Simulation of quantum systems is one of the pillars in the field of quantum technologies, and the nowadays available quantum processors constitute a reliable technology for this task. Francesco De Luca, Ian Gramese, and Carlo Zollo, three students who have attended the course of Advanced Quantum Mechanics taught by prof. Angelo Bassi, have recently published an article about the possibility to study the finite-size criticality of spin systems by means of variational quantum algorithms.

This work stemmed as a follow-up of the end-year project of the laboratory part of the course. This hands-on part of the course, tutored by dr. Michele Grossi (from CERN) and for this task assisted by dr. Antonio Mandarino (from the University of Gdansk), is devoted to giving the students the tools and the main ideas behind the flourishing field of quantum computing, improving their programming skills thanks to an end-to-end project that the students have to present at the end of the course.