GERHARD STENZEL

Doctoral Research · LMU Munich

Quantum ML, agents, applied AI.

I write quantum circuits that run on classical hardware, train agents to write better code, and build AI that keeps people healthier. Not necessarily in that order.

About

Three research lines. One simulator. A few papers.

I'm a PhD candidate at LMU Munich, split across QAR (quantum ML) and AIONA (applied AI for health). I build research-driven tools — Qandle being the main one — and try to publish enough to justify the coffee consumption.

Selected Contributions

What I'm building — and where to find it.

Quantum ML Infrastructure
Qandle: PyTorch-native quantum state-vector simulator

Built and maintain a simulator stack for hybrid quantum-classical workflows, with reproducible experiments and practical documentation.

LLM + Agent Research
Optimization of software engineering agents

Research on RL-based optimization for LLM-assisted software engineering systems, focused on measurable and controllable improvement.

AI + Health
AIONA: personalized support for nutrition and health

Applied AI work in health and nutrition contexts, including recommendation and decision-support pipelines grounded in real user needs.

Publications

The work, for the record.

Representative papers from each research area. Full bibliography and citation export below.

Featured

Emergent Cooperation in Quantum Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Using Communication
arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.18419, 2026 · 2026

M Kölle, C Reff, Leo Sünkel, J Hager, Gerhard Stenzel, C Linnhoff-Popien

Open
Illustration of Barren Plateaus in Quantum Computing
arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.16558, 2026 · 2026

Gerhard Stenzel, T Rohe, M Kölle, L Sünkel, J Stein, C Linnhoff-Popien

Open
Quantum King-Ring Domination in Chess: A QAOA Approach
arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.00318, 2026 · 2026

Gerhard Stenzel, M Kölle, T Rohe, J Hager, Leo Sünkel, M Zorn, C Linnhoff-Popien

Open
PublicationActions

Emergent Cooperation in Quantum Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Using Communication

M Kölle, C Reff, Leo Sünkel, J Hager, Gerhard Stenzel, C Linnhoff-Popien

arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.18419, 2026 · 2026

Open

Illustration of Barren Plateaus in Quantum Computing

Gerhard Stenzel, T Rohe, M Kölle, L Sünkel, J Stein, C Linnhoff-Popien

arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.16558, 2026 · 2026

Open

Quantum King-Ring Domination in Chess: A QAOA Approach

Gerhard Stenzel, M Kölle, T Rohe, J Hager, Leo Sünkel, M Zorn, C Linnhoff-Popien

arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.00318, 2026 · 2026

Open

Reinforcement Learning for Parameterized Quantum State Preparation: A Comparative Study

Gerhard Stenzel, Isabella Debelic, Michael Kölle, Tobias Rohe, Leo Sünkel, Julian Hager, Claudia Linnhoff-Popien

arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.16523, 2026 · 2026

Open

A General Genetic Algorithm Using Natural Language Evolutionary Operators

Gerhard Stenzel, Sarah Gerner, Michael Kölle, Maximilian Zorn, Thomas Gabor

Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion, 2025 · 2025

Open

Evaluating Mutation Techniques in Genetic-Algorithm-Based Quantum Circuit Synthesis

Michael Kölle, Tom Bintener, Maximilian Zorn, Gerhard Stenzel, Leo Sünkel, Thomas Gabor, Claudia Linnhoff-Popien

Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, 2025 · 2025

Open

Evolutionary-Based Circuit Optimization for Distributed Quantum Computing

Leo Sünkel, Jonas Stein, Gerhard Stenzel, Michael Kölle, Thomas Gabor, Claudia Linnhoff-Popien

2025 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Artificial Intelligence (QAI) · 2025

Open

PIMAEX: Multi-Agent Exploration through Peer Incentivization

Michael Kölle, Johannes Tochtermann, Julian Schönberger, Gerhard Stenzel, Philipp Altmann, Claudia Linnhoff-Popien

arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.01266, 2025 · 2025

Open

QMamba: Quantum Selective State Space Models for Text Generation

Gerhard Stenzel, M Kölle, T Rohe, MB Mansky, J Nüßlein, T Gabor

Unknown · 2025

Open

Quantum circuit construction and optimization through hybrid evolutionary algorithms

Leo Sünkel, P Altmann, M Kölle, Gerhard Stenzel, T Gabor, C Linnhoff-Popien

Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, 934-942, 2025 · 2025

Open

Solving graph problems using permutation-invariant quantum machine learning

Maximilian Mansky, Tobias Rohe, Gerhard Stenzel, Leo Sünkel, Alejandro Bravo de la Serna, Santiago Londoño Castillo, Gautham Sathish, Dimitra Nikolaidou, Dmytro Bondarenko, Linus Menzel, Claudia Linnhoff-Popien

2025 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Computing and Engineering (QCE) · 2025

Open

Topology-Guided Quantum GANs for Constrained Graph Generation

T Rohe, M Baumann, M Poppel, Gerhard Stenzel, M Zorn, C Linnhoff-Popien

arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.10582, 2025 · 2025

Open

A study on optimization techniques for variational quantum circuits in reinforcement learning

M Kölle, T Witter, T Rohe, Gerhard Stenzel, P Altmann, T Gabor

2024 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Software (QSW), 157-167, 2024 · 2024

Open

Optimizing Sensor Redundancy in Sequential Decision-Making Problems

Jonas Nüßlein, Maximilian Zorn, Fabian Ritz, Jonas Stein, Gerhard Stenzel, Julian Schönberger, Thomas Gabor, Claudia Linnhoff-Popien

arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.07686, 2024 · 2024

Open

Qandle: Accelerating state vector simulation using gate-matrix caching and circuit splitting

Gerhard Stenzel, S Zielinski, M Kölle, P Altmann, J Nüßlein, T Gabor

arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.09213, 2024 · 2024

Open

Quantum denoising diffusion models

M Kölle, Gerhard Stenzel, J Stein, S Zielinski, B Ommer, C Linnhoff-Popien

2024 IEEE International Conference on Quantum Software (QSW), 88-98, 2024 · 2024

Open

SEGym: optimizing large language model assisted software engineering agents with reinforcement learning

Gerhard Stenzel, Kyrill Schmid, Michael Kölle, Philipp Altmann, Marian Lingsch-Rosenfeld, Maximilian Zorn, Tim Bücher, Thomas Gabor, Martin Wirsing, Lenz Belzner

Springer Nature Switzerland, 2024 · 2024

Open

Self-Adaptive Robustness of Applied Neural-Network-Soups

M Zorn, P Altmann, Gerhard Stenzel, M Kölle, C Linnhoff-Popien, T Gabor

Artificial Life Conference Proceedings 36 2024 (1), 74, 2024 · 2024

Open

Self-Replicating Prompts for Large Language Models: Towards Artificial Culture

Gerhard Stenzel, M Zorn, P Altmann, MB Mansky, M Kölle, T Gabor

Artificial Life Conference Proceedings 36 2024 (1), 110, 2024 · 2024

Open

Efficient Formulation and Quantum Optimization of Combinatorial Problems through Parametrized Hamiltonians

T Rohe, FH Ruiloba, M Baumann, Gerhard Stenzel, J Stein, C Linnhoff-Popien

Unknown · n.d.

Open

Connect

Find me, cite me, or read the docs.

Papers on Scholar, code on GitHub, docs at Qandle. Pick the one that fits.