Scott Aaronson

American computer scientist and quantum-complexity theorist (University of Texas at Austin), known for defining the complexity class PostBQP and proving, in a 2005 paper, that PostBQP equals PP — that postselected quantum computation is exactly as powerful as counting classical computation with postselection.

Matters to this vault as the one documented computer-science-side node this quantum-foundations cluster cites directly: his PostBQP = PP theorem is the complexity-theoretic engine behind the postselected-closed-timelike-curve (P-CTC) computational-power results in Lloyd et al. (2010) and Brun & Wilde (2012) — even though his own 2005 paper never engages Yakir Aharonov's retrocausal program; its one "Aharonov" citation is to Dorit Aharonov, a different person. See claim-aaronson-2005-postselection-paper-cites-dorit-aharonov-not-yakir-aharonov.

References

• claim-lloyd-et-al-2010-p-ctc-paper-cites-aharonov-weak-value-and-aaronson-postselection
• claim-brun-wilde-2012-extends-p-ctc-aaronson-postselection-citation-chain-to-factoring
• claim-aaronson-2005-postselection-paper-cites-dorit-aharonov-not-yakir-aharonov