Tim Hosgood
Jason Brown
May 20, 2026
The elements of quantum information theory are not so complicated: some linear algebra over the complex numbers and a bit of classical probability theory. But it doesn’t take long before you run into some intriguing problems that showcase how established experimental results contradict our classical intuition. In this 2-torial we will learn the very basics of quantum theory, see how a Mach–Zehnder interferometer gives a real-world implementation of a classically impossible construction and suggests that we should go all in on complex numbers, and finally how this all applies to the world of theoretical bird watching via the Quantum Zeno effect.
Bra-ket notation, unitary matrices, probability amplitudes, beam-splitters, Mach–Zehnder interferometers.
Complex numbers, (finite) vector spaces and matrices, elementary probability theory.