self-directed study · ongoing

Notebook: quantum mechanics & computing.

I'm teaching myself quantum mechanics, then quantum computing on top of that. I pick something to get through and write up what I actually understood; whatever I get stuck on or curious about decides what comes next. It roughly splits into four parts, in order. It started as a summer project and I've carried it into the school year.

The maths foundation is done. I'm now working through Stanford's Quantum Mechanics for Scientists and Engineers, which is the first time I'm doing this with the real formalism rather than reading around it.

library

What I'm working through.

Books, courses, papers and talks I'm working from.

Books

Courses

Papers & talks

the plan

The rough plan.

Four parts, roughly in order. I only really plan the next bit. It moves slower now that term has started than it did over the summer.

  1. One Why quantum computers even existFeynman's 1981 paper - why the numbers blow up so fast when a normal computer tries to simulate quantum stuff, and his mad-sounding fix done
  2. Two How the quantum world actually workssuperposition, measurement, entanglement - writing quantum states down as vectors and amplitudes · Stanford's Quantum Mechanics for Scientists and Engineers, alongside Susskind, Cox & Forshaw under way
  3. Three Turning physics into computingqubits, gates and circuits - how you build an actual machine out of the maths · Qiskit textbook ahead
  4. Four What you can actually do with ita couple of real algorithms, then trying to simulate a hydrogen molecule (H₂) in Qiskit myself ahead
posts

Notes as I go.

Posts when I've got something worth writing up - some weeks more than others.

Nothing here yet. This fills up as I work through the plan.