Foundations and Applications of Quantum Science

Quantum agents, simulation and measurement-based computation

Hans J. Briegel
Markus Tiersch

This project connects concepts from quantum computation and simulation with the field of artificial and biological agents.  We will develop models of quantum and classical agents that operate in unknown or partially known environments, where both the environment and the agent may involve quantum degrees of freedom. Certain schemes in quantum information processing, such as the one-way quantum computer, can be cast in the form of such quantum-classical agents whose actions in a quantum environment is driven by sensory feedback. While these schemes are well understood, their formulation as an agent problem offers a lot of room for generalization, e.g., by introducing learning rules that modifies the program through reward-type feedback from the environment. We will study quantum agents both from a theoretical perspective and regarding their experimental implementation in quantum optical systems. In a related part, we will further explore the role of quantum effects in biological systems. While this is an important topic in its own right, its connection to agent research is at the particular focus of this project. Such a connection is given when biological systems employ quantum effects for their survival in a given environment. A prominent example is given by avian magneto-reception, which helps certain birds to navigate in the Earth’s magnetic field during migration. We shall study the avian compass both in its own right and as a quantum control scheme which is part of a living agent interacting with a classical environment.

Supporting Organizations

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
Created by: Rainer Blatt
Last modified 2013-01-31T14:07:57 by Tracy Northup