Class will be a lecture/lab format providing information on the D-Wave quantum computer system.
The following topics will be covered:
- D-Wave Systems and quantum computing overview
- Hardware and software environments for a D-Wave quantum computer
- How to solve and think about problems on a D-Wave quantum computer
- Methods of programming a D-Wave quantum computer
- Lab: Using tools and running problems on a live D-Wave quantum computing system
- Prototype applications and projects users have run on a D-Wave system.
The class will be held The Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS) Wilhelm-Johnen-Straße, 52425 Jülich Germany,
Room: FZJ - Rotunde
Instruction times March 19th and 20th, 2018:
Instruction begins 09:00 ending at 17:00, coffee and pastries will be available at 8:30am, lunch will be catered. Attendees are asked to bring their own device (devices need to be set up prior to class to run a certified Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client.
The goal of this class is to expand attendees' understanding of quantum computing in the market place and as implemented on the D-Wave System. During labs attendees will have access to simulators as well as a live D-Wave system located in Burnaby, Canada. Recommended education or background: Master’s Degree or higher in one of the following disciplines Computer Science, Math, and Physics or equivalent, or demonstrated experience implementing algorithms in C/C++, Matlab, Python, etc.
Presenters:
Dr. Edward (Denny) Dahl received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Stanford University in 1985. His thesis work was with Richard Blankenbecler at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center on Hamiltonian methods in lattice gauge theories. Dr. Dahl transitioned into the field of neural networks in the 1980's, applying Hopfield networks to a variety of optimization problems and studying accelerated convergence techniques for stochastic gradient descent. He worked at Thinking Machines Corporation in the technical marketing group and was responsible for helping users develop algorithms that could run in the SIMD (single instruction multiple data) computational model. He obtained a patent for mapping irregular grid architectures to the hypercube architecture of the CM-2 system and was instrumental in the development of a macro programming language for the vector processors of the CM-5. Since then, Dr. Dahl has provided development support for management and optimization of high data volume and high complexity decision support systems at a variety of companies (Teradata, eBay, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America). He joined D-Wave Systems in 2012.
Sheir Yarkoni received his BSc and MSc in physics and computer science from McGill University in Montreal. Sheir joined D-Wave’s benchmarking team in 2014, focusing on comparing software algorithms to the quantum processor. Early 2017, Sheir re-located to Germany to join the D-Wave European team providing technical assistance and guidance to prospects and customers. He is also currently working with the University of Leiden in the Netherlands combining evolutionary algorithms and machine learning with quantum annealing. Sheir’s primary interest is investigating the use of the D-Wave processor is real-world, industrial optimisation solutions. Other research interests include solving generic NP-hard optimization problems using the D-Wave processors.
