This being the first time I have taught this material for an entire semester, parts of the syllabus will initially be somewhat vague, representing my intentions and goals for the course. These parts will become better defined as we proceed and see what can reasonably be accomplished. You should consult the syllabus often because it will change as the course evolves.

Students adopting the graded track will be graded on their performance on the homework assignments and on the project. 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. There will not be any exams.

Each homework assignment will consist of one to four problems. The homework assignments scheduled in the initial syllabus reflect the maximum amount of homework I might assign. I might not get around to making up all the scheduled assignments, although I'm guessing that with the help of the graders, there will be something significant for all the homework assignments.

The project will consist of a review of some topic taken from the literature, which the student will write up in the style of a paper to be published in the Physical Review. Beginning about the second week of November, the course will gradually segue from a format of lectures and homework assignments to work on the projects, with the last week devoted wholly to the projects. The projects will be refereed by me and the graders, and after revision, will be posted on the course web site.

Comments on the textbooks: (i) there is an on-line list of errors that have been found in Nielsen and Chuang; (ii) the material on quantum dynamics and quantum operations (lectures 8-12) is much better in Nielsen and Chuang's Chapter 8 than in Preskill's Chapter 3, but Preskill has a better exposition of Markovian open-system evolution (master equations or Lindblad equations).

Homework	Class session	Lectures	Nielsen and Chuang Errata	Preskill
HW #1 (Out 8-23) Solutions	T, 8-23	Introduction to course L1: Probabilities and laws of large numbers Probabilities as betting odds and the Dutch book (ps)
	Th, 8-25	No lecture
	T, 8-30	L2: Classical information and Shannon entropy	11.1-11.2 12.2.1	5.1
	Th, 9-1	L3: Linear algebra and axioms of quantum mechanics	2.1-2.3	2.1
	T, 9-6	L4: Qubits	1.2-1.3	2.2, 2.3.2
HW #2 (ps) (Out 9-1) Solutions	Th, 9-8	L5: Quantum states. I. Mixed states	2.2-2.6	2, 4.1-4.4
	T, 9-13	L6: Quantum states. II. Multiple systems and entanglement L6-8 Multiple systems, the tensor-product space, and the partial trace (ps)
	Th, 9-15	L7: Quantum states. III. Multiple systems and entanglement
HW #3 (ps) (Out 9-20) Solutions	T, 9-20	L8: Quantum states. IV. Multiple systems and entanglement
	Th, 9-22	L9: Quantum dynamics and measurements. I. Generalized measurements	2.2	3.1
	T, 9-27	No lecture
	Th, 9-29	No lecture
	T, 10-4	L10: Quantum dynamics and measurements. II. Superoperators and completely positive maps L10-11 (ps)	8.1-8.2 8.4-8.5	3.2-3.3 3.5
HW #4 (ps) (Out 10-6) Solutions	Th, 10-6	L11: Quantum dynamics and measurements. III. Superoperators and completely positive maps
	T, 10-11	L12: Quantum circuit model L12-14	1.2-1.3 4.1-4.4 8.3	3.4
	Th, 10-13	Fall Break
	T, 10-18	L13: Quantum circuit model. Qubit operations
HW #5 (Out 10-18) Solutions	Th, 10-20	L14: Qubit operations
	T, 10-25	No lecture
	Th, 10-27	L15: Cloning and distinguishability. I L15-16	9	4.2.3
	T, 11-1	L16: Cloning and distinguishability. II
HW #6 (ps) (Out 11-1) Solutions	Th, 11-3	L17: Quantum entropy. I L17-19	11.1-11.4 12.1-12.2	5.1-5.4
	T, 11-8	L18: Quantum entropy. II
	Th, 11-10	L19: Quantum entropy. III
	T, 11-15	L20: Bipartite pure-state entanglement. I L20-23	2.6 12.5-12.6	4, 5.5
	Th, 11-17	L21: Bipartite pure-state entanglement. II
	T, 11-22	L22: Bipartite pure-state entanglement. III
	Th, 11-24	Thanksgiving
HW #7 (ps) (Out 11-29) Solutions	T, 11-29	L23: Bipartite pure-state entanglement. IV
	Th, 12-1	L24: Mixed-state entanglement and entanglement monotones L24-25
	T, 12-6	Work on project
	Th, 12-8	Work on project
	T, 12-13	Projects due