Pedagogy of Quantum Computing: An Investigation Into the Feasibility of Teaching Quantum Computing to Undergraduates

Undergraduate: Dayton Ellwanger

Faculty Advisor: Jonathan Engel
Department: Physics & Astronomy

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Quantum computers make use of the quantum phenomena of superposition and entanglement to perform certain tasks much quicker than classical computers. The most famous example is Shor's algorithm - a quantum algorithm for integer factorization that runs in polynomial time. The implications of this for public-key cryptography are hugely significant. The ubiquitous RSA scheme is built on the assumption that integer factorization is a hard problem, an assumption which is voided by a sufficiently powerful quantum computer. Quantum computing has received little attention since its conception in the 1980s due to its questionable practicality. However, several groups have already demonstrated functional quantum computers, and many governments are heavily funding quantum computing research due to its communications security implications. Although an understanding of quantum computing will soon be essential for computer scientists and physicists, the field remains esoteric. Through examination of the literature and an independent studies course on quantum computing, this research investigates the pedagogy of quantum computing and the feasibility of teaching the subject to undergraduates. Much of the difficulties of quantum mechanics arise from considering continuous systems, but because quantum computing deals only with qubits (two-dimensional quantum systems), all that is required to have a working understanding of it is a minimal background in linear algebra.