The Fault-Tolerance Threshold with Dorit Aharonov

Welcome to another episode of The New Quantum Era Podcast hosted by Kevin Rowney and Sebastian Hassinger.In this episode, we are joined by Dorit Aharonov, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and one of the pioneers of quantum computing. She's also the Chief Science Officer at QEDMA, a quantum startup based in Israel. Dorit is one of the major movers and shakers of quantum error correction and co-author of the important Threshold Theorem for quantum error correction. Kevin, Sebastian, and Dorit talk about her recent work on the theoretical foundations of random circuit sampling.Key Takeaways:[4:22] Dorit shares her path into quantum information and computing.[8:27]  Dorit explains the threshold theorem in an easy-to-understand manner.[16:35] The velocity of error correction versus the generation of errors in the computation could depend on physical implementation, or the algorithm. Maybe even both.[18:53] A more powerful assertion Dorit makes is that there's a deeper connection between the phases of matter and the transition between solid and liquid and these quantum error correction thresholds.[19:51] A lot of the foundations of classical error correction were laid down in the mid-40s in Von Neumann's work when the IAS system was being built. Dorit still sees the echoes of that.[22:35] We might be witnessing a growing momentum around the powerful expression of new quantum error correction technologies.[25:28] Dorit talks about the difference between error mitigation and error correction.[26:55] Dorit explains the idea of the reset gate.[30:22] It might be safe to say that challenges are primarily engineering in nature and that we have enough science to enable that engineering to get to fault tolerance.[31:50] Dorit discusses a possible timeline for this engineering to get to fault tolerance.[34:07] Is Dorit an NISQ optimist or a pessimist when it comes to real-world applications?[39:21] Dorit addresses the difference between practical and asymptotic quantum advantage.[41:30] Dorit shares what the paper on random circuit sampling shows.[45:25] Dorit explains why the machine learning algorithms that were dequantized are  treacherous.[49:56] Dorit shows optimism regarding the possibility of seeing evidence of a quantum event.[52:25] Dorit admits to finding constructive interference between working in the industry and working on theoretical questions.[53:50] Is there something Dorit is excited about in the next year or two that will be another step forward?[56:50] Dorit talks about concrete examples of experiments and sensors that might be arriving thanks to quantum computing advancements.[1:00:35] Sebastian and Kevin share the highlights of a fantastic conversation with Dorit.Mentioned in this episode:Visit The New Quantum EraThe New Quantum Era PodcastLimitations of Noisy Reversible Computation Dorit Aharonov, Michael Ben-Or, Russell Impagliazzo, Norm NisanThe Complexity of NISQ, Sitan Chen, Jordan Cotler, Hsin-Yuan, and  Jerry LiA polynomial-time classical algorithm for noisy random circuit sampling Dorit Aharonov, Xun Gao, Zueph Landau, Yunchao Liu, Umesh Vazirani QEDMATweetables and Quotes:“Nobody actually believed that it was possible to correct errors that occur on quantum states because of the lack of reversibility. ” —  Dorit Aharonov“it's a physics phenomenon… below a certain threshold, we can think of this as if the system is capable of some completely different behavior, like ice and water. It's just like a phase transition -- below that, there would be macroscopic entanglement and … ability to control large scale quantum correlations. And above it, this would not be possible.”  — Dorit Aharonov