As part of Fellesløft IV, the Research Council of Norway and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo has awarded the project QOMBINE, Mathematics for quantum computation and manybody theory, 25 MNOK. Prof. Nadia Larsen at the Department of Mathematics is the leader of the consortium behind the application.
Apart from Simen Kvaal at the Hylleraas Centre, the participants of QOMBINE are Nadia Larsen, Erik Bedos, Sergiy Neshveyev, Alexander Müller-Hermes and Makoto Yamashita at the Department of Mathematics, Franz Fuchs at SINTEF, and Joakim Bergli at the Department of Physicsl. Simen Kvaal will hire one PhD student on the QOMBINE project.
The QOMBINE project is interdisciplinary and seeks to develop new mathematical methods for central problems of quantum technology. Among the topics to be developed is a new mathematical framework for coupled-cluster theory, one of the most important quantum-chemical computational methods. Even if coupled-cluster theory for molecular systems is relatively well understood from a mathematical viewpoint, Kvaal, Neshveyev, and Larsen will use C*-algebra to unify theory for electrons, protons, and other elementary particles, in addition to quasiparticle like anyons and Majorana fermions. The latter are important building blocks in the development of topological quantum computers.
The QOMBINE project is a Large-scale Interdisciplinary Researcher Project, of the Research Council of Norway:
"Funding is intended to advance the research front by providing larger-scale allocations to interdisciplinary projects. The Research Council will provide support for researchers from different subject areas to work together to generate new knowledge that would not be possible to obtain without interdisciplinary cooperation. This call is open for project proposals in all disciplines and areas of research, and applicants must have demonstrated the ability to conduct research of high scientific quality."