Aram Harrow '01 PhD '05

Professor of Physics
His research focuses on quantum information and computing.
Research Areas
Quantum Information Science
(617) 253-5723
Office: 6-318
Affiliated Center(s): MIT Center for Theoretical Physics, MIT Center for Quantum Engineering
Assistant: Charles Suggs

Research Interests

  • Theoretical quantum information science
  • Quantum algorithms
  • The role of quantum information in many-body physics

Biographical Sketch

Aram Harrow grew up in Michigan before attending MIT for his undergraduate (math and physics, 2001) and graduate (physics, 2005) degrees. He then served as a lecturer in the math and computer science departments of the University of Bristol for five years, and as a research assistant professor at the University of Washington for two years. In 2013, he joined the MIT Physics department as an assistant professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Physics with tenure in 2018 and to full Professor in 2022.

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In the news
Quantum blackjack
In the news

Can a quantum strategy help bring down the house?

Study finds quantum entanglement could, in principle, give a slight advantage in the game of blackjack.

Awards & Honors

  • 2023 // Simons Investigator
  • 2020 // Applied NISQ Computing paper award, USRA-Q2B, 2020 "for the paper Small quantum computers and large classical data sets"
  • 2018 // Rolf Landauer and Charles H. Bennett Award in Quantum Computing (APS) "for outstanding accomplishments in the mathematics of quantum information, and the development of new algorithmic primitives for quantum computers."
  • 2017 // Best Paper Award, IEEE Information Theory Society
  • 2017 // Buechner Faculty Award for Undergraduate Advising, MIT Physics
  • 2016 // Kavli Frontiers Fellow
  • 2009 // APS Outstanding Referee

Key Publications

  • Aram W. Harrow. Small quantum computers and large classical data sets. https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.00026

  • Fernando G. S. L. Brandao, Aram W. Harrow, Michal Horodecki. Local random quantum circuits are approximate polynomial-designs. Commun. Math. Phys. (2016) vol. 346, no. 2, pp. 397-434.

  • Charles H. Bennett, Igor Devetak, Aram W. Harrow, Peter W. Shor, Andreas Winter. Quantum Reverse Shannon Theorem. IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 2926-2959, May 2014

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