Help with deciding electives: Differential Geometry or Quantum Info

[Somaiyah]

Hello everyone,

I wanted some help deciding which elective to choose. I am a junior and for my next semester I have the option to pick either Differential Geometry-I or Quantum Information. I am confused which one to choose. We will be doing QMII as a compulsory course next semester and I have an interest in doing QM later on but as of now, I also want to take as many maths courses as I can. What would be the best option?

Regards.

 

[mcastillo356]

Hi, Somaiyah, the one to choose is only whitin you. We can only give our opinion, i.e. what we would do in your case. But nothing, listen, nothing, none, can be definite; mine would be maths, because I love them.
I am old fogey, so I will say: "May the force be with you". Anyhow, good decision to pick opinions,i.e., to post.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Hi, Somaiyah, the one to choose is only whitin you. We can only give our opinion, i.e. what we would do in your case. But nothing, listen, nothing, none, can be definite

Yeah, it is true that the final decision is to be taken by the OP, but I do have faith in our Academic Advisors and other experienced members in this forum. They will surely be able to give the OP an informed opinion on what she could choose based on her interests, which will probably help her take a better decision, and all of us will get a chance to learn from the experience of the experts.

Since this thread has already been migrated from General Discussion to STEM Academic Advising, I will continue no further, and let the experts do their job.

 

[Astronuc]

I also want to take as many maths courses as I can

That seems like a partial answer to one's question.

If one wishes to determine which course would fulfill one's needs/requirements/desires, or in order to make an informed decision, one should look at the course syllabi (description) and perhaps browse the textbooks of the courses of interest. One should also talk with the faculty members teaching the courses, in addition to one's academic advisor. Ask oneself, would the course in differential geometry or quantum information add to one's understanding of subjects of interest and provide a prerequisite for future courses, or one's work (thesis and/or dissertation) in the future.

What math is involved in the Quantum Information course?

 

[Klystron]

I agree with @Astronuc that the OP's question indicates the answer.

Differential geometry seems the logical extension of studying undergrad mathematics with an emphasis on calculus. Note that PhysicsForums includes a differential geometry subforum that I find useful and informative.

Since the QM information course remains in the OP's syllabus, that information will be covered in due course. The differential geometry class could help the OP understand future physics classes. Other factors such as cost and availability affect the decision but, as a retired STEM professional including mentoring and teaching; I 'vote for' (suggest) completing the mathematics course. Thanks.

 

[f95toli]

I agree with @Astronuc

Since the QM information course remains in the OP's syllabus, that information will be covered in due course.

Late reply but I just spotted this.
If I understand the OP correctly they will be studying QM next semester, not Quantum information.
The two are obviously related, but these days they are often very different topics and the QM you need to for QI tends to be covered in the QM intro courses.
It is a bit like the difference between computer science and electrical engineering; you need to understand how a transistor works in order to the the former but most of CS is about what happens at a "higher level"; QI the the same (typically focusing on different gate operations, basic algorithms etc)

Hence, if the OP is interested in later working on anything related to quantum information (computing, comms etc) it is still worth considering even if they will be doing more advanced QM later.