revquantum

This package attempts to solve, or at least mitigate, standard problems with writing quantum information papers in {revtex4-1}. In particular:

• Includes titles in BibTeX.
• Allows for use of nicer-looking fonts via {mathpazo}.
• Configures {hyperref} to make nicer-looking links and to correctly use \autoref.
• Sets up {listings} for common scientific languages and legacy environments (Python, Mathematica and MATLAB).
• Provides notation for quantum information and makes defining new notation easier.
• Reduces boilerplate for author affiliations by providing a (rudimentary) database for a few departments.

A major goal of this package is to reduce the amount of useless crap that needs to be copied and pasted between documents. In particular, a complete document can be written in just a few lines:

\documentclass[pra,aps,twocolumn,superscriptaddress,10pt]{revtex4-1}
\usepackage[pretty,uselistings]{revquantum}
\begin{document}
\title{Example \textsf{revquantum} Document}
\author{Christopher Granade}
\email{cgranade@cgranade.com}
\affilUSydPhys \affilEQUS
\date{\today}
\begin{abstract}
 \TODO
\end{abstract}
\maketitle
\bibliography{example}
\appendix
\end{document} 

Installing

Install With PowerShell

In an attempt to cut down on the pain of LaTeX package installation, {revquantum} uses PoShTeX to automate installation. If you're running PowerShell already, just run Install.ps1:

PS> Unblock-File Install.ps1 # Mark the installer as safe to run.
PS> ./Install.ps1

PowerShell itself is easy to install on many macOS and Linux systems using the provided packages.

Manual Installation

I think the following works on Unix-like systems. If not, let me know or pull request with better instructions.

$ latex revquantum.ins # Makes the actual .sty from the .dtx file.
$ pdflatex revquantum.dtx # Makes documentation, such as it is.
$ mkdir texdir/tex/latex/revquantum # Replace texdir with where you actually installed TeX (e.g. ~/texmf).
$ cp revquantum.sty texdir/tex/latex/revquantum # As with above, replace texdir.
$ texhash

Directions for Windows/MikTeX can be found thanks to this useful StackOverflow answer.

Using

I'll write more complete documentation later (hopefully), but for now:

• {braket} is automatically imported, defining \ket, \bra and \braket.
• The notation commands \ii and \dd typeset roman "i" and "d" characters, respectively. More generally, \newrm{foo} creates a new command \foo that typesets foo in math-roman. {revquantum} comes with \e, \TVD and \T predefined using \newrm.
• Similarly, \newoperator defines new commands which typeset using \operatorname. By default, this is used to define \Tr, \Cov, \supp, \diag and \rank.
• The commands \defeq, \expect and \id define the common notation :=, double-struck E and double-struck 1 (respectively).
• \newaffil{NAME}{DESCRIPTION} defines a new affiliation command \affilNAME.
• The \todo command typesets its argument in purple and raises a warning when built. If {revquantum} is loaded with the [final] option, this warning is escalated to an error. Similarly, \TODO takes no argument but inserts the placeholder "TODO" and \todolist typesets an {itemize} environment in \todo.

Known Issues

• The BibTeX thing is an unforgivable hack. Thankfully, I'm not asking for anyone's forgiveness.
• \autoref chokes on appendices, giving nonsense like "Section A". This should be fixable, though.
• The use of the "UW" prefix for the University of Waterloo was probably a bad idea, and will likely change so as to not preclude other universities whose names start with "W".