Quantum Computation and Information Security
Currently the most important applications of quantum information processing are to information security. In response, mathematician David Meyer has developed and is teaching “Quantum Computation and Information Security” this quarter at UCSD.
This course starts with a description of the BB84 protocol for quantum key exchange, including an introduction to basic ideas from quantum mechanics. Subsequently, it will investigate the security of this protocol, which will involve studying several fundamental ideas in quantum computing. Related topics will include quantum cryptographic protocols, cryptography (to provide some context for the quantum results), and physical implementations of these schemes (to learn about their practicality).
Additional topics in the second half of the quarter will depend on students’ interests and may include cryptographic problems for which quantum mechanics does not help, quantum game theory, or detailed discussion of quantum algorithms, leading to Shor's factoring algorithm.
The class, Math 217A, meets Mondays and Wednesdays at 12:20 PM. For more information, see http://math.ucsd.edu/~dmeyer/teaching/217A.html
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