Register

Adv. Query

Q&A (4871)

Reviews (203)

Open problems (47)
Meta (439)

Site Statistics

205 submissions , 163 unreviewed
5,082 questions , 2,232 unanswered
5,353 answers , 22,789 comments
1,470 users with positive rep
820 active unimported users
More ...

Masters in computer science (A.I) or masters in theoretical physics for career in quantum computation and a.i?

1412 views

I'm currently in my final year of BSc(Hons) in mathematics and computer science & A.I (applied math stream). Indeed, I'm starting to think about what masters I want to pursue and the kind of subject I would like to specialize in. I am really interested in quantum computation and the prospects of quantum artificial intelligence, but I am unsure how I can go about this. The imperial college London would be my top choice if I had to undertake a masters in artificial intelligence but it has only one unit called quantum computation in its syllabus so it may not be sufficient background for me to build or pursue a further career in this field, especially if I want to continue to a phd. Then again I am not sure, maybe I'll be allowed to consider quantum computation for my dissertation and it will not matter anyway. I was also considering taking a masters in theoretical physics (if I am allowed of course) and this will give me a good foundation for quantum computation, but this scares me since it seems like a massive jump from mathematics and computer science. In the end I really want to conduct research on quantum computation and artificial intelligence so this is a very confusing situation for me. Any insight that can be shared on this matter? Which choice should I consider more for this path?

asked Oct 9, 2014 in Theoretical Physics by james [ no revision ]

Not sure if this question is appropriate for PO (don't be surprised if it gets removed) but my advice would be Master's in Quantum Computation or something that will teach you some basics of QM and Quantum Computing. I think Leeds has a decent program. If you have not done undergrad QM, Classical Field Theory, Classical Mech and other similar courses you will struggle big time in a Master's in Theoretical Physics.

commented Oct 9, 2014 by conformal_gk (3,625 points) [ no revision ]

Your comment on this question:

To answer, leave an answer instead. Comments are usually for non-answers.
To mask links under text, please type your text, highlight it, and click the "link" button. You can then enter your link URL.
To alert a user, please use the "@" command and remove spaces from the username, example, the user "John Doe" should be pinged as "@JohnDoe", while the user "Johndoe" should be pinged as "@Johndoe". The post author is always automatically pinged (unless you are the post author).
Please consult the FAQ for as to how to format your post.

Live preview (may slow down editor) Preview

Your name to display (optional):

Email me at this address if a comment is added after mine:

Privacy: Your email address will only be used for sending these notifications.

Anti-spam verification:

[captcha placeholder]

Please complete the anti-spam verification

1 Answer

I'd recommend to take master and PhD in Computer Science or a specialized subfield if this is possible.

One needs fairly little physics for understanding quantum computations (just rudiments of quantum mechanics in finite Hilbert spaces), but you can't know enough of certain areas in Computer science to be competent in artificial intelligence.

On the other hand, doing a master in physics without the knowledge of a MSc in Physics is very hard.

answered Oct 10, 2014 by Arnold Neumaier (15,787 points) [ no revision ]

Your comment on this answer:

To answer, leave an answer instead. Comments are usually for non-answers.
To mask links under text, please type your text, highlight it, and click the "link" button. You can then enter your link URL.
To alert a user, please use the "@" command and remove spaces from the username, example, the user "John Doe" should be pinged as "@JohnDoe", while the user "Johndoe" should be pinged as "@Johndoe". The post author is always automatically pinged (unless you are the post author).
Please consult the FAQ for as to how to format your post.

Live preview (may slow down editor) Preview

Your name to display (optional):

Email me at this address if a comment is added after mine:

Privacy: Your email address will only be used for sending these notifications.

Anti-spam verification:

[captcha placeholder]

Please complete the anti-spam verification

Your answer

Please use answers only to (at least partly) answer questions. To comment, discuss, or ask for clarification, leave a comment instead.
To mask links under text, please type your text, highlight it, and click the "link" button. You can then enter your link URL.
Please consult the FAQ for as to how to format your post.
This is the answer box; if you want to write a comment instead, please use the 'add comment' button.

Live preview (may slow down editor) Preview

Your name to display (optional):

Email me at this address if my answer is selected or commented on:

Privacy: Your email address will only be used for sending these notifications.

Anti-spam verification:

If you are a human please identify the position of the character covered by the symbol $\varnothing$ in the following word:
p$\hbar$ysicsO$\varnothing$erflow
Then drag the red bullet below over the corresponding character of our banner. When you drop it there, the bullet changes to green (on slow internet connections after a few seconds).

Please complete the anti-spam verification

user contributions licensed under cc by-sa 3.0 with attribution required

Your rights

...