🦊 FOCS 2026 Workshop:
Validating quantum devices: from practice to theory

⏰ Date:

How can we characterize the behavior of a quantum device, or validate that it is performing according to specifications? This basic question is subtle for several reasons special to the quantum world: measurements of quantum systems only yield partial information and are generally destructive; full tomographic procedures require resources that grow exponentially with system size; and natural information-theoretically optimal protocols may rely on operations that cannot yet be implemented reliably in the laboratory. The challenge, therefore, is not only to design validation protocols with rigorous guarantees, but to make those guarantees compatible with experimental constraints.

The goal of this workshop is to bring the experimental priorities behind the certification and validation of quantum devices in conversation with recent progress on the theory side. The main theme will be the design of provably sound protocols under experimentally meaningful restrictions, such as local measurements, limited coherent control, imperfect state preparation and measurement, or access to only small parts of many-body systems. These topics are not only of practical relevance, but also give rise to deep theoretical questions with connections to many areas of interest to the wider FOCS community, including quantum information theory, property testing, learning theory, analysis of Boolean functions, and representation theory. Our hope is that the workshop will provide a broad audience with an accessible entry point to these questions, as well as uncover new open problems where theory can have an immediate impact on practice.

Organizers

Program: The workshop will take place at Warren Weaver Hall, 251 Mercer Street, Room 101.

You may also be interested in the workshop "TCS problems in quantum architecture and compilation", happening in the afternoon on the same day (same location).