An introduction to reliable quantum computation

Abstract: This is an introduction to software methods of quantum fault tolerance. Broadly speaking, these methods describe strategies for using the noisy hardware components of a quantum computer to perform computations while continually monitoring and actively correcting the hardware faults. We discuss parallels and differences with similar methods for ordinary digital computation, we discuss some of the noise models used in designing and analyzing noisy quantum circuits, and we sketch the logic of some of the central results in this area of research.