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.

I’m especially interested in 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.
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.
Undergraduate Researcher (NSF REU C.A.A.R.)
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).

Invited positions & Workshops

Invitation-only workshop
Schloss Dagstuhl - Quantum Complexity: Theory and Application
June 2021
Visiting Researcher
University of Paderborn, Germany
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).

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. 2019.
- Related seminar talk by Sev available here.
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. 2018.

Journal Publications

J. Yirka, Y. Subasi. Qubit-efficient entanglement spectroscopy using qubit resets. Quantum, 5:535, September 2021. DOI: 10.22331/q-2021-09-02-535.
S. Gharibian and J. Yirka. The complexity of simulating local measurements on quantum systems. Quantum, 3:189, 2019. DOI: 10.22331/q-2019-09-30-189.
- Related seminar talk by Sev available here.

Conference Presentations

J. Yirka and Y. Subasi. Qubit-efficient entanglement spectroscopy using qubit resets.
- Contributed talk by J. Yirka at 6th Conference for Young Quantum Information Scientists (YQIS). Virtual, April 2021. Slides available here.
- Contributed talk by Y. Subasi at APS March Meeting 2021. Virtual.
- Contributed talk by J. Yirka at 20th Asian Quantum Information Science Conference (AQIS). Virtual, Dec. 2020. Video available here. Slides available here.
S. Gharibian, S. Piddock, and J. Yirka. Oracle complexity classes and local measurements on physical Hamiltonians.
- Contributed talk by S. Piddock at 37th Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS). Montpellier, France, 2020.
- Contributed talk by J. Yirka at 23rd Conference on Quantum Information Processing (QIP). Shenzhen, China, 2020. Video available here. Slides available here.
- Poster by S. Piddock at 14th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication, and Cryptography (TQC). College Park, MD, USA, 2019.
- Poster by S. Piddock at Workshop on Quantum Computing Theory in Practice (QCTIP). Bristol, UK, 2019.
- Poster by J. Yirka at 22nd Conference on Quantum Information Processing (QIP). Boulder, CO, USA, 2019. Available here.
- Contributed talk by J. Yirka at 18th Asian Quantum Information Science Conference (AQIS). Nagoya, Japan, 2018. Slides available here.
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, 2019.
- Contributed talk by A. Sundaram at 18th Asian Quantum Information Science Conference (AQIS). Nagoya, Japan, 2018. – “Long”/plenary talk: top 7% of submissions. Slides available here.
- Contributed talk by A. Sundaram at 43rd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS). Liverpool, UK, 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. Available here.
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 2 – Our paper “Qubit-efficient entanglement spectroscopy” has been published in Quantum.
June 27 – I will be spending this week participating in the invitation-only Dagstuhl workshop on Quantum Complexity: Theory and Application.
December 4 – The video of my talk for AQIS 2020 is now available: https://youtu.be/J9AnuKkgrIk.
December 4 – I’ve been asked to participate as part of the CS Department’s Graduate Admissions Committee.
October 28 – GRACS is launching the Graduate Application Assistance Program (GAAP) to mentor underrepresented applicants to the PhD program. I’ll be helping organize this.
October – I was asked to referee a paper for Quantum: my first journal review.
October 15 – I’ve been elected to the CS Department’s Graduate Representative Association (GRACS). I’ll be serving as chair.

Last updated: September 9, 2021