The School on Quantum Simulation concluded on September 11, 2026 at the Department of Physics of the University of Milan. The School was organized as a satellite event of RPMBT-23 – the 23rd International Conference on Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories.
The three-day programme brought together 70 Master’s students, PhD candidates and early-career researchers interested in using quantum processors to investigate many-body systems and problems that are particularly difficult to address with classical computers.
Lecturers Mario Motta of IBM Research and Alessandro Roggero of the University of Trento introduced participants to some of the core methods of digital quantum simulation.
- Trotter decompositions for real-time quantum evolution
- the Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE)
- time-dependent correlation functions
- measurement and error-mitigation techniques for present-day processors
A central feature of the School was the transition from theory to experimentation. During the hands-on sessions, participants implemented quantum-simulation protocols and ran them on real quantum systems using the IBM Quantum Platform and Lagrange, the five-qubit IQM Spark superconducting quantum computer installed in Turin.
Lagrange was jointly acquired by Fondazione LINKS, Politecnico di Torino and INRiM. It is hosted at Politecnico di Torino and managed by Fondazione LINKS. Reserved access to the system enabled participants to test the workflows developed during the course directly on a remotely operated physical quantum processor.
INRiM contributed to the organization of the School through researcher Gianluca Bertaina and supported the hands-on activities carried out on Lagrange. The Institute’s participation reflects its commitment to developing quantum technologies and training a new generation of researchers, while strengthening the connection between the School and Turin’s growing quantum-computing ecosystem.
Direct access to programmable quantum hardware provided participants with an advanced learning experience in which theoretical study was complemented by first-hand exploration of the capabilities and limitations of present-day quantum processors.