This is the first semester of a two-semester sequence. The second semester will focus on quantum computation, covering models of quantum computation, quantum algorithms, quantum error correction, and physical implementations of quantum computation.

The course syllabus details the topics to be covered and provides a complete schedule for the course. It is also your gateway to the web-based material: lecture notes, special handouts, homework assignments, and solution sets, which are available as pdf (sometimes ps) files linked to the syllabus.

The course assumes that you have a good background in linear algebra and some familiarity with the Hilbert-space formulation of quantum mechanics, including the description of quantum states as vectors in Hilbert space, observables as Hermitian operators, and time evolutions as unitary operators. The course is structured so that you could come up to speed on these things as the course progresses, but that would involve a bit of scrambling to keep up. It will certainly be to your advantage if you have some familiarity with Dirac's bra-ket notation for manipulating the linear-algebraic mathematical objects of quantum mechanics, and you are familiar with the Pauli-matrix algebra for two-state quantum systems (qubits) and with the associated Bloch-sphere description of qubit quantum states.

The course will be taught on two tracks: a graded track, with grades based on performance on the homework assignments and on the project, and an ungraded (credit/no-credit) track. There will not be any exams. All students are welcome and encouraged to register for a grade. Students intending to do PhD dissertation work on quantum information are required to be on the graded track. Students who prefer the ungraded track should register for the CR/NC grading option. (You can change your grading option without approvals or penalties through September 16. After that, some sort of approval is required, and there is a $10 penalty.) To receive a grade of CR, students can attempt any amount of the homework, but must achieve an overall score of at least 40% on the homework.