Pushing the Boundaries of Classical and Quantum Information Processing Toward Enhanced Security and Energy-Efficient Reliability

这项研究旨在打破经典信息科学和量子信息科学中经常出现的两种类型的边界。第一种类型的边界指的是某些概念上的障碍，这些障碍阻碍了结果和科学思想在经典信息理论和量子信息理论领域之间的转换。在这个项目中，确定了三个主题，它们有望在经典-量子分水岭上进行交叉受精和统一分析。具体地说，PI带来了来自经典和量子背景的专业知识，以调查多方相关措施、密码协议和节能纠错的问题。所取得的成果将与信息安全和能源部门的技术发展直接相关。这项工作挑战的第二类边界指的是进入STEM领域的代表人数不足的人口经常遇到的障碍。该项目计划在伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校的PI和历史上的黑人学院和大学(HBCU)之间启动一个暑期实习计划。在技术层面上，这项研究将开发具有明确操作意义的私人关联和量子的新测量。基于量子资源理论学科的见解，将构建经典态和量子态的秘密共享资源理论，并将量化给定态对秘密共享的效用。此外，还将讨论经典密码学和量子密码学研究中的基本问题。在经典环境下，单向函数的存在被认为是许多密码任务所必需的最弱假设，而所提出的研究将寻找类似的最小量子假设。一个重要的目标将是了解一种类型的安全量子密码功能可以用于模拟另一种类型的条件。作为密码学工作的补充，这项研究将调查电路复杂性和可靠量子信息处理的能量限制。来自电路复杂性、信息论、热力学和容错计算的分析技术将被用来理解在给定的计算过程中，面积和能量等资源是如何受到限制的。作为一个应用，将第一次从能量的角度来看待超量子对CHSH不等的违反。这项工作还将引入量子创造力的概念，并将人工智能引入量子计算，以支持人类的创造力。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research aims to disrupt two types of boundaries that often emerge within classical and quantum information science. The first type of boundary refers to certain conceptual roadblocks that prevent a translation of results and scientific ideas between the domains of classical and quantum information theory. In this project, three topics are identified that have promise for a cross-fertilization and unified analysis across the classical-quantum divide. Specifically, the PIs bring expertise from both classical and quantum backgrounds to investigate the problems of multi-party correlation measures, cryptographic protocols, and energy-efficient error correction. The results obtained will have direct relevance to the development of technologies in the information-security and energy sectors. The second type of boundary challenged by this work refers to barriers frequently encountered by underrepresented populations entering STEM fields. This project has plans to initiate a summer internship program between the PIs at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and historically black college and universities (HBCUs).On a technical level, this research will develop new measures of private correlations and quantum with clear operational meanings. Building on insights from the subject of quantum resource theories, a resource theory of secret sharing will be constructed for both classical and quantum states, and the utility of a given state for secret sharing will be quantified. Additionally, fundamental questions in the study of classical and quantum cryptography will be addressed. The existence of one-way functions is known to be the weakest assumption necessary for many cryptographic tasks in the classical setting, and the proposed research will look for the analogous minimal quantum assumption. A significant objective will be to understand the conditions in which one type of secure quantum cryptographic functionality can be used to simulate another. As a complement to the work on cryptography, this research will investigate circuit complexity and the energy limits of reliable quantum information processing. Analysis techniques from circuit complexity, information theory, thermodynamics, and fault-tolerant computing will be used to understand how resources like area and energy are constrained in a given computational process. As one application, an energy perspective on superquantum violations of the CHSH inequality will be taken for the first time. This work will also introduce the concept of quantum creativity and bring artificial intelligence into quantum computing to support human creativity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.