On Quantum Computation Theory Wim van Dam On Quantum Computation Theory ILLC Dissertation Series 2002-04 For further information about ILLC-publications, please contact Institute for Logic, Language and Computation Universiteit van Amsterdam Plantage Muidergracht 24 1018 TV Amsterdam phone: +31-20-525 6051 fax: +31-20-525 5206 e-mail:
[email protected] homepage: http://www.illc.uva.nl/ On Quantum Computation Theory ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. mr. P.F. van der Heijden ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula der Universiteit op woensdag 9 oktober 2002, te 14.00 uur door Willem Klaas van Dam geboren te Breda. Promotor: Prof. dr. P.M.B. Vitan´ yi Overige leden promotiecommissie: prof. dr. H.M. Buhrman prof. dr. A.K. Ekert prof. dr. B. Nienhuis dr. L. Torenvliet Faculteit der Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Informatica Copyright c W.K. van Dam, 2002 ISBN: 90–5776–091–6 “ : : : Many errors have been made in the world which today, it seems, even a child would not have made. How many crooked, out-of-the-way, narrow, impassable, and devious paths has humanity chosen in the attempt to attain eternal truth, while before it the straight road lay open, like the road leading to a magnificent building destined to become a royal palace. It is wider and more resplendent than all the other paths, lying as it does in the full glare of the sun and lit up by many lights at night, but men have streamed past it in blind darkness.