Quantum Error Correction with James Wootton
Download MP3Welcome to another episode of The New Quantum Era Podcast hosted by Kevin Rowney and Sebastian Hassinger. Today, they are joined by James Wootton for a memorable conversation about his wide-ranging interests in a big swath of topics, including the fascinating growing quantum computing hobbyist community and James' passion for education and outreach. James also got into some really interesting material on quantum error correction (and mitigation), and a fascinating bit of math called the threshold theorem.
Key Takeaways:
[3:23] James introduces himself.
[4:20] James talks about his engagement in game development using the public IBM Cloud quantum systems.
[5:40] James explains why he said he expected the field of quantum computing to be more accessible by starting with hobbyists.
[7:02] James talks about the theory behind quantum computing.
[8:23] James speaks of how to engage people in quantum computing by proving Einstein was wrong in how he saw quantum mechanics.
[12:39] What are some of the things that James has seen that were sort of super inventive ways to use quantum computing in a game context?
[14:20] James talks about the quantum emoji generator.
[15:26] James shares his opinion in regard to Quantum Chess.
[16:48] James talks about a new game called Quantum Odyssey
[18:08] James shares an experience working with kids when he was at the University of Basel.
[19:55] James talks about his passion for quantum error correction.
[20:41] James tells the difference between quantum error correction and quantum error mitigation.
[24:18] Sebastian talks about mitigation strategies.
[27:00] Could it be that lots of the statistical tradecraft with respect to analyzing data and attempting to interpret its meaning in the presence of acknowledged errors and the signal is perhaps a foundational part of QAM?
[28:01] What are the major and most interesting themes to James these days?
[29:36] James explains the threshold theorem.
[34:33] What is the current math result in terms of the threshold of error occurrence that you need to get to get over the hump?
[35:16] James talks about the experimental results where people have built minimal examples of quantum error-correcting codes
[36:01] James talks about a recent experiment made at IBM quantum.
[36:40] What does surface code mean?
[39:20] Are there any other types of errors that quantum error correction has to struggle with? Or are the bit flip and phase error the two main aspects?
[41:55] James talks about the recent research on silicon spin qubits.
[45:39] Sebastian and Kevin share the highlights of an amazing conversation with James.
Mentioned in this episode:
Tweetables and Quotes:
“It's better if we start off by building a little bit of intuition, and then bringing in the maths, it's important to bring in the maths but I think it's better when the maths is describing an intuition that people already have and that's the starting point.” — James Wootton
“There have been experimental results already where people have built minimal examples of quantum error correcting codes and showing that they have a beneficial effect. So that's what happens when the noise is low enough. “ — James Wootton
Creators and Guests
Guest
James Wootton
Helping to make quantum computers @IBMResearch. Occasionally misusing them for fun and/or science. Two Ts and no Es. All nonsense here is my own doing
Composer
Omar Costa Hamido
OCH is a performer, composer, and technologist, working primarily in multimedia and improvisation. His current research is on quantum computing and music composition, telematics, and multimedia. He is passionate about emerging technology, cinema, teaching, and performing new works. He earned his PhD in Integrated Composition, Improvisation and Technology at University of California, Irvine with his research project Adventures in Quantumland (quantumland.art). He also earned his MA in Music Theory and Composition at ESMAE-IPP Portugal with his research on the relations between music and painting. In recent years, his work has been recognized with grants and awards from MSCA, Fulbright, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Medici, Beall Center for Art+Technology, and IBM.
