for today's lectures and tutorials:

****** Lecture: https://meet.google.com/mwz-uabq-bzi . Note: lectures will also be recorded.
****** Tutorial: https://meet.google.com/wwz-mwin-who . Tutorials will not be recorded.

28-04-2020: For tomorrow's lecture and tutorials the same links from last time should work. The tutorials for tomorrow can be found here: here (QML tutorials 1) . The final version will be fixed next week, which is the deadline for the first miniprojects. The questions of Part 1 will not be changed. Question 5 of part 1 is extra credit.

28-04-2020: Sneak preview: the draft of the slides for the next lecture on quantum machine learning can be found here: here (QML lecture 1) .

28-04-2020: Additional notes on the JW transform from the last lecture can be found here (JW transform) .

27-04-2020: UPDATE: The current version of the first, strongly correlated systems miniproject can be found here (miniproject 1) . You have received emails via blackboard explaining the very minor tweak. Old versions have been replaced with the new one also in the older links.

27-04-2020: The solutions to take-home assignments 2 can be found here (THA2-solutions) . At this point we can no longer accept further delayed THA2 submissions.

24-04-2020: The solutions to last week's tutorials can be found here (Tutorials: fermions to qubits) .

24-04-2020: Today's lecture recording can be found here:
[entire lecture]
and the lecture notes can be downloaded here (lecture: strongly correlated systems, last lecture) .

23-04-2020: UPDATE: the link to the lectures from last week seems to have been off (an extra symbol in the hyperlink), corrected here: [entire lecture]
It has been corrected below as well.

17-04-2020: UPDATE: due to the special circumstances we are under, we have decided to postpone the deadline for the first miniproject by a week to May 8th.

17-04-2020: The recordings of today's online lecture are now available via this link:
[entire lecture]

17-04-2020: The evaluation of THA1 is now on blackboard. We give the total point number with a maximum of 16 points. This will be combined with the score for THA2 for the 50% of the grade. The other 50% will come from the miniprojects as discussed. If you are not on blackboard, or you have questions or concerns about your points , please contact me from your university email (privacy regulations).

17-04-2020: Notes from today's lectures can be found here (fermions to qubits) .

17-04-2020: The updated and cleaned-up solution for tutorial 5 can be found here (updated tutorial solution 5) . Thanks to Xavi for revising this set of solutions!

16-04-2020: The python notebook(s) for tomorrow's tutorials can be found here (fermions to qubits) .

16-04-2020: For tomorrow's lectures and tutorials the same links from last time should work.

16-04-2020: Office hours and support.The AQA course will give you glimpses into cutting edge research in quantum algorithms for quantum chemistry, and in quantum algorithms for machine learning. It is obvious that any such endevour must be highly multi-disciplinary. Consequently, it is impossible for us to give you full background on every topic we discuss, or to give you one simple textbook/notes which will contain everything you need in full detail. We are aware some topics will be vague/challenging for students of differing backgrounds, however it is our hope that, in the end you will understand how all these complex issues resolve in a common language of quantum computation. How did we envision to enable you to get to this point, without going through massive amounts of literature? The main idea is to use us -- the lecturers and TAs to help. If some concepts are troubling you, if you are lost in literature or have any related issues -- contact us straight away. Some of you are accustomed to try to figure stuff yourselves. This is admirable, and ofc. possible, but since the key advantage of this course is the excellent student - to - lecturer ratio, and we can really talk to you individually. Use this. Some of you suggested that a glossary of basic concepts, rather, a list of links where one can read about the basic topics would help. We started working on this, and you can download the draft here (main concepts/links) . You can help us by letting us know which concepts you are struggling with and we will add it. To further help, we will institute official office hours when you can talk to us in person. Tom will disccuss the best times for the office hours with you tomorrow.

14-04-2020: The solutions for tutorials 3-6 can be found in this archive (tutorial solutions) . In the case you have any problems with the solutions, find bugs or similar, please contact directly Xavi Bonet (bonet at lorentz.leidenuniv.nl) who was kind to provide all of them.

08-04-2020: The recordings of last Friday's online lecture (strongly correlated systems II) are now available via this link:

[entire lecture]

03-04-2020: The python notebook for today's tutorials can be found here (TOMography notebook) .


03-04-2020: The links for today's lectures and tutorials are the same as last week, repeated here:

****** Lecture: https://meet.google.com/mwz-uabq-bzi . Note: lectures will also be recorded.
****** Tutorial: https://meet.google.com/wwz-mwin-who . Tutorials will not be recorded.

02-04-2020: UPDATE (THA2): As some of you have noticed, the question Q.8 - (b) involves estimation of error, which may have lead you to distinct answers (depending on the literature), and overall is turning out more ambitious than we were intending.
To try to solve this problem in a fair manner, we have decided to treat this (b) part as a bonus question, and mark the assignment out of 15 instead of 16. We will accept any reasonable interpretation of the question to get this bonus mark for those of you who want to (or already have) attempted it.
Terribly sorry for the hassle, and thanks for bringing the issue to our attention. Tom & Vedran

02-04-2020: Comment on the signs in Hamiltonian simulation. The time evolution under Hamiltonian H (for time t) is given by the unitary exp[-i H t] (note the minus sign). Sometimes in Hamiltonian simulation literature, this sign is ignored and methods for generating exp[i H t] are devised; this is not an issue since the correct evolution is easily obtained by setting t to (-t) (in practice, you simply flip the sign of the angles appearing in your rotation gates - note exp[i H t] is just the inverse, the conjugate-transpose of exp[-i H t]). In the lectures I used both conventions (in the slides I now introduced the minus everywhere - makes it more messy, but reduces the chance for confusion). In the THA2 this will not matter since you are always given already time-integrated Hamiltonian exp[i H t], so with the sign fixed; Nonetheless if any mistakes occur due to this sign inconsistency, you will get full credit.

30-03-2020: The recordings of last Friday's online lecture (QPE loose ends, and intro to highly correlated systems) are now available via these links:

** [First half of lecture]
** [second half of lecture]

The lecture recordins will at some later point be combined, but since we had to switch systems, we will have to make due with this improvised solution. Please let us know if you are having problems viewing the above links.

27-03-2020: The python notebook for today's tutorials can be found here (openfermion notebook) .

24-03-2020: !!UPDATE!! We will restart the AQA lectures and tutorials this Friday, March 27, at the regular times (Lectures: 11:15; Tutorials: 16:15 ) . The link to use for the livestreams are:
****** Lecture: https://meet.google.com/mwz-uabq-bzi . Note: lectures will also be recorded.
****** Tutorial: https://meet.google.com/wwz-mwin-who . Tutorials will not be recorded.
These are a trial run, we hope you can bear with us over the coming weeks as we try to make the most of this new situation. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

19-03-2020: An updated version of THA2, with the updated deadline, and additional information for questions 4-6 (and one typo fixed) can be found here (Take-home assignment 2). If you have already solved those questions, there is no need to change anything. These additional clarifications are explained here (clarifications THA2).

16-03-2020: As you are all by now aware, due to the extensive anti-corona measures, teaching is interrupted, and will restart in a week in an online-only form. We will at that point continue where we stopped. Keep on eye on this page for exact modes of instruction and other details. We may be curtailing some of the later lectures, which would not have been a part of evaluation anyway. Due to these delays, the deadline for THA2 is also shifted by 2 weeks.

**NEW DEADLINE FOR THA2: 3rd April 2020. Depending on the developments, this deadline may be shifted further.**

We are perfectly aware of the exceptional situation we all find ourselves in. Rest assured, we will do our best to keep the quality and level of information you will get in this course, even if it is given online only. Further, we will also make sure that you -- the students -- do not end up paying the price for all these complications in any way. We will be very flexible and understanding with respect to the deadlines, the work presented, and we will give you all the opportunities to get the marks you would have gotten if the situation had been normal. In particular, if you need extensions, or have any questions do let us know, at any time; we are here to help.

13-03-2020: The hand-written solutions (thank you Mathys and Casper) to the take-home assignments can be found here (THA1-solutions) . From this point on, no credit can be obtained for the submission of THA1.

13-03-2020: IMPORTANT: today's online lectures have been cancelled, there will be no streaming. We will provide more information as it becomes availabe.

13-03-2020: The draft of the first mini-project on quantum algorithms for strongly correlated systems can be found here (mini-project 1-draft) . The final version will be made available in the next 2 weeks. Update from 27 Apr. This is the final version.

12-03-2020: This week's tutorials can be found here (Tutorial 5 - OpenFermion) . The lecture notes for the topic of strongly correlated systems (next 4 lectures) here (Lectures 6-9) . These notes may be updated as the lectures progress.

06-03-2020: The final version of the second set of take-home assignments (THA-2) can be downloaded here (Take-home assignment 2). Only further explanations were provided relative to the draft we made available earlier. The deadline for submission of the exercises is March 20th before the lectures that week. You can submit the solutions in hardcopy (hand in to lecturer on day of lecture), scan, or latex-ed (email to Vedran). This is individual work, so no copying, or group work on the particular questions. Please email if anything is unclear!

06-03-2020: We have sent an email confirmation via blackboard to those students who are enrolled in the aQa course in Blackboard confirming the receipt of the THA-1. If you are enrolled, and have submitted the take home assignments, yet did not receive a confirmation, please contact Vedran via email.

05-03-2020: This week we will have a blackboard lecture, rough topics and contents can be found in these notes (Lecture 5) .

05-03-2020: This week's tutorials can be found here (Tutorial 4) . Last week's lecture can be found here (Lecture 4-HamSim)

28-02-2020: The last week's tutorials with solutions can be found here (Tutorial 2). Today's tutorials can be found here (Tutorial 3) .

28-02-2020: To avoid confusion, those who will submit their take home assignments digitally, please just send them to Vedran Dunjko via email.

27-02-2020: The lecture notes for the previous lecture on the paradigm of variational quantum algorithms can be found here (Lecture 3-VQE) .

26-02-2020: The lecture notes for the previous lecture will be uploaded shortly. The preview/draft of lecture 4 has been replaced with a final version (see above).


14-02-2020: The second lecture can be found here here (Lecture 2-Qalgos).

12-02-2020: So that you have a better information about what the requirements of the course will be, we are providing you already now with the draft of the second set of take-home assignments, which you can download here (draft Take-home assignment 2). The final version with the point distribution, and possibly additional explanations will be added in the next two weeks. The deadline for submission of the second set of take home assignments will be March 20th before the lectures that week.

12-02-2020: The second lecture will touch on the topics covered in Nielsen and Chuang, sections: 3.2, 5.1, 1.4.4 5.4.1, 5.3.2. Beyond this, we will discuss Simon's problem (see Chapter 3 of notes of Ronald de Wolf), and briefly mention sampling problems. The latter is an advanced topic and interested students can check out this review to learn more about the topic.

12-02-2020: The first lecture was meant to briefly remind you of the topics covered in Nielsen & Chuang sections: 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1 - 4.6.

07-02-2020: The list of basic mathematic concepts you should be familiar with (math checklist) can be found here (math checklist).

07-02-2020: The slides for the first lecture can be found here (Lecture 1-basics) and here (Lecture 1-basics).

07-02-2020: The first set of take-home assignments can be downloaded here (Take-home assignment 1). The deadline for submission of the exercises is February 28th before the lectures that week. You can submit the solutions in hardcopy, scan, or latex-ed. This is individual work, so no copying, or group work on the particular questions. Please email if anything is unclear!