Alexei Yurievich Kitaev (russian: Алексей Юрьевич Китаев; born August 26, 1963) is a Russian–American professor of
physics at the
California Institute of Technology and permanent member of the
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics.
[ He is best known for introducing the quantum phase estimation algorithm and the concept of the topological quantum computer while working at the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics. For this work, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2008. He is also known for introducing the complexity class ]QMA
In computational complexity theory, QMA, which stands for Quantum Merlin Arthur, is the set of languages for which, when a string is in the language, there is a polynomial-size quantum proof (a quantum state) that convinces a polynomial time qu ...
and showing the 2-local Hamiltonian problem is QMA-complete
Complete may refer to:
Logic
* Completeness (logic)
* Completeness of a theory, the property of a theory that every formula in the theory's language or its negation is provable
Mathematics
* The completeness of the real numbers, which implies t ...
, the most complete result for k-local Hamiltonians. Kitaev is also known for contributions to research on a model relevant to researchers of the AdS/CFT correspondence started by Subir Sachdev
Subir Sachdev is Herchel Smith Professor of Physics at Harvard University specializing in condensed matter. He was elected to the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences in 2014, and received the Lars Onsager Prize from the American Physical Society ...
and Jinwu Ye; this model is known as the Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (SYK) model.
Kitaev was educated in Russia, receiving an M.Sc. from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (1986), and a Ph.D. from the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics (1989). He served previously as a researcher (1999–2001) at Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...
, a research associate (1989–1998) at the Landau Institute and a professor at Caltech (2002–present).
Honors and awards
In 2008 Kitaev was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
In July 2012, he was an inaugural awardee of the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the creation of physicist and internet entrepreneur, Yuri Milner.
In 2015, he was jointly awarded the 2015 Dirac Medal by ICTP.
In 2017, he was, together with Xiao-Gang Wen, the winner of the Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize.
In 2021, he was elected into the National Academy of Sciences.
Political positions
In February–March 2022, he signed an open letter by Breakthrough Prize laureates condemning the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.An open letter from Breakthrough Prize laureates
/ref>
See also
*Solovay–Kitaev theorem
In quantum information and computation, the Solovay–Kitaev theorem says, roughly, that if a set of single-qubit quantum gates generates a dense subset of SU(2), then that set can be used to approximate any desired quantum gate with a relatively ...
*Curvature Renormalization Group Method In theoretical physics, the curvature renormalization group (CRG) method is an analytical approach to determine the phase boundaries and the Critical phenomena, critical behavior of Topological order, topological systems. Topological phases are phas ...
* Magic state distillation
* Quantum circuit
* Quantum threshold theorem
*Quantum Interactive Polynomial time In computational complexity theory, the class QIP (which stands for Quantum Interactive Polynomial time) is the quantum computing analogue of the classical complexity class IP, which is the set of problems solvable by an interactive proof system w ...
* Topological entanglement entropy
* Toric code
*Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev model
In condensed matter physics and black hole physics, the Sachdev–Ye–Kitaev (SYK) model is an exactly solvable model initially proposed by Subir Sachdev and Jinwu Ye, and later modified by Alexei Kitaev to the present commonly used form. The mod ...
References
External links
* http://www.macfound.org/fellows/802/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitaev, Alexei
Living people
MacArthur Fellows
California Institute of Technology faculty
Soviet physicists
20th-century American physicists
Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Simons Investigator
Quantum information scientists
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology alumni
Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize winners
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
1963 births