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Complexity in quantum dynamical systems

Featured Campus Seminars

Speaker: Karoline Wiesner, Center for Computational Science & Engineering
Location: 1147 MSB
Start time: Wed, May 10 2006, 4:10PM

We are interested in the possibility that quantum systems, such as molecules, store and process information. As a first step in exploring this, we introduce a class of quantum finite-state automata. To illustrate the power of these models we analyze several prototype quantum dynamical system, emphasizing the difference between physical and computation-theoretic views of quantum behavior. The quantum automaton analysis reveals structure in behavior that the physical description fails to detect. We also compare the relative generative capabilities of quantum and classical systems.The presented results are used to explain the need for and outline our approach to a computational model for molecular systems.