Quantum data science

Quantum information theory transforms the very foundations of information theory and computing by replacing pre-quantum, or ‘classical’, informational foundation of binary strings into superpositions thereof, utilising quantum theory’s wave-particle duality. In a sense, bits capture the particle-like behaviour with the bit being zero or one like a particle being there or not there (half a particle is forbidden). Superposition bits, such as allowing a 0 and a 1 to co-exist asa superposition of waves representing each, relies on the wave-like property. From this wave-and-particle representation of information is introduced, even the logical rules such as for Boolean operations, manifested as concatenations of one-bit operations such as NOT and two-bit operations such as NAND, gives way to quantum logic, which respects and preserves wave-and-particle-like properties. From this new paradigm of information processing, disruptive changes occur to the notion of whether problems such as number factorisation are even hard in the sense of whether the subexponential cost for solving with respect to the size of computational input, and a provable advantage exists for a kind of unstructured search problem. Building on these notions, I provide a perspective on quantum computing for data science, including a dive into state-of-the-art for both hardware and algorithms.

Brief Bio: Barry Sanders is Scientific Director of Calgary’s “Quantum City”, hosted by the University of Calgary and tasked with building a strong quantum ecosystem in Alberta. Barry was awarded two Diplomas of Imperial College in 1985 and 1987 and a Doctor of Philosophy in 1988 from the University of London. In recognition of career achievement, Barry was awarded a Doctor of Science from Imperial College London in 2018. His postdoctoral positions were in Australia and New Zealand, and he was a professor at Macquarie University Sydney for 12 years before moving back to his Alma Mater University of Calgary in 2003. Barry’s theoretical research includes quantum sensing and metrology, quantum and quantum-resilient communication, quantum computing and quantum optics. He has held numerous distinguished international visiting professorships and affiliations in Canada, the USA, China, India and elsewhere, and is a Scientist with the Creative Destruction Lab at both the Universities of Toronto and Calgary; the Creative Destruction Lab’s mission is to accelerate the commercialization of science for the betterment of humankind. Sanders serves as an Expert with the Canadian Council of Academies and is a member of the Scientific Board for the Banff International Research Station. He is a former member of the Open Quantum Institute Incubation Advisory Board of the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator and is co-lead of the International Research Network: Canada-France Quantum Alliance involving France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Barry serves on expert panels in Canada, the USA and Europe. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, of the United Kingdom Institute of Physics, of the American Physical Society, and of Optica, and he received the City of Calgary International Achievement Award in 2022.