Solicitations - Office of Safe and Secure Operations
Quantum Computer Science (QCS) Program - Broad Agency Announcement
IARPA-BAA-10-02
Proposers' Day Date: December 17, 2009
BAA Release Date: April 26, 2010
Proposal Due Date: June 10, 2010
FedBizOpps Reference
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SYNOPSIS The QCS Program's goal is to accurately estimate and significantly reduce the computational resources required to implement quantum algorithms on a realistic quantum computer. Quantum computing offers the potential of dramatically better performance on certain problems compared to classical computing. As a result, substantial research effort has been invested in discovering high-level algorithms that could operate on a quantum computer, and in developing a wide variety of physical technologies that might make the construction of a quantum computer possible. Considerably less attention has been paid to the computer science aspects of quantum computing. In order to implement a high-level quantum algorithm in a given physical technology, one must first know the model of quantum computation that the technology supports. For this BAA we are interested in the quantum circuit model, in which computations are expressed as sequences of logical gates acting on two-level quantum systems, or "qubits." Given the model and an algorithm instance, we wish to determine how many quantum resources (e.g., qubits and gate operations) are required. Two problems arise. First, accurate resource estimates are unknown for most algorithms-many are only specified in "big-O" notation that omits reference to a specific computational model. Moreover, although asymptotic estimates of the required (perfect) resources exist for some algorithms, there is currently no standardized full accounting of all resources required to implement quantum algorithms on hardware consisting of non-ideal qubits and non-ideal quantum gates (henceforth referred to as a "realistic" quantum computer). This is especially true for problem sizes where quantum computing is thought to have an advantage over classical computing. Second, for the few algorithms that have been analyzed in some detail, the number of required quantum resources is intractably large even for modest problem sizes, let alone large problems where quantum computers might have an advantage over existing or near-term classical computers. The quantum error correction and quantum control techniques necessary to perform large quantum computations on realistic quantum hardware appear to incur a very large overhead. While it is certainly true that better qubit and quantum gate technologies will reduce the amount of required overhead, the premise behind the QCS Program is that quantum computer science will also play a significant role in reducing resource requirements. QCS will create an automated process for a full and accurate estimation of required resources for the implementation of quantum algorithms, and it will seek to improve the performance of quantum error-correction and quantum control protocols while reducing their associated overhead costs. The IARPA QCS Program consists of two phases over a four-year period. Phase 1 will be 12 months, and Phase 2 will be 36 months. Multiple awards are anticipated. Contracting Office Address: Primary Point of Contact: |
Proposers' Day Information |
