Quantum computing and quantum information processing has the potential to significantly change the world of computing, communications and security. The main reason behind that, is that problems that have been considered "hard" or even "impossible" in the classical computing, are now becoming solvable if we try to solve them in the quantum world. Whereas most of the work on quantum computing focuses on the development of monolithic stand-alone quantum computers, the time of distributed quantum computing will come. This project sets out to extend the network-theoretic mathematical framework with techniques and simulation tools from quantum computing, to develop a theoretical foundation for determining the performance limits and capabilities of the infrastructures that supports generation of end-to-end entanglements among multiple users. Furthermore, it aims at developing algorithms to fairly allocate the resources (quantum memories, quantum processors etc.) among the different users, satisfying as many requests for end-to-end entanglements as possible. The modeling and optimization of such quantum networking systems is crucial for two main reasons:
1) Through such networks, a ‘quantum internet’ can be envisaged; with only moderate processing capabilities,
such an internet could accomplish tasks that are impossible in the realm of classical physics, and,
2) Quantum networking is crucial even inside individual quantum computers, for the reliable transportation of quantum information between
processing and memory modules.
The societal impacts of quantum networks are multiple; physics-based secure communications and data privacy, distributed quantum computing, improved sensing, blind quantum computing, secure private-bid auctions, counterfeit-proof currency, tamper-proof sensors and many others.