We are offering a fully-funded PhD position for four years to pursue unique research on random quantum circuits and applications to, among others, quantum chemistry. The successful candidate will join the teams of Dr. Markus Heinrich at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of Cologne and of Prof. Matteo Rizzi at PGI-8 at the Forschungszentrum Jülich.

Random unitaries are a ubiquitous tool in quantum information and quantum computing, with applications in the characterization of quantum hardware, quantum algorithms, quantum cryptography and complexity theory, and in the chaotic dynamics of quantum many-body systems. Moreover, a breakthrough result in 2024 shows that random unitaries can often be constructed by short-depth quantum circuits, making these techniques particularly promising for early quantum applications. You will investigate techniques for the construction of random unitaries based on random quantum circuits and study their performance for a range of applications. A focus will lie on quantum algorithms for many-body systems, in particular on classical shadows. Here, you will also transfer results for qubits to fermions, which are highly relevant, for instance, in quantum chemistry. Your research will be embedded in international collaborations with renowned experts, offering plenty of opportunities for close cooperation.

Learn more / how to apply:

The position is offered by FZ Jülich and compensated according to pay group 13 (75 %) of the Collective Agreement for the Public Service (TVöD-Bund) [ca. 2300 EUR/month after taxes and social/health insurance].

To read the full job advertisement, consult the FZ Jülich website, where you can find more details and also a link to the application system.

Applications until 18 May will be fully considered. Afterwards, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

About FZ Jülich and the University of Cologne

Forschungszentrum Jülich (translation “Jülich Research Centre”) is a German national research institution near Cologne that pursues interdisciplinary research such as quantum technologies. The Peter Grünberg Institute for Quantum Control (PGI-8) at the Forschungszentrum Jülich specializes in novel optimization strategies for emerging quantum technologies. These emerging technologies aim to provide transformative changes to our society, including how we think about information, and unlocking vast calculations for the natural sciences, logistical problem solving, and high-performance computation. Our group has pioneered the application of quantum optimal control methods to quantum computation and many-body quantum systems. Moreover, we have been driving the development of tensor networks techniques for many-body systems, allowing to numerically manage quantum entanglement in a practical way. By their use, we explore synthetic quantum matter and we also benchmark the computational gain attainable via noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices.

The University of Cologne is one of Germany’s largest universities (>45000 students) located centrally in the lively city of Cologne. The Institute for Theoretical Physics’s research focus is on many-body physics, quantum information, and quantum gravity. The new quantum randomness group of M. Heinrich will contribute to this by fundamental research on random quantum circuits and the efficient design of randomized quantum algorithms and protocols. We are moreover interested in exploring connections to quantum many and few-body systems.