qmatrix:  (C) Timo Felbinger, 1999, 2000, 2001

qmatrix is a Mathematica package to support computations in
quantum information theory.

Some files in this package come in two formats:
  - a .vma file, suitable to be used with the Vim front end
    (MathSource item #0210-306)
  - .m or .nb files to be used with the Notebook front end.
Two small scripts, vma2nb and vma2mma, are included to convert
the first into the second format. Most comments are stripped
during conversion.

The most current version of this archive can most likely be
found at
  http://www.quantum.physik.uni-potsdam.de/Timo_Felbinger/qmatrix/index.html
or
  http://www.felbinger.net/qmatrix/index.html

 Files in this archive:
========================

  README:               You are reading it right now
  VERSION:              Contains the package version number
  LICENSE:              The GNU public license which covers all files
  CHANGES:              Change log for releases so far
  qmatrix.vma:          The actual source file of the Mathematica package. 
                        This is an ASCII file suitable to be evaluated with
                        the Vim front end.
  qmatrix.m:            Same as qmatrix.vma, but in a format suitable to be
                        read with << like standard packages.
                        This is the file you most likely need in your own
                        applications.
  tutorial.qmatrix.vma: A tutorial introducing some features of this package;
                        this file is suitable to be evaluated interactively
                        using the Vim front end
  tutorial.qmatrix.nb:  Same as tutorial.qmatrix.vma, but as a Mathematica notebook,
                        to be evaluated interactively in the GUI front end.
  teleporter.vma:       A sample application: quantum teleportation of qubits.
  teleporter.nb:        Same as teleporter.vma but as a Mathematica notebook.
  i.vma:                A tiny file defining some functions and a $Pre
                        wrapper to output Real and Complex numbers in a concise
                        and space saving format. You don't need this if you don't
                        like it.
  i.m:                  Same as i.vma but readable via <<.
  Makefile:             A Makefile to convert the .vma files into .m and .nb
                        format. You only need it if you modify one of the .vma
                        files.
  vma2mma:              Shell script to convert a .vma file into a .m Mathematica
                        package. The script reads from stdin and writes to stdout.
  vma2nb:               Shell script to convert a .vma file into a .nb Mathematica
                        notebook. The script reads from stdin and writes to stdout.

All files are pure ASCII; the .vma files (and the .m and .nb files derived from
them) are written for Mathematica 3.0 but will work with 4.0 too.

 Getting started:
==================

To get started, you might want to load and evaluate the tutorial
or the teleporter sample application.
Also, qmatrix.m defines a help symbol in its context; thus, after loading
qmatrix.m, you can request help by evaluating
  qmatrix`help

 Installation:
===============

The important file is qmatrix.m which you want to load via << from your
own Mathematica projects in order to be able to use it. Therefore, you
must make sure that Mathematica is going to find this file, so you
should copy qmatrix.m into a directory in Mathematica's search path
(evaluate $PATH to find out where your version of Mathematica is
searching for packages).
The current directory is usually in Mathematica's search path, too.

 License:
==========

 qmatrix is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
 any later version.

 This software is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 GNU General Public License for more details.

 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with this software (in a file called LICENSE); if not, write to 
 the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, 
 Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA, or look at http://www.gnu.org.

 Contact:
==========

Direct all suggestions, bug reports, money, pizza, ... to:

  Timo Felbinger
  Arbeitsgruppe Quantentheorie
  Institut fuer Physik
  Universitaet Potsdam
  Am Neuen Palais 10
  14469 Potsdam
  Germany
  mailto:Timo@Felbinger.net
  http://www.felbinger.net