Quantum Theory, Quantum Materials, Quantum Computing Thematic Program for 60th Sanibel Symposium

Established in 1961, the Sanibel Symposium is celebrating its 60th birthday in 2020. This thematic program Quantum Theory, Quantum Materials, Quantum Computing (the Q3), is programmed as the first in a five-consecutive-symposium series. It is organized for physicists, chemists, materials scientists, computer scientists, and mathematicians to share their best ideas to meet challenges in achieving a quantum information sciences leap in the next five years - and beyond. Quantum mechanics governs electron behavior and is at the very heart of chemical reactions, material properties, and modern electronics. Quantum theory with algorithms optimized for conventional digital computers is being challenged by fierce competition among various industrial entities such as Google, IBM, and D-Wave for quantum supremacy. Those challenges manifest themselves in both software and hardware. For hardware, one question is, what are the best quantum materials for making qubits or qudits or elements for error correction? For software, one must trace all the way to the fundamental level of quantum methodologies developed over last half century and ask whether there are alternative formulations that are better suited for quantum computers. A third facet is the rise of quantum information science. This is generating unprecedented need for a workforce equipped with knowledge of quantum gates and logic. How to meet this workforce development need is no less a challenge than any other questions in this quantum information era.

The 2020 Q3 thematic program will consist of six plenary sessions of the meeting (eighteen speakers) devoted to QIS. By choice of invited plenary speakers, those sessions will focus upon theory, method, and analysis of physical problems that are essential for advancement of quantum computers and methods and algorithms to exploit them. Significant portions of the “hot topic” contributed paper sessions (speakers also selected by the organizers) and poster sessions also will be part of this focus. The thematic program also will leverage two separately funded workshops on related QIS subjects that will follow the 60th Symposium at the same site.

The Sanibel Symposium offers a proven platform for facilitating and advancing cross-fertilization among theoretical and computational chemists and physicists, computer scientists, and engineers. The Symposia have a long, successful record of driving progress in theory and computation of materials, nanostructures, and their molecular constituents. The Symposia thus are well-suited for advancing the quantum information science thrust in the Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES).