We aim to understand how the two greatest scientific revolutions of the past century – quantum physics and computer science – fit together and can advance the current century. Our research contributes to the theoretical foundations of quantum information science, providing foundations for emerging technologies such as quantum computers and secure quantum networks, and it also suggests new perspectives and innovative approaches to interdisciplinary problems.
We pursue three main directions, which are deeply intertwined:
To obtain insight into the potential and limitations of quantum information processing, we investigate algorithms and protocols for tasks where quantum information can offer an advantage, as well as tools for bounding this advantage. We also inestigat tasks As quantum information relies on fundamentally different physical principles than classical information, this requires new conceptual theoretical and mathematical frameworks.
Quantum information also gives new perspectives on quantum physics. We study how quantum systems can encode, process, and transmit information. The goal is to obtain new insights into the structure of complex quantum many-body systems, from lattice models to quantum fields and gravity, and how these can be described and computed with effectively – from conceptual models to analytical techniques and effective algorithms.
We also explore interdisciplinary links between quantum information, mathematics, and computer science. These connections relate, for example, quantum entanglement to versions of the P vs. NP problem. We aim to obtain "quantum insights" into these difficult problems – as well as new approaches to tackling them. For example, tensors describe not only abstract quantum information or the state of quantum materials, but also high-dimensional "big data" in statistics or machine learning, complexity classes in theoretical computer science, and possibly the quantum state of space-time itself. In our research, we have applied ideas from quantum information to all these areas.
Munich is a hot spot in quantum information science. We are part of the Munich Quantum Center (MQC), the Cluster of Excellence Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST), and the Munich Quantum Valley (MQV), as well as the Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics.
Our group is part of the Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST), which pursues world-class fundamental research in all areas of quantum information science. We contribute in particular to Research Area 1: Quantum Information.
The BMFTR-funded project Quantum Optimization Solver Kit (QuSol) aims to advance our understanding of how quantum algorithms can be applied to solve complex optimization challenges, involving a consortium of academic and industry partners. It succeeds the project Quantum Methods and Benchmarks for Resource Allocation (QuBRA), where we contributed to quantum algorithm development and led the quantum software engineering effort.
This DFG-funded project, jointly with Peter Bürgisser (TU Berlin), explores the computational complexity of mathematical objects known as quiver representations, which connect to a wide range of mathematical problems and applications (such as quantum channels and certain structured statistical models).
We are still part of the DFG Cluster of Excellence Cybersecurity in the Age of Large-Scale Adversaries (CASA). Together with Giulio Malavolta (Bocconi U, Milan) we are engaged in two Fundamental Research Projects: Cryptography in Light of Quantum Information and Robust Certification of Quantum Devices.
