Alexander Schmidhuber

About Me

I am a PhD student at the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics, co-advised by Aram Harrow and Seth Lloyd. I am broadly interested in the intersection of theoretical physics and theoretical computer science, with a focus on quantum computing.

I obtained a Bachelor's and Master's degree from ETH Zürich in Switzerland, where I studied physics and mathematics. Before joining MIT, I spent a year at Google Quantum AI in California.

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2023 -

Ph.D. in Physics. GPA 5.00/5.00.

ETH Zürich 2018 - 2022

M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Physics. With Distinction. Ranked 1^st in class.

News

[Jun 9, 2025] I am giving an invited talk for the Simons Collaboration on New Structures in Low-dimensional Topology at ICTP in Trieste.
[May 16, 2025] Invited talk at IVADO, University of Montréal, Canada.
[Apr 3, 2025] I am speaking at Tufts University about DQI.
[Mar 5, 2025] I am speaking at Harvard University, hosted by Anurag Anshu.
[Feb 24, 2025] Our DQI paper will be an invited long plenary talk at QIP'25!
[Feb 21, 2025] I am speaking at the CS Theory Seminar of Carnegie Mellon University.
[Jan 13, 2025] I will present my quartic speedup paper as a contributed talk at QIP'25 and SODA'25.
[Dec 13, 2024] I am speaking at Foxconn research on DQI.
[Sep 24, 2024] I am speaking at the Stanford QIQC seminar on polynomial quantum speedups.
[Sep 2024] I am speaking at Osaka University, Nagoya University, and Keio University during my visit to Japan in September.
[Sep 4, 2024] I am giving an invited talk for the Seeking Quantum Advantage Conference at Merton College, Oxford University.
[Aug 26, 2024] I am speaking at the CS Theory Colloquium of UC Santa Barbara, hosted by Murphy Niu.
[Jun 6, 2024] Invited talk at the Google Quantum Summer Symposium in Santa Barbara.

Publications

A quantum algorithm for Khovanov homology

Alexander Schmidhuber, Seth Lloyd, Michele Reilly, Paolo Zanardi, Aaron Lauda

Preprint (2025)

Abstract PDF

Phase estimation with partially randomized time evolution

Jakob Günther , Freek Witteveen, Alexander Schmidhuber, Marek Miller, Matthias Christandl, Aram Harrow

Preprint (2025)

Abstract PDF

Quantum computing and persistence in topological data analysis

Casper Gyurik, Alexander Schmidhuber, Robbie King, Vedran Dunjko, Ryu Hayakawa

Preprint (2024)

Abstract PDF

Classically estimating observables of noiseless quantum circuits

Armando Angrisani, Alexander Schmidhuber, Manuel Rudolph,
Marco Cerezo, Zoë Holmes, Hsin-Yuan Huang

Preprint (2024)

Abstract PDF

Optimization by decoded quantum interferometry

Stephen P. Jordan, Noah Shutty, Mary Wootters, Adam Zalcman,
Alexander Schmidhuber, Robbie King, Sergei V. Isakov, Ryan Babbush

Preprint (2024). Invited Plenary Talk at QIP'25

Abstract PDF

Quartic quantum speedups for planted inference

Alexander Schmidhuber, Ryan O'Donnell, Robin Kothari, Ryan Babbush

Preprint (2024), To be presented at QIP'25 and SODA'25

Abstract PDF

Measurement events relative to temporal quantum reference frames

Ladina Hausmann, Alexander Schmidhuber, Esteban Castro-Ruiz

Quantum 9, 1616 (2025)

Abstract PDF

Complexity-theoretic limitations on quantum algorithms for topological data analysis

Alexander Schmidhuber, Seth Lloyd

PRX Quantum 4, 040349 (2023)

Abstract PDF