Hen Lab

PhD Physics, Tel-Aviv University, 2009
Research Team Leader, Information Sciences Institute
Supervising Computer Scientist, Information Sciences Institute
Research Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Personal Web: https://sites.usc.edu/itayhen/

My research interests cover two main areas: Quantum Computing and Computational Physics. In the quantum computing arena my research revolves around developing gate-based quantum simulation algorithms and studying the power as well as limitations of analog quantum computers (quantum annealers). My interests in computational physics are devising practical methods for studying the equilibrium (and to a certain extent also non-equilibrium) properties of strongly correlated quantum many-body systems.

Recent Publications

1. “A quantum Monte Carlo algorithm for arbitrary spin-1/2 Hamiltonians” by by L. Barash, Arman Babakhani and Itay Hen, arXiv:2307.06503 (2023).
2. “3-Regular 3-XORSAT Planted Solutions Benchmark of Classical and Quantum Heuristic Optimizers”, by M. Kowalsky, T. Albash, I. Hen and D. A. Lidar, Quantum Sci. Technol. 7 025008 (2022).
3. “Calculating elements of matrix functions using divided differences” by L. Barash, S. Güttel and I. Hen, Computer Physics Communications 271, 108219 (2022).
4. “A quantum algorithm for time-dependent Hamiltonian simulation by permutation expansion” by Y.-H. Chen, A. Kalev, and I. Hen, PRX Quantum 2, 030342 (2021).
5. “An integral-free representation of the Dyson series using divided differences” by A. Kalev and I. Hen, New J. Phys. 23, 103035 (2021).
6. “Determining quantum Monte Carlo simulability with geometric phases” by I. Hen, Physical Review Research 3, 023080 (2021). 
7. “Quantum Algorithm for Simulating Hamiltonian Dynamics with an Off-diagonal Series Expansion” by A. Kalev and I. Hen, Quantum 5, 426 (2021).
8. “Permutation Matrix Representation Quantum Monte Carlo” by L. Gupta, T. Albash and I. Hen. arXiv:1908.03740 (2019).
9. “Temperature scaling law for quantum annealing optimizers” by T. Albash, V. Martin-Mayor and I. Hen. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 110502 (2017).
10. “On the Computational Complexity of Curing the Sign Problem” by M. Marvian, D. A. Lidar and I. Hen, Nature Communications, 1571 (2019).
11. “Analog Errors in Ising Machines’’ by T. Albash, V. Martin-Mayor and I. Hen. Quantum Science & Technology 4, 02LT03 (2019). arXiv:1806.03744.

Find out more about my recent talks