Francisca Vasconcelos
@franvasco.bsky.social
280 followers 82 following 12 posts
CS PhD Student @ UC Berkeley Interested in Quantum Computing & ML Qubit x Qubit Founding Academic Director https://franciscavasconcelos.github.io/
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
franvasco.bsky.social
I was very excited to present my first research project on quantum algorithms at QSim 2025! This work, joint with András Gilyén, develops new space-time and space-accuracy tradeoffs for manipulation of block encodings, helping reduce ancilla-overhead in quantum algorithms.

youtu.be/7AaZzzoSAic?...
Francisca Vasconcelos: “Methods for Reducing Ancilla-Overhead in Block Encodings”
YouTube video by Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation
youtu.be
franvasco.bsky.social
Beyond cryptographic implications, our approach yields novel average‑case learning lower bounds for QAC⁰ and suggests a new path towards proving Parity ∉ QAC⁰, a longstanding open problem in quantum complexity.
franvasco.bsky.social
Namely, by considering physically motivated models of computation—such as QAC⁰ and constant-depth circuits with mid-circuit measurements—we surpass prior constructions requiring Θ(log log n) depth.
franvasco.bsky.social
What better way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of quantum mechanics than a foundations conference in Gdańsk? I especially enjoyed learning about modern work on contextuality, quantum speed limits, & generalized probability + sharing ideas on connections between quantum logic and the QSVT ⚛️
franvasco.bsky.social
I had a lot of fun giving my first philosophy (lightning) talk and catching up with quantum learning theory friends at Foundations of Quantum Computing 2025, in Edinburgh!
Reposted by Francisca Vasconcelos
Reposted by Francisca Vasconcelos
davidho.bsky.social
I think a lot about what Carl Sagan said in one of his final interviews.
"WE'VE ARRANGED A society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance and power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces. Who is running the science and technology in a democracy if the people don't know anything about it?"
"Science is more than a body of knowledge, it's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we're up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along."
franvasco.bsky.social
Last week, I spoke at the Surfing the Ocean ERC seminar on faster classical algorithms for finding Nash equilibria of quantum zero-sum games. In particular, we achieve an O(1/\eps) convergence rate -- a quadratic speedup over the Jain-Watrous MMWU algorithm (2009).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw0J...
Surfing the OCEAN - Francisca Vasconcelos
YouTube video by Erc Ocean
www.youtube.com
franvasco.bsky.social
On behalf of Qubit x Qubit:

🚀 Calling all Quantum Computing and Cybersecurity Companies in NY!

We're seeking internship hosts in NY state to provide hands-on experience in quantum computing and cybersecurity!

📨 If you’re in NY state and are interested in more details, email us at [email protected].
franvasco.bsky.social
At QTML 2024, I spoke about recent work with Robert Huang on "Learning shallow quantum circuits with many-qubit gates" (a.k.a. efficient learning of QAC^0 unitaries). In this ~15min talk I discuss the project motivation, key results, and high-level proof ideas.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRiJ...
Learning shallow quantum circuits with many-qubit gates - Francisca Vasconcelos
YouTube video by QTML Conference
www.youtube.com
franvasco.bsky.social
Very excited that our work was featured on @tomgur.bsky.social's 2024 advent calendar, alongside many great math/TCS talks from the year! 😊
tomgur.bsky.social
Day #11: Francisca Vasconcelos on the Pauli spectrum of QAC^0. This work provides an exciting new approach toward proving quantum circuit lower bounds via a quantum analogue of Fourier analysis, called Pauli analysis.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpRp...
Francisca Vasconcelos (Berkeley) — On the Pauli Spectrum of QAC^0
YouTube video by QuSoft
www.youtube.com
Reposted by Francisca Vasconcelos
jenseisert.bsky.social
Day two of #qtml2024 brings another bouquet of exciting talks, e.g, by Maria Schuld and Kristan Temme - and also my plenary talk and a small technical talk have been happening today. I like how the meeting is developing: Lots of solid, rigorous technical work.