Justin Yirka

Research Interests / Education / Experience / Publications / Presentations / News

Ph.D. Student in Computer Science, studying Quantum Computing
Advisor: Scott Aaronson, Ph.D.
The University of Texas at Austin, USA

My CV: Curriculum Vitae

Contact: yirka@utexas.edu

Other profiles:

See My CV for full details on my Research, Awards, Funding, Teaching Experience, and Service.

Research Interests

Quantum computing: what can quantum computers do, what can’t they do, and the structure that creates those differences.

Specific areas I’m interested in include quantum computational complexity, algorithms, and connections to applications.

Education

The University of Texas at Austin, 2019 - present
Ph.D. in Computer Science
Advisor: Scott Aaronson, Ph.D.

Virginia Commonwealth University, May 2018 (Concurrent / Dual degrees)
B.S. in Computer Science
B.S. in Mathematical Sciences
-- Minor in Physics

Research Experience

Summer school / Research Assistant
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Quantum Computing Summer School
Summer 2019
Supervisor: Yigit Subasi, Ph.D.
Topic: Near-term (NISQ) quantum algorithms. Studied use of qubit resets to construct circuits for entanglement spectroscopy which were noise-resilient and low-width.
Visiting Researcher
University of Paderborn, Germany
(3 weeks) November 2018
Collaboration with Sevag Gharibian, Ph.D.
Topic: Complexity theory and algorithms. Studied QMA_1-hardness of the quantum satisfaction problem (k-QSAT) given qudits of lower dimensions (i.e. improving on current necessary dimension).
Research Assistant
Graph Theory Computational Discovery Lab, VCU
Summer 2018
Supervisor: Craig Larson, Ph.D.
Topic: Automated conjecturing and graph theory. Studied conditions for graph Hamiltonicity. Assisted with programming and open-source project management.
NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates / Undergraduate Researcher
Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS), University of Maryland
Summer 2017
Supervisor: Andrew Childs, Ph.D.
Topic: Quantum tomography. Investigated minimum number of Pauli observables necessary to identify a quantum pure state.
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Quantum Computing Lab, VCU
2015 - 2016
Supervisor: Sevag Gharibian, Ph.D.
Topic: Quantum computational complexity. Studied quantum oracle classes (e.g. P^QMA[log]) and complexity of local physical problems. Helped develop a “quantum PH” and “quantum Toda’s Theorem” (QCPH ⊆ P^PP^PP).

Journal Publications

S. Gharibian and J. Yirka. The complexity of simulating local measurements on quantum systems. Quantum, 3:189, September 2019. DOI: 10.22331/q-2019-09-30-189.

Preprints

S. Gharibian, S. Piddock, and J. Yirka. Oracle complexity classes and local measurements on physical Hamiltonians. Available at https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.05981. September 2019.
(Graph theory) N. Bushaw, V. Gupta, C. Larson, S. Loeb, M. Norge, J. Parrish, J. Yirka, and G. Yu. Automated conjecturing and the Hamiltonian problem. In submission. August 2019.
S. Gharibian, M. Santha, J. Sikora, A. Sundaram, and J. Yirka. Quantum generalizations of the polynomial hierarchy with applications to QMA(2). Available at https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.11139. April 2018.

Conference Presentations

S. Gharibian, S. Piddock, and J. Yirka. Oracle complexity classes and local measurements on physical Hamiltonians.
- Poster by S. Piddock at 14th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication, and Cryptography (TQC). College Park, MD, USA, June 2019.
- Poster by S. Piddock at Workshop on Quantum Computing Theory in Practice (QCTIP). Bristol, UK, April 2019.
- Poster by J. Yirka at 22nd Conference on Quantum Information Processing (QIP). Boulder, CO, USA, Jan. 2019.
- Contributed talk by J. Yirka at 18th Asian Quantum Information Science Conference (AQIS). Nagoya, Japan, Sept. 2018.
S. Gharibian, M. Santha, J. Sikora, A. Sundaram, and J. Yirka. Quantum generalizations of the polynomial hierarchy with applications to QMA(2).
- Poster by A. Sundaram at 22nd Conference on Quantum Information Processing (QIP). Boulder, CO, USA, Jan. 2019.
- Contributed talk by A. Sundaram at 18th Asian Quantum Information Science Conference (AQIS). Nagoya, Japan, Sept. 2018. – “Long”/plenary talk: top 7% of submissions.
- Contributed talk by A. Sundaram at 43rd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS). Liverpool, UK, Aug. 2018.
S. Gharibian and J. Yirka. The complexity of simulating local measurements on quantum systems.
- Contributed talk by S. Gharibian at 12th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication, and Cryptography (TQC). Paris, France, 2017.
- Poster by J. Yirka at 20th Conference on Quantum Information Processing (QIP). Seattle, USA, 2017. Presented under a different title.
J. Yirka. Evaluation of TCP header fields for data overhead efficiency.
- Poster by J. Yirka at 30th National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR). Asheville, NC, USA, 2016.
- Poster by J. Yirka at VCU Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creativity. Richmond, VA, USA, 2015. – Awarded “Launch Award for Outstanding Research Poster”.

See My CV for full details on my Research, Awards, Funding, Teaching Experience, and Service.

News:

September 30 – Journal version of “The complexity of simulating local measurements on quantum systems” has been published in Quantum. DOI: 10.22331/q-2019-09-30-189.
September 16 – New preprint posted on arXiv! Paper “Oracle complexity classes and local measurements on physical Hamiltonians” with coauthors Sevag Gharibian and Stephen Piddock. https://arxiv.org/abs/1909.05981.
August 1 – A paper describing my graph theory work from summer 2018 is now under review: “Automated conjecturing and the Hamiltonian problem”.
April 20 – Beginning in the fall, I will be joining the Ph.D. program in Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin!
April 9 – I’ve been awarded an Honorable Mention by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship program.
February 5 – I’ve accepted a position with the Quantum Computing Summer School at Los Alamos National Labs for this June to August.

Last updated: October 8, 2019