Product Description

In this first comprehensive introduction to the main ideas and techniques of quantum computation and information, Michael Nielsen and Isaac Chuang ask the question: What are the ultimate physical limits to computation and communication? They detail such remarkable effects as fast quantum algorithms, quantum teleportation, quantum cryptography and quantum error correction. A wealth of accompanying figures and exercises illustrate and develop the material in more depth. They describe what a quantum computer is, how it can be used to solve problems faster than familiar "classical" computers, and the real-world implementation of quantum computers. Their book concludes with an explanation of how quantum states can be used to perform remarkable feats of communication, and of how it is possible to protect quantum states against the effects of noise.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #63017 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 675 pages

Review
"Quantum Computation and Quantum Information is a challenging text that offers a thorough discussion of the relevant physics and a reference book that guides readers to the original literature...Perhaps the best way to use the book, though, is to ask questions and then search within it for answers. Such a self-guided tour can keep one from getting lost in details and can provide a rewarding journey...Nielsen and Chuang have set a high standard." Science

"Michael Nielsen and Issac L. "Ike" Chuang have produced a highly readable, thorough, and timely survey of the field of theoretical quantum information science. [It] is probably destined to become a standard text for reseachers in this still emerging, rapidly developing field.... [It] is very well written and a pleasure to read." /s Physics Today

"Quantum Computation and Quantum Information is a challenging text that offers a thorough discussion of the relevant physics and a reference book that guides readers to the original literature...Perhaps the best way to use the book, though, is to ask questions and then search within it for answers. Such a self-guided tour can keep one from getting lost in details and can provide a rewarding journey...Nielsen and Chuang have set a high standard." Science

"highly readable, thorough, and timely survey of the feild of theorectical quantum information science...probably destained to become a standard text for researchers...The authors rightly choose to examine key issues in depth rather than attempt a mile-wide, inch-deep, catholic approach...is very well written and a pleasure to read." Physics Today Nov 2001

About the Author
Dr. Michael Nielsen was born in Brisbane, Australia in 1974, and was educated at the University of Queensland, obtaining postgraduate degrees in mathematics and physics, before being awarded his PhD in physics at the University of New Mexico in 1998. He is currently the Tolman Postdoctoral Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar at the California Institute of Technology

Dr. Isaac Chuang is a native of Louisville, KY. He received his doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1997, where he was a Hertz Foundation Fellow, and holds two bachelors degrees and one masters degree in physics and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He serves as a consulting professor at Stanford University. He joined IBM Research in 1998. In November 1999 he was named one of the top 100 young innovators of 1999.

Customer Reviews

Great reference text - hard to learn from for the first time
This book has found its many uses as a reference. In particular the citations helped me locate key papers that I needed to work toward my research project. If you want to do research in this area than I recommend you add this text to your collection without question, however if you are trying to teach yourself quantum mechanics (like I did) I can suggest several other books that will help you along your quest.

This book lacks worked examples, I recommend the worked problems text: (Problems & Solutions in Quantum Computing & Quantum Information, ISBN: 9812387900) This book also skips over many `simple' concepts as expected for the depth of coverage. The kindest introduction to quantum computing out of the dozen books on my shelf is:
(Approaching Quantum Computing, Dan C. Marinescu, Gabriela M. Marinescu , ISBN: 013145224X).

There are now many texts on the subject of quantum computing, but there is a reason why this text is citied hundreds of times by the top people in this field. For a research project you must get this book, if you are teaching a class it might be wise to mention this book and refer students to another text. I think that the text (Explorations in Quantum Computing, ISBN: 038794768X) is good in the amount of material covered, but does not go into depth on key points -- It could be argued that the Mathematica simulation files more than compensate for this. I have not had a chance to read the Gruska text (Quantum Computing, ISBN: 0077095030) since it is out of print for the time being. I hear a new addition is on its way and I am interested in reading that book.

I would say that this text will remain a classic but the material is not easy for me to grasp. The book is hard, but quantum computing is hard so this is expected. I could live without the other texts on my shelf, but I need NC. If you do buy this book search for the "Quantum Computing Tutorial by Mark Oskin", an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington. His notes were designed as a guide for his students using the NC text, and they will help you get through some key examples. I downloaded the file: quantum-notes.pdf but it is also free in latex for professors.

Interdisciplinary!
Classical computation follows the model of A. Turing,-- strings of bits, i.e., 0s and 1s; a mathematical model, now called the Turing mashine. Analogues based instead on two-level quantum systems were suggested in the 1980ties by R.P. Feynman and D. Deutsch. But it wasn't until Peter Shor's qubit-factoring algorithm in the mid 1990ties that the subject really took off, and really caught the attention of the math community. That there is a polynomial factoring algorithm shook the encryption community as well, for obvious reasons. New elements of thinking in the quantum realm, and not part of the classical framework, include superposition of (quantum) states, and (quantum) coherence. This makes a drastic change in the whole theoretical framework when one passes from the classical notion of bit-registers to that of qubit-registers. In passing from logic gates to quantum gates(unitary matrices), the concept of switching networks changes. It introduces new challenges, and new truely exciting opportunities. It is not easy for authors to make everyone happy;-- this is especially so in a new field,--one which has grabbed headlines, and one which is at the same time interdisiplinary. In this case, the authors succeed as well as anyone, I believe.-- This lovely book covers several of the appropriate areas of physics (quantum theory, (some) experiment...), of computer science (the mathematical side of the subject), and of math (operators in Hilbert space, and the theory of algorithms);-- each member of the particular scientific specialty has very definite ideas of his/her own subject,-- and that of the others. Nonetheless, in this readers opinion, the two authors did a great job;-- they explain math to the physics community,-- and they sucessfully teach quantum theory and theoretical CS to mathematicians. The book is suitable for grad students: has lots of great exercises, but it could perhaps have used some more worked examples. (Fortunately they can be found in other books on quantum computation.) The Nielsen-Chuang book is most certainly a great entry for students into this exciting new subject. There are other books,-- but they, for the most part, take a more narrow view. The material in Nielsen-Chuang is timeless,-- and I expect the book will also be popular ten years from now.

Good for reference, poor for teaching,self-study
I am actually teaching a course involving Quantum Computing. I am using this book because it is better than other books I have seen. However that still doesn't mean this is a good book!

I have a BSc in Physics and a PhD in mathematics and I work in a Computer Science Department so one would expect that it would be relatively easy to follow this text. However often nothing could be further from the truth! The book appears to be VERY hastily written with certian passages being absolutely impregnable to understanding. The authors often appear to have forgotten to define all their terms, so some arguments are as difficult to decipher as the Rosetta Stone. I give an example: page 226 equation 5.36 they define a unitary transformation U|y> -> |xy(modN)>. They talk about y and its relation to N (I presume that x and N are integers) but NOWHERE do they define what values x can take. So in principle x could be bigger than N. it is easy to demonstrate that some values of x give an operator that is not unitary. This isn't allowed so therefore it implies that x has some restrictions placed upon it. WHAT ARE THOSE RESTRICIONS? WHY DO THE AUTHORS NOT STATE THEM?

The above example is just an illustration of the main fault of the book: Extremely sloppy definitions of many things (or absent definitions). They cultivate an air of rigour but it is all a sham.

Verdict: Be prepared to spend a phenomenal amount of time on this book if you are going to use it for teaching. You will have to fill in many gaps and consult many research papers to make sense of it. BTW: there are no worked examples and exercises that often are incredibly difficult (presumably because the authors have omitted many definitions)