A striking result from his thesis concerns low-energy states of quantum systems, which determine how molecules and materials behave. These states are central in fields such as chemistry and materials science. For example, they help predict the stability of new materials or how a potential drug molecule binds to a target protein.
Weggemans studied how classical and quantum computers can work together to solve such problems more efficiently: he shows that for certain realistic physical models, a quantum computer can accurately calculate the energy of a system once a crude initial trial state obtained via classical computation is available - a task that would take classical computers far longer. In addition, he investigated how quantum information can make the verification of complex proofs more efficient, and when quantum data can greatly reduce the number samples needed to solve a problem. Together, these studies show where quantum methods can truly offer an advantage, and where their limits lie.
About Jordi Weggemans
Weggemans carried out his PhD work at CWI’s Algorithms & Complexity group. He was also affiliated with QuSoft, the the Dutch research center for quantum software & technology. His research was partly funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs through the Quantum Delta NL programme.
For his earlier master thesis at the University of Twente, supervised by Kareljan Schoutens (UvA) and hosted by CWI and QuSoft, Jordi Weggemans won the Lorentz Graduation Prize for Theoretical Physics 2021. The prize was awarded by the Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (KHMW).
Weggemans' new results of his PhD research at CWI open new avenues for quantum algorithms and experiments, helping to shape the next generation of technologies in computation, chemistry and materials science.
