Rolando Somma

Research Interests

Work in quantum information theory. Specifically, I'm currently developing quantum algorithms to simulate classical and quantum physics more efficiently than classically possible.

Positions Held

• 2007-present Perimeter Institute, Postdoctoral Fellow
• 2005-2007 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Postdoctoral Fellow
• 2002-2005 Instituto Balseiro (Bariloche, Argentina), Ph.D. student
• 2002-2005 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Graduate Research Assistant

Awards

• The Postdoctoral Distinguished Performance Award 2006, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA.
• Director's Fellowship Postdoctoral Position at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA.
• Scholarship of the Comision Nacional de Energ?a At?mica (Argentina), to complete Undergraduate Degree at Instituto Balseiro, San Carlos de Bariloche, R?o Negro, Argentina.
• National Physics Olympiads, First prize, Facultad Astronomia, Matematica y Fisica, Cordoba, Argentina

Recent Publications

• " Phase diagram in the XXZ chain with next-nearest-neighbor interactions", R.D. Somma and A. Aligia, Phys. Rev. B 64, 024410 (2001).
• "Quantum state preparation by phase randomization", S. Boixo, E. Knill, and R.D. Somma, Quantum Information and Computation 9, 833 (2009).
• "A Quantum Approach to Classical Statistical Mechanics", R. D. Somma, C. D. Batista, and G. Ortiz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 030603 (2007).
• "Quantum Simulations of Classical Annealing Processes", R.D.Somma, S. Boixo, H. Barnum, and E. Knill, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 130504 (2008).
• "Parameter Estimation with Mixed-State Quantum Computation", R.D. Somma and S. Boixo, Phys. Rev. A 77, 052320 (2008).
• "Efficient Solvability of Hamiltonians and Limits on the Power of Quantum Computational Models", R. D. Somma, H. Barnum, G. Ortiz, and E. Knill, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 190501 (2006).
• "Optimal Quantum Measurements of Expectation Values of Observables", E. Knill, G. Ortiz, and R. D. Somma, Phys. Rev. A 75, 012328 (2007).
• "Lower Bounds for the Fidelity of Entangled State Preparation", R. Somma, J. Chiaverini, and D. Berkeland, Phys. Rev. A 74, 052302 (2006).
• "Liquid-State NMR Simulations of Quantum Many-Body Problems", C. Negrevergne, R. Somma, G. Ortiz, E. Knill, R. Laflamme, Phys. Rev. A 71, 032344 (2005).
• "Generalized Entanglement and Quantum Phase Transitions", R. Somma, H. Barnum, E. Knill, G. Ortiz, and L. Viola, Int. Journ. of Mod. Phys. B 20, 2760 (2006).
• "A Generalization of Entanglement to Convex Operational Theories: Entanglement Relative to a Subspace of Observables", H. Barnum, G. Ortiz, R. Somma, and L. Viola, Int. Journ. of Theor. Phys. 44, 2127 (2005).
• "Exactly-Solvable Models Derived from a Generalized Gaudin Algebra", G. Ortiz, R. Somma, J. Dukelsky, and S. Rombouts, Nucl. Phys. B 707, 421 (2005).
• "Nature and Measure of Entanglement in Quantum Phase Transitions", R. Somma, G. Ortiz, H. Barnum, E. Knill, and L. Viola, Phys. Rev. A 70, 042311 (2004).
• "A Subsystem-Independent Generalization of Entanglement", H. Barnum, E. Knill, G. Ortiz, R. Somma, and L. Viola, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 107902/1 (2004).
• "Quantum Simulations of Physics Problems", R. Somma, G. Ortiz, E. Knill, and J. Gubernatis, Int. J. of Quant. Inf. 1, 189 (2003).
• "Ferromagnetism in the XXZ chain with next-nearest-neighbor interactions", R.D. Somma and A. Aligia, Solid State Communications, 117 (4), 273-277 (2001).
• "Simulating Physical Phenomena by Quantum Networks", R. Somma, G. Ortiz, J. E. Gubernatis, E. Knill, and R. Laflamme, Phys. Rev. A 65, 042323/1 (2002).
• "Optimization and Thermodynamics of Classical Problems from a Quantum Perspective", R.D. Somma, C.D. Batista, and G. Ortiz, J. of Phys.: Conf. Ser. 95, 012020 (2008).
• "Limits on the Power of some models of Quantum Computation", G. Ortiz, R. Somma, H. Barnum, and E. Knill, Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories, Vol. 10, World Scientific, Singapore (2006).
• "Generalized Entanglement and Quantum Phase Transitions", R. Somma, H. Barnum, E. Knill, G. Ortiz, and L. Viola, Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories, Vol. 9, World Scientific, Singapore (2005).
• "Entanglement as an Observer-Dependent Concept: An Application to Quantum Phase Transitions", G. Ortiz, R. Somma, H. Barnum, E. Knill, and L. Viola, Condensed Matter Theories 19 (2004).
• "Entanglement Beyond Subsystems", L. Viola, H. Barnum, E. Knill, G. Ortiz, and R. Somma, AMS series in Contemporary Mathematics (2005).
• "NMR and Quantum Information Processing", R. Laflamme, et. al., LANL Science 27, 226 (2002).

Seminars

• "Quantum Algorithms for Adiabatic Quantum Computation", Universite de Sherbrooke, Sherbrook, Quebec, Canada (August 2009).
• "Efficient discrete-time simulations of continuous time quantum query algorithms", selected for talk at 41st ACM Symp. on Theory of Comp., Bethesda, MD (June 2009)
• "Quantum Simulated Annealing", Theory Canada 5, New Brunswick, Canada (June 2009)
• "Efficient discrete-time simulations of continuous time quantum query algorithms", selected for a long talk at QIP 2009, Santa Fe, NM (January 2009).
• "Quantum Adiabatic Algorithms and Applications", IQC-Colloquium, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada (July 2008).
• "Quantum Simulated Annealing", University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (November 2007).
• "Optimal Quantum Measurements", SQuInt'07, Pasadena, USA (February 2007).
• "Quantum Simulations of Quantum and Classical Physics", Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts, USA (November 2006)
• "Optimal Quantum Measurements", CalTech Institute, Pasadena, USA (October 2006).
• "Generalized Entanglement and Simulations of Quantum Systems", Quantum-Classical transition and Quantum Information Workshop, Benasque, Spain (June 2006).
• "A Tutorial on Generalized Entanglement", Queensland University, Australia (March 2006)
• o "Generalized Entanglement as a Resource for Efficient Computation", Caltech Institute, Pasadena, USA (March 2005).
• "Generalized Entanglement and Quantum Phase Transitions", QMBT XII conference, Santa Fe, USA (August 2004).
• "Generalized Entanglement", Workshop on Quantum Information, ISI, Turin, Italy (June 2004).
• "Simulation of Physical Systems with Quantum Computers", Workshop on Quantum Information, ISI, Turin, Italy (June 2004).
• " Generalized Entanglement and Many-Body Physics", Universitat de Illes Balears, Mallorca, Spain (June 2004).
• PIRSA:08080054, Efficient tomography of generalized coherent states, 2008-08-27, Quantum Estimation: Theory and Practice
• PIRSA:08050033, Quantum Simulations of Classical Annealing Processes, 2008-05-02, Quantum Information and Graph Theory: Emerging Connections
• PIRSA:07010006, Quantum Simulations of Quantum and Classical Systems, 2007-01-22, Perimeter Institute Quantum Discussions