Position Description

The Director of the Theoretical Physics Center, Polish Academy of Sciences (CFT PAN), announces a competition for one PhD fellowship at CFT PAN, financed under the project “Towards a useful Quantum Advantage” TouQan (https://touqan.eu/), funded by the National Science Centre (NCN), registration number 2023/05/Y/ST2/00140 (ERA-NET Cofund QuantERA II). The project is led by Dr. hab. Michał Oszmaniec.

The proposed project concerns the use of indistinguishable particles (bosons, fermions, and more exotic variants subject to “parastatistics”) for quantum computing. Indistinguishable particles provide a versatile platform for computations (e.g., multiphoton interference or neutral atoms in optical traps) and can generate computationally hard problems suitable for quantum computers.

The project is funded by the international QuantERA TouQan grant, aiming to rigorously study the computational power of quantum simulators, especially in the context of quantum advantage, i.e., situations where quantum devices outperform classical ones.

Project scope:

  • Theoretical analysis of proposals for quantum advantage, focusing on Fermion Sampling and Boson Sampling schemes and their generalizations
  • Study of realistic scenarios with noise and imperfect protocol implementation (particle loss, partial distinguishability, gate errors)
  • Application of advanced mathematical tools (differential geometry, representation theory, high-dimensional probability) and numerical simulations
  • Investigation of Fermion Sampling robustness to local noise and experimental realizations
  • Analysis of Boson Sampling complexity under partial photon distinguishability and developing tools to characterize it
  • Study of quantum advantage schemes based on parastatistics

Requirements

  • Master’s degree in physics, mathematics, computer science, or related field
  • Very good English proficiency
  • Knowledge of basic concepts of quantum information theory and quantum computing
  • Interest in research in quantum computation
  • (Recommended) Knowledge of many-body quantum physics and second quantization methods
  • (Optional) Knowledge of complexity theory and advanced mathematical techniques
  • (Optional) Programming experience (C++, Python, Matlab, Mathematica) and quantum computing (Qiskit)

Required Documents

  1. CV including studies and research achievements, with a clause consenting to data processing for Warsaw4PhD recruitment purposes
  2. Motivation letter
  3. Copy of Master's degree or supervisor statement on the status of the Master's thesis and expected defense date
  4. Copies of documents confirming research or professional achievements
  5. At least one recommendation letter from a PhD-holding researcher
  6. Application to the Warsaw4PhD doctoral school

Applications should be submitted electronically via the recruitment system at http://www.warsaw4phd.eu from 25 July 2025 to 8 August 2025.

For questions, please contact: oszmaniec@cft.edu.pl

The fellowship will be awarded in accordance with Polish law and the NCN Council Resolution No. 124/2022 at 4,700 PLN net for 48 months, with the first 21 months funded by the QuantERA II project and the remaining 27 months from other sources.

The competition results will be announced by 15 September 2025.