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Eric R. Anschuetz

Burke Fellow at Caltech

Education

Ph.D. in Physics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2017 - 2023

M.A. in Physics

Harvard University
2015 - 2017

B.A. in Physics and Mathematics

Harvard University
2013 - 2017

About

I’m a Burke Fellow at Caltech working on the (quantum || classical) algorithmic implications of (quantum || classical) spin glass theory. Some of my past research applied these techniques to quantum machine learning algorithms, which I showed generally fail to train due to a proliferation of poor local minima in their optimization landscapes. Learning why algorithms break has also helped me design ones that don’t.

Check out my CV if you want to see more details on some of my highlighted work or just more details about me in general.

Sometimes this page is out of date; check out my Google Scholar or my arXiv page to see what I’ve been up to recently!

Publications

  • Average-case quantum complexity from glassiness
    • A. Zlokapa, B.T. Kiani, E.R. Anschuetz
    arXiv:2510.08497 [quant-ph]
  • Decoded Quantum Interferometry Requires Structure
    • E.R. Anschuetz, D. Gamarnik, J.Z. Lu
    arXiv:2509.14509 [quant-ph]
  • k-Contextuality as a Heuristic for Memory Separations in Learning
    • M.H. Teo, W. Yang, J. Sud, T. Tomesh, F.T. Chong, E.R. Anschuetz
    IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE) (2025)
  • Optimizing Sparse SYK
    • M. Ding, R. King, B.T. Kiani, E.R. Anschuetz
    arXiv:2506.09037 [quant-ph]
  • Efficient Learning Implies Quantum Glassiness
    • E.R. Anschuetz
    arXiv:2505.00087 [quant-ph]
  • Strongly Interacting Fermions Are Nontrivial yet Nonglassy
    • E.R. Anschuetz, C.-F. Chen, B.T. Kiani, R. King
    Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 030602 (2025)
  • A Unified Theory of Quantum Neural Network Loss Landscapes
    • E.R. Anschuetz
    International Conference on Learning Representations (2025)
  • Bounds on the Ground State Energy of Quantum p-Spin Hamiltonians
    • E.R. Anschuetz, D. Gamarnik, B.T. Kiani
    Commun. Math. Phys. 406, 232 (2025)
  • Q-CHOP: Quantum constrained Hamiltonian optimization
    • M.A. Perlin, R. Shaydulin, ..., E.R. Anschuetz, M. Pistoia, P. Gokhale
    arXiv:2403.05653 [quant-ph]
  • Arbitrary Polynomial Separations in Trainable Quantum Machine Learning
    • E.R. Anschuetz, X. Gao
    arXiv:2402.08606 [quant-ph]
  • Does provable absence of barren plateaus imply classical simulability?
    • M. Cerezo, M. Larocca, D. García-Martín, ..., E.R. Anschuetz, Z. Holmes
    Nat. Commun. 16, 7907 (2025)
  • The Trainability and Expressivity of Quantum Machine Learning Models
    • E.R. Anschuetz
    Ph.D. thesis
  • Combinatorial NLTS From the Overlap Gap Property
    • E.R. Anschuetz, D. Gamarnik, B. Kiani
    Quantum 8, 1527 (2024)
  • SupercheQ: Quantum Advantage for Distributed Databases
    • P. Gokhale, E.R. Anschuetz, C. Campbell et al.
    Tech. Rep. (Infleqtion, 2022)
  • Efficient classical algorithms for simulating symmetric quantum systems
    • E.R. Anschuetz, A. Bauer, B.T. Kiani, S. Lloyd
    Quantum 7, 1189 (2023)
  • Training Quantum Boltzmann Machines with Coresets
    • J. Viszlai, T. Tomesh, P. Gokhale, E. Anschuetz, F.T. Chong
    IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE) (2022)
  • Interpretable Quantum Advantage in Neural Sequence Learning
    • E.R. Anschuetz, H.-Y. Hu, J.-L. Huang, X. Gao
    PRX Quantum 4, 020338 (2023)
  • Degeneracy engineering for classical and quantum annealing: A case study of sparse linear regression in collider physics
    • E.R. Anschuetz, L. Funcke, P.T. Komiske, S. Kryhin, J. Thaler
    Phys. Rev. D 106, 056008 (2022)
  • Quantum variational algorithms are swamped with traps
    • E.R. Anschuetz, B.T. Kiani
    Nat. Commun. 13, 7760 (2022)
  • ORQVIZ: Visualizing High-Dimensional Landscapes in Variational Quantum Algorithms
    • M.S. Rudolph, S. Sim, A. Raza, M. Stechly, J.R. McClean, E.R. Anschuetz, L. Serrano, A. Perodomo-Ortiz
    Tech. Rep. (Zapata Computing Inc., 2021)
  • Critical Points in Quantum Generative Models
    • E.R. Anschuetz
    International Conference on Learning Representations (2022)
  • Enhancing Generative Models via Quantum Correlations
    • X. Gao, E.R. Anschuetz, S.-T. Wang, J.I. Cirac, M.D. Lukin
    Phys. Rev. X 12, 021037 (2022)
  • Coreset Clustering on Small Quantum Computers
    • T. Tomesh, P. Gokhale, E.R. Anschuetz, F.T. Chong
    Electronics 10, 1690 (2021)
  • Using Spectral Graph Theory to Map Qubits onto Connectivity-limited Devices
    • J.X. Lin, E.R. Anschuetz, A.W. Harrow
    ACM Trans. Quantum Comput. 2, 1 (2021)
  • Near-term quantum-classical associative adversarial networks
    • E.R. Anschuetz, C. Zanoci
    Phys. Rev. A 100, 052327 (2019)
  • Realizing Quantum Boltzmann Machines Through Eigenstate Thermalization
    • E.R. Anschuetz, Y. Cao
    arxiv:1903.01359 [quant-ph]
    Results featured as an invited talk at the Quantum Machine Learning and Data Analytics Workshop (2019).
  • Variational Quantum Factoring
    • E. Anschuetz, J. Olson, A. Aspuru-Guzik, Y. Cao
    International Workshop on Quantum Technology and Optimization Problems (Springer, 2019) pp. 74–85
  • Atom-by-atom assembly of defect-free one-dimensional cold atom arrays
    • M. Endres, H. Bernien, A. Keesling, H. Levine, E.R. Anschuetz, A. Krajenbrink, C. Senko, V. Vuletic, M. Greiner, M.D. Lukin
    Science 354, 1024 (2016)

    Talks

  • A Unified Theory of Quantum Neural Network Loss Landscapes
    • Quantum Techniques in Machine Learning (QTML) (2025)
  • Efficient Learning Implies Quantum Glassiness
    • Invited talk, AIMS Workshop and School on The Theory of Quantum Learning Algorithms (2025)
  • Efficient Learning Implies Quantum Glassiness
    • Invited talk, Foxconn Quantum Computing Seminar (2025)
  • Decoded Quantum Interferometry Requires Structure
    • Invited talk, Caltech Theory Tea (2025)
  • Efficient Learning Implies Quantum Glassiness
    • Invited talk, Quantum Many-Body Seminar, F.U. Berlin (2025)
  • A Unified Theory of Quantum Neural Network Loss Landscapes
    • Theory of Quantum Computation, Communication and Cryptography (TQC) (2025)
  • A Unified Theory of Quantum Neural Network Loss Landscapes
    • Invited talk, Understanding Quantum Machine Learning Workshop (2025)
  • Efficient Learning Implies Quantum Glassiness
    • Invited talk, University of Bologna Seminar (2025)
  • Arbitrary Polynomial Separations in Trainable Quantum Machine Learning
    • Invited talk, Quantum Techniques in Machine Learning (QTML) (2024)
  • Arbitrary Polynomial Separations in Trainable Quantum Machine Learning
    • Invited talk, aQa seminar (2024)
  • A Unified Theory of Quantum Neural Network Loss Landscapes
    • Invited talk, Quantum Machine Learning seminar, Google (2024)
  • Rethinking Quantum Learning Algorithms
    • Invited keynote talk, MMM11 (2024)
  • A Unified Theory of Quantum Neural Network Loss Landscapes
    • Invited talk, Quantum Learning Seminar, F.U. Berlin (2024)
  • Arbitrary Polynomial Separations in Trainable Quantum Machine Learning
    • Invited talk, QED-C Quantum Talent Showcase (2024)
  • Arbitrary Polynomial Separations in Trainable Quantum Machine Learning
    • Invited talk, SeeQA (2024)
  • Arbitrary Polynomial Separations in Trainable Quantum Machine Learning
    • Invited talk, Los Alamos National Laboratory (2024)
  • Quantum Theory and Algorithms
    • Invited talk, Planning Workshop on Quantum Computing, ASPLOS (2024)
  • Rethinking Quantum Neural Networks
    • Invited talk, CSUN (2024)
  • Interpretable Expressivity Separations in Trainable Quantum Machine Learning
    • Invited talk, IQIM Seminar, Caltech (2024)
  • Enhancing Generative Models via Quantum Correlations
    • Invited talk, Tensor Network Reading Group, Mila (2023)
  • A discussion on QML
    • Panel, CIFAR Quantum Information Science Program Meeting (2023)
  • Interpretable Quantum Advantage in Neural Sequence Learning
    • Invited talk, Centre for Quantum Technologies (2023)
  • Efficient classical algorithms for simulating symmetric quantum systems
    • Invited talk, Centre for Quantum Technologies (2023)
  • The Expressive Power of Restricted Quantum Machine Learning Architectures
    • Invited talk, QHack (2023)
  • Contextuality for Quantum Advantage
    • Invited tutorial, Harvard University (2022)
  • Interpretable Quantum Advantage in Neural Sequence Learning
    • Invited talk, Masaryk University (2022)
  • Critical Points in Hamiltonian Agnostic Variational Quantum Algorithms
    • Invited talk, Quantum Research Seminars Toronto (2021)
  • Critical Points in Hamiltonian Agnostic Variational Quantum Algorithms
    • Invited talk, Centre for Quantum Technologies (2021)
  • Critical Points in Hamiltonian Agnostic Variational Quantum Algorithms
    • Invited talk, Quantum Algorithms and Applications seminar, Microsoft (2021)
  • Quantum Advantage in Basis-Enhanced Neural Sequence Models
    • Quantum Techniques in Machine Learning (QTML) (2021)
  • Near-Term Quantum-Classical Associative Adversarial Networks
    • Quantum Techniques in Machine Learning (QTML) (2020)
  • Quantum Machine Learning on NISQ Devices
    • Invited talk, Condensed Matter Seminar, Tufts University (2020)
  • Improved Training of Quantum Boltzmann Machines
    • American Physical Society March Meeting (2019)

    Notes

    Contextuality for Quantum Advantage - Invited tutorial, Harvard University
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 13
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 12
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 11
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 10
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 9
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 8
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 7
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 6
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 5
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 4
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 3
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 2
    MIT 8.311 Recitation Notes - Week 1