Quantum Computing in the Humanities: Quantum Random Walks as an Exploration Tool for Historical Citation Networks

Jose Angel Hernandez, Digital Humanities Technology Specialist, Research Computing Center, Florida State University
April 11, 2025
12:00-1:30pm
5720 S Woodlawn, Classroom 005

Since 2019, a growing number of academics have been exploring the applications of quantum computing in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts with initial uses in natural language processing, music encoding, and quantum machine learning for historical image analysis. This presentation builds upon that foundation by introducing quantum random walks, a method that has not yet been applied to humanities datasets. Similar to their classical counterpart, random walks, quantum random walks traverse networks by moving through nodes and allowing us to analyze diffusion patterns. Leveraging superposition and entanglement, they enable the simultaneous exploration of multiple starting nodes, as well as inward and outward walks, within the same execution time.

For this study, quantum random walks were implemented both on simulators and real quantum devices to generate link predictions within a historical citation network. The dataset used explored the scholarly transmission of 13th-century Mongol military tactics, focusing on how these strategies were analyzed by Russian and American military scholars in the 19th and 21st centuries, respectively. The application of quantum random walks to this dataset uncovered a previously unknown pathway of knowledge transmission between these two distinct corpora, offering new insights into their influence. The original network was produced at the University of Chicago’s Digital Studies of Language, Culture, and History Master’s program by Jose Hernandez.

This presentation will not only discuss the findings but will also introduce the fundamental principles of quantum circuits and quantum random walks, making this an accessible entry point for scholars in history, social sciences, and the arts (HSSA disciplines) who are interested in discovering if quantum computing could be a tool, now or in the future, for their own research. To ensure a clear and structured introduction, small-scale eight-node networks will be used to illustrate link prediction and the basics of quantum computing. These demonstrations will utilize IBM’s open-source Qiskit library and the IBM Quantum platform, allowing for practical exploration on real quantum devices.

A light lunch will be served; if you will need any assistance to participate, please contact the organizers Jeffrey Tharsen (tharsen@uchicago.edu) and Carmen Caswell (caswellc@uchicago.edu).