Category Archives: Quantum Physics
Why Einstein must be wrong: In search of the theory of gravity – Phys.org
This article has been reviewed according to ScienceX's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
fact-checked
trusted source
written by researcher(s)
proofread
close
Einstein's theory of gravitygeneral relativityhas been very successful for more than a century. However, it has theoretical shortcomings. This is not surprising: the theory predicts its own failure at spacetime singularities inside black holesand the Big Bang itself.
Unlike physical theories describing the other three fundamental forces in physicsthe electromagnetic and the strong and weak nuclear interactionsthe general theory of relativity has only been tested in weak gravity.
Deviations of gravity from general relativity are by no means excluded nor tested everywhere in the universe. And, according to theoretical physicists, deviation must happen.
According to a theory initially proposed by Georges Lematre and widely accepted by the astronomical community, our universe originated in a Big Bang. Other singularities hide inside black holes: Space and time cease to have meaning there, while quantities such as energy density and pressure become infinite. These signal that Einstein's theory is failing there and must be replaced with a more fundamental one.
Naively, spacetime singularities should be resolved by quantum mechanics, which apply at very small scales.
Quantum physics relies on two simple ideas: point particles make no sense; and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, which states that one can never know the value of certain pairs of quantities with absolute precisionfor example, the position and velocity of a particle. This is because particles should not be thought of as points but as waves; at small scales they behave as waves of matter.
This is enough to understand that a theory that embraces both general relativity and quantum physics should be free of such pathologies. However, all attempts to blend general relativity and quantum physics necessarily introduce deviations from Einstein's theory.
Therefore, Einstein's gravity cannot be the ultimate theory of gravity. Indeed, it was not long after the introduction of general relativity by Einstein in 1915 that Arthur Eddington, best known for verifying this theory in the 1919 solar eclipse, started searching for alternatives just to see how things could be different.
Einstein's theory has survived all tests to date, accurately predicting various results from the precession of Mercury's orbit to the existence of gravitational waves. So, where are these deviations from general relativity hiding?
A century of research has given us the standard model of cosmology known as the -Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model. Here, stands for either Einstein's famous cosmological constant or a mysterious dark energy with similar properties.
Dark energy was introduced ad hoc by astronomers to explain the acceleration of the cosmic expansion. Despite fitting cosmological data extremely well until recently, the CDM model is spectacularly incomplete and unsatisfactory from the theoretical point of view.
In the past five years, it has also faced severe observational tensions. The Hubble constant, which determines the age and the distance scale in the universe, can be measured in the early universe using the cosmic microwave background and in the late universe using supernovae as standard candles.
These two measurements give incompatible results. Even more important, the nature of the main ingredients of the CDM modeldark energy, dark matter and the field driving early universe inflation (a very brief period of extremely fast expansion originating the seeds for galaxies and galaxy clusters)remains a mystery.
From the observational point of view, the most compelling motivation for modified gravity is the acceleration of the universe discovered in 1998 with Type Ia supernovae, whose luminosity is dimmed by this acceleration. The CDM model based on general relativity postulates an extremely exotic dark energy with negative pressure permeating the universe.
Problem is, this dark energy has no physical justification. Its nature is completely unknown, although a plethora of models has been proposed. The proposed alternative to dark energy is a cosmological constant which, according to quantum-mechanical back-of-the-envelope (but questionable) calculations, should be huge.
However, must instead be incredibly fine-tuned to a tiny value to fit the cosmological observations. If dark energy exists, our ignorance of its nature is deeply troubling.
Could it be that troubles arise, instead, from wrongly trying to fit the cosmological observations into general relativity, like fitting a person into a pair of trousers that are too small? That we are observing the first deviations from general relativity while the mysterious dark energy simply does not exist?
close
This idea, first proposed by researchers at the University of Naples, has gained tremendous popularity while the contending dark energy camp remains vigorous.
How can we tell? Deviations from Einstein gravity are constrained by solar system experiments, the recent observations of gravitational waves and the near-horizon images of black holes.
There is now a large literature on theories of gravity alternative to general relativity, going back to Eddington's 1923 early investigations. A very popular class of alternatives is the so-called scalar-tensor gravity. It is conceptually very simple since it only introduces one additional ingredient (a scalar field corresponding to the simplest, spinless, particle) to Einstein's geometric description of gravity.
The consequences of this program, however, are far from trivial. A striking phenomenon is the "chameleon effect," consisting of the fact that these theories can disguise themselves as general relativity in high-density environments (such as in stars or in the solar system) while deviating strongly from it in the low-density environment of cosmology.
As a result, the extra (gravitational) field is effectively absent in the first type of systems, disguising itself as a chameleon does, and is felt only at the largest (cosmological) scales.
Nowadays the spectrum of alternatives to Einstein gravity has widened dramatically. Even adding a single massive scalar excitation (namely, a spin-zero particle) to Einstein gravity and keeping the resulting equations "simple" to avoid some known fatal instabilitieshas resulted in the much wider class of Horndeski theories, and subsequent generalizations.
Theorists have spent the last decade extracting physical consequences from these theories. The recent detections of gravitational waves have provided a way to constrain the physical class of modifications of Einstein gravity allowed.
However, much work still needs to be done, with the hope that future advances in multi-messenger astronomy lead to discovering modifications of general relativity where gravity is extremely strong.
Go here to read the rest:
Why Einstein must be wrong: In search of the theory of gravity - Phys.org
New Form of Quantum Entanglement Gives Insight into Nuclei – Energy.gov
Everything relies on quantum mechanics, even if we dont realize it. It explains the behavior of the tiniest particles that make up everything we know, from atoms on down. However, quantum mechanics seems strange to us because it seems to contradict the physics of the everyday world.
Entanglement is one of the weirdest phenomena in quantum mechanics. Quantum entanglement is when two particles have a special relationship to each other. They dont and cant act independently. Instead, each particles quantum state is linked to the others. If ones state is measured, the others state is fixed. This happens no matter how geographically far apart the particles are from each other potentially other sides of the galaxy. Understanding entanglement is important to building quantum computers and quantum networks.
Until recently, scientists thought entanglement only occurred between two identical particles. All of the examples of entanglement they had observed were between particles of light or identical electrons.
But earlier this year, scientists at the Department of Energys (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory found a new type of quantum entanglement. This entanglement was between two particles that were dissimilar they had different charges.
The scientists found this through their research at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), a DOE Office of Science user facility. Most of the time, RHIC is used to replicate the conditions just after the Big Bang. It helps us better understand the beginning of the universe. However, nuclear physicists also use it to study how matter behaves today. They want to know how quarks and the gluons that hold them together in protons and neutrons are arranged. They also want to understand how gluons hold those building blocks of our universe together.
This research is how they found the new form of quantum entanglement. RHIC collides ions of heavy elements, like gold. Ions are atoms with electrons stripped off of them. Usually, the ions smash into each other and separate out into quarks and gluons.
But in this study, the scientists examined ions that passed by each other extremely closely without colliding. The ions have a cloud of particles of light (photons) that surround them. As the two ions pass by, the cloud of photons of one ion interacts with the gluons in the other ion. This interaction results in an intermediate particle that falls apart. The intermediate particle decays into two differently charged pions, another type of exotic particle. The pions then strike the particle detector. The detector can measure how fast the pions are moving, what direction theyre moving, and the angle at which they hit the detector. Like detectives, the scientists trace backwards to get information about the photons surrounding the ions. The photons reveal information about the gluons, like a high-powered microscope.
The new form of quantum entanglement occurs between the pions. This form of entanglement makes it possible to peer inside the ions in RHIC in a way that scientists have never before been able to. It provides clarity to the measurements of gluons thats not possible otherwise. Previous measurements only provided information about how dense gluons were across the whole nucleus. That doesnt give a lot of details about how they are distributed. This new technique allows scientists to go from having essentially a one-dimensional image to a two-dimensional one.
This new map of the nucleus is at the scale of quadrillionths of a meter. But it lines up much better with theoretical predictions than previous observations did. Sometimes, even the smallest measurements can have big effects on our understanding of the universe.
See the original post:
New Form of Quantum Entanglement Gives Insight into Nuclei - Energy.gov
Quantum information science is rarely taught in high school – uta.edu
Friday, Sep 22, 2023 Karen J. Matsler :
The first time I heard about quantum information science, I was at a teacher development workshop in Canada in 2008.
I already knew that quantum science was the study of the smallest objects in nature. I also knew that information science was the study of computers and the internet. What I didnt know was that quantum information science sometimes called QIS was a new field of science and technology, combining physical science, math, computer science and engineering.
Until then, I didnt realize how QIS was key to so many everyday items, like cellphones, satellites, MRI machines, lasers, cybersecurity and solar technology. I was a physics teacher and didnt know this, so I knew other teachers didnt either. And if they didnt know about it, that meant K-12 students were definitely not learning it.
I vowed to do a better job of teaching these concepts in my own classroom and to the teachers I mentor. But I quickly discovered significant barriers.
Those barriers include:
Lack of materials about quantum information science that high school students can understand.
Limited funding and opportunities for teacher professional development focusing on quantum information science.
Lack of state or federal quantum information science standards for schools to follow.
With the help of colleagues, I organized Quantum for All in 2020 to help give high school teachers support in teaching quantum information science. The project received nearly US$1 million in funding from the National Science Foundation. The goal of the grant is to help students become quantum smart by teaching K-12 educators how to teach QIS.
From a societal perspective, there are many reasons to invest in quantum education at the high school level.
The quantum information technology market is poised to be worth $44 billion by 2028. Yet one study estimates a major talent shortage in the industry with the number of open jobs outnumbering the number of qualified applicants by about 3 to 1.
Not having fundamental knowledge in the field may keep students from pursuing these highly paid jobs. Annual salaries can start at about $100,000 for quantum engineers, developers and scientists. Quantum physicists can earn up to $170,000.
While there is a need for quantum science talent in many industries, one of the most critical is in national security.
Historically, huge scientific and technological advancements have been made in the United States when politicians invest in efforts they deem critical to national security think of the space race, where the U.S. spent US$257 billion over 13 years, or the atomic bomb that cost about $30 billion to $50 billion over four years, both in todays dollars.
In 2016, the U.S. government recognized the importance of quantum information science in maintaining the countrys strategic edge when China launched the worlds first quantum satellite, showcasing its emerging space and technology program. U.S. military leaders also worried that China was on the verge of creating hack proof communications tools far more sophisticated than American designs. This raises questions about which nation will dominate from space in times of crisis.
The Center for New American Security, a Washington-based think tank, warned that Chinas focus on quantum science as part of its research efforts could help that country surpass the U.S. as an economic and military superpower.
In 2018, the National Quantum Initiative Act was signed into law to accelerate quantum research and development and develop a quantum information science and technology workforce pipeline. However, the initiative lacked details on how this workforce would be developed.
With a new national focus on quantum information science, the National Quantum Network was launched in 2020 to help support and coordinate the K-12 education efforts, expand available learning tools and create opportunities for students to envision their role in a quantum workforce.
The most logical venue for exposure to quantum information science would be a high school physics course. However, as many as 16% to 39% of high school students do not attend high schools where physics is offered each year.
Traditional professional development focuses on teaching the teacher, rather than helping the teacher prepare to teach. Thats why I and other researchers are studying the effectiveness of a different professional development model. Components of the model include having the content taught by fellow science teachers.
Our model educates teachers one week and then allows them to teach students at a camp the following week while the information and techniques are still fresh. Research has shown that this approach is more effective than doing summer workshops that dont allow teachers to try out what they learned until much later.
This model also allows teachers to gain confidence as they practice teaching techniques with fellow science teachers, making it more likely they will implement this knowledge in their own lessons.The lessons being developed by the project can be embedded into existing STEM curricula science, technology, engineering and math or taught as stand-alone topics.
Examples of quantum information science lessons that have been developed include levitation, where students are shown the basics of superconductors and quantum levitation. These concepts are already being used in applications such as Maglev trains, which use magnets to quietly float above the tracks instead of using wheels. There are many benefits to this type of travel, including energy efficiency, fewer derailments, less maintenance and less impact on the environment.
Other lessons involve understanding cryptography and cybersecurity. Cryptography is the technique of coding information or encryption so it can only be read by the intended receiver, whereas cybersecurity is the process or procedures taken to keep information secure in devices and networks.
As districts and educators begin to implement quantum information science concepts, my colleagues and I are collecting feedback from teachers on the effectiveness of their lessons and student engagement. This feedback will be used to inform how to add quantum information into more lessons.
If this new model of teacher education works, it could be expanded nationwide.
This type of professional development may be expensive due to the time teachers need to learn the content and increase their teaching confidence. But failing to prepare students for the jobs of the future could be even more costly if the U.S. yields its place in quantum technology, allowing countries like China to assert their supremacy in the field.
***
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Continue reading here:
Quantum information science is rarely taught in high school - uta.edu
NTT Research Boosts Scientific Teams with Nine New Hires – Yahoo Finance
Distinguished Researcher Timothe Leleu and Several Strategic Hires Add to NTT Researchs Growing Team
SUNNYVALE, Calif., September 26, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NTT Research, Inc., a division of NTT (TYO:9432), today announced that it has named Timothe Leleu as Senior Research Scientist and a Group Head in the Physics & Informatics (PHI) Lab. It has also named Victor Bastidas and Maya Okawa as Research Scientists in the PHI Lab; Abhishek Jain, Senior Scientist in the Cryptography & Information Security (CIS) Lab; and Manae Abe as marketing coordinator. Joining NTT Research as post-doctoral fellows are Kyungduk Kim, Midya Parto and Ryotatsu Yanagimoto in the PHI Lab; and Naresh Boddu Goud and Xiao Liang in the CIS Lab. An expert in neuromorphic computing, Dr. Leleu strengthens the PHI Labs proficiency in artificial neural networking and sharpens its focus on Coherent Ising Machines (CIMs). The additional hires and appointments will boost the PHI and CIS Labs respective research capabilities. Separately, the Medical & Health Informatics (MEI) Lab has expanded its capacity through an innovative partnership with a premier cardiovascular research institute.
"We are pleased to welcome Drs. Leleu, Bastidas, Okawa and Jain, the five research fellows and Manae Abe," said Kazuhiro Gomi, President & CEO of NTT Research. "Im excited to see progress on all fronts: the PHI Lab deepening its interdisciplinary bench; the CIS Lab becoming a premier cryptography research center of excellence; and the MEI Lab executing on its ambitious bio digital twin strategy. All of which advances our mission to Upgrade Reality."
PHI Lab Gains Two Scientists, Three Post-Docs
The PHI Lab conducts research in quantum physics, neuroscience and optical networking. Many of its scientists are working on CIMs, which are networks of optical parametric oscillators programmed to solve problems mapped to an Ising model, which typically represents combinatorial optimization problems. Recent progress includes the development of an initial application. Joining the PHI Lab in its three areas of research are Drs. Leleu, Bastidas, Okawa, Kim, Parto and Yanagimoto:
Story continues
Timothe Leleu, Senior Research Scientist and Head of the Algorithms & Applications Group, PHI Lab. Dr. Leleu was previously Project Associate Professor at the International Research Center for Neurointelligence at the University of Tokyo, where he worked on neuromorphic computing algorithms and architecture. He is primarily interested in the combinatorial aspects of neural computation, with a particular focus on the analysis of neuronal activity for the inference of network structure and the use of artificial neural networks for solving combinatorial optimization problems. Dr. Leleu invented the chaotic amplitude control (CAC) algorithm, which is highly relevant to the PHI Labs work on CIMs.
Victor M. Bastidas, Research Scientist, PHI Lab. Dr. Bastidas was previously Senior Research Scientist in the Theoretical Quantum Physics Research Group and the Research Center for Theoretical Quantum Physics, NTT Basic Research Laboratories (BRL), Atsugi-city, Japan. His interests include driven quantum systems and quantum criticality in nonequilibrium, quantum phase transitions in closed systems, topology in driven quantum systems, many-body physics and quantum simulation and ergodic behavior in driven systems. From 2020 to 2023 he was Visiting Associate Professor at the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo.
Maya Okawa, Research Scientist, PHI Lab. Dr. Okawa completed her Ph.D. from Kyoto University Graduate School of Informatics in 2022 and was previously a research scientist for NTT R&D in Japan and a graduate student researcher for the ATLAS volume particle detection experiment at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research). Her main research interest lies in developing machine learning and data mining methods to model, understand and predict social phenomena.
Kyungduk Kim, Post-Doctoral Fellow, PHI Lab. Dr. Kim received his Ph.D. in 2022 from the Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, where he subsequently served as a Post-Doctoral Associate. His doctoral research focused on studying the spatiotemporal dynamics of highly multimode lasers and their applications. Dr. Kim's research interests include experimental studies in understanding and controlling complex photonic systems.
Midya Parto, Post-Doctoral Fellow, PHI Lab. Dr. Parto has also been a Post-Doctoral Scholar at Caltech. He was previously a Post-Doctoral Researcher at College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL) at University of Central Florida. His research interests encompass a broad range of optical phenomena arising from the harmonious interplay between non-Hermitian and topological effects alongside optical nonlinear processes. These investigations hold significant promise for on-chip light sources as well as advancements in optical information processing and computing."
Ryotatsu Yanagimoto, Post-Doctoral Fellow, PHI Lab. Dr. Yanagimoto is a 2020 recipient of a fellowship from the Stanford University Quantum Fundamentals, Architectures and Machines (Q-FARM) initiative. He has worked in the Quantum Meta-Engineering lab of Dr. Hideo Mabuchi. His primary research interest involves understanding and engineering broadband quantum dynamics of optical photons in highly nonlinear systems.
CIS Lab Gains One Scientist, Two Post-Docs
The CIS Lab has emerged as one of the worlds top cryptographic research organizations. Directed by Brent Waters, the co-founder of attribute-based encryption and recipient of numerous awards, including two Best Paper Awards in the past three years, the CIS Lab contributes an outsized number of papers to the leading conferences in the field. Joining the CIS Lab team are Drs. Jain, Goud and Liang:
Abhishek Jain, Senior Scientist, CIS Lab. Dr. Jain is broadly interested in cryptography, computer security, privacy and related topics in theoretical computer science. Recent papers include "hinTS: Threshold Signatures with Silent Setup," "Scalable Multiparty Garbling," "Indistinguishability Obfuscation from Functional Encryption for Simple Function," and "zkSaaS: ZK-SNARKs as a Service." Dr. Jain is also Associate Professor in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University.
Naresh Goud Boddu, Post-Doctoral Fellow, CIS Lab. Dr. Boddu received his Ph.D. in 2022 from the Center for Quantum Technologies (CQT), National University of Singapore, where he was advised by Dr. Rahul Jain. At CQT, he also served as a research assistant. His current research interests include quantum tamper-resilient cryptography and theoretical computer science, more broadly.
Xiao Liang, Post-Doctoral Fellow, CIS Lab. Dr. Liang was previously a Post-Doctoral Associate at Rice University. He received his Ph.D. from Stony Brook University in 2021. His interests include classical and quantum cryptography and its interplay with computational complexity theory. His work has been focused on zero-knowledge proofs, secure multi-party computation, non-malleability and signatures.
MEI Lab, Corporate Marketing and Fellowships
NTT Researchs MEI Lab has also experienced growth through the expansion of a strategic collaboration designed to advance its bio digital twin initiative. NTT Research recently struck an agreement with the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center (NCVC) in Suita, Japan, to jointly launch a Bio Digital Twin Center. This is the NCVCs first such collaboration with an industrial partner. It extends and expands the scope of a joint research agreement reached in 2020 and amplifies the MEI Labs research capabilities.
On the corporate front, the addition of Marketing Coordinator Manae Abe, through coordination with Japans National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), strengthens the team of Chief Marketing Officer Chris Shaw. An award-winning marketer and previous owner of what became the long-time agency of record for NTT Communications global social media content marketing, Shaw has shepherded the branding of this Silicon Valley startup, using a compelling mix of written and video assets (including a short film produced by Academy Award Winner Janusz Kaminski) to tell the story of how fundamental research can someday improve and even extend human lives. He has also organized three Global Research Summits (Upgrade 2021, 2022 and 2023) which showcase the innovation and initiatives of NTT Research and the broader NTT family of companies.
NTT Research is highly valued by its scientific employees for its freedom and ambitious goals. It is an equal opportunity employer with an active fellowship program for young scientists looking to advance their careers and join our mission to Upgrade Reality. For more on current fellowship and other employment opportunities, please visit our careers page.
About NTT Research
NTT Research opened its offices in July 2019 as a new Silicon Valley startup to conduct basic research and advance technologies that promote positive change for humankind. Currently, three labs are housed at NTT Research facilities in Sunnyvale: the Physics and Informatics (PHI) Lab, the Cryptography and Information Security (CIS) Lab, and the Medical and Health Informatics (MEI) Lab. The organization aims to upgrade reality in three areas: 1) quantum information, neuroscience and photonics; 2) cryptographic and information security; and 3) medical and health informatics. NTT Research is part of NTT, a global technology and business solutions provider with an annual R&D budget of $3.6 billion.
NTT and the NTT logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION and/or its affiliates. All other referenced product names are trademarks of their respective owners. 2023 NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230926121266/en/
Contacts
NTT Research Contact:Chris ShawChief Marketing OfficerNTT Research +1-312-888-5412chris.shaw@ntt-research.com
Media Contact:Stephen RussellWireside Communications For NTT Research+1-804-362-7484srussell@wireside.com
Read more:
NTT Research Boosts Scientific Teams with Nine New Hires - Yahoo Finance
Five MIT faculty members named 2023 Simons Investigators | MIT … – MIT News
Five MIT professors have been selected to receive the 2023 Simons Investigators awards from the Simons Foundation. Virginia Vassilevska Williams and Vinod Vaikuntanathan are both professors in MITs Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and principal investigators in MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Aram Harrow and Leonid Mirny are professors in the Department of Physics, and Davesh Maulik is a professor in the Department of Mathematics.
The Simons Investigator program supports outstanding theoretical scientists who receive a stable base of research support from the foundation, enabling them to undertake the long-term study of fundamental questions.
Aram Harrow '01, PhD '05, professor of physics, studies theoretical quantum information science in order to understand the capabilities of quantum computers and quantum communication devices. Harrow has developed quantum algorithms for solving large systems of linear equations and hybrid classical-quantum algorithms for machine learning, and has also contributed to the intersection of quantum information and many-body physics, with work on thermalization, random quantum dynamics, and the monogamy property of quantum entanglement. He was a lecturer at the University of Bristol and a research assistant professor at the University of Washington until joining MIT in 2013. His awards include the NSF CAREER award, several best paper awards, an APS Outstanding Referee Award, and the APS Rolf Landauer and Charles H Bennett Award in Quantum Computing.
Davesh Maulik joined the Department of Mathematics at MIT in 2015. He works in algebraic geometry, with an emphasis on the geometry of moduli spaces. In many cases, this involves using ideas from neighboring fields such as representation theory, symplectic geometry, and number theory. His most recent work has focused on moduli spaces of Higgs bundles and various conjectures regarding their structure. In the past, he has received a Clay Mathematics Research Fellowship and the Compositio Mathematica Prize with coauthors for an outstanding research publication.
Leonid Mirny, the Richard J. Cohen (1976) Professor in Medicine and Biomedical Physics, is a core faculty member at the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), and is faculty at the Department of Physics. His work combines biophysical modeling with analysis of large genomics data to address fundamental problems in biology. Mirny aims to understand how exceedingly long molecules of DNA are folded in 3D, and how this 3D folding of the genome influences gene expression and execution of genetic programs in health and disease. His prediction that the genome is folded by a new class of motors that act by loop extrusion was experimentally confirmed, leading a paradigm shift in chromosome biology. Broadly, Mirny is interested in unraveling physical mechanisms that underlie reading, writing, and transmission of genetic and epigenetic information. He was awarded the 2019 Blaise Pascal International Chair of Excellence and was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He received his MS in chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science, and his PhD in biophysics from Harvard University, where he also served as a junior fellow at Harvard Society of Fellows.
Vinod Vaikuntanathan is a professor of computer science at MIT. The co-inventor of modern fully homomorphic encryption systems and many other lattice-based (and post-quantum secure) cryptographic primitives, Vaikuntanathans work has been recognized with a George M. Sprowls PhD thesis award, an IBM Josef Raviv Fellowship, a Sloan Faculty Fellowship, a Microsoft Faculty Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, a DARPA Young Faculty Award, a Harold E. Edgerton Faculty Award, Test of Time awards from IEEE FOCS and CRYPTO conferences, and a Gdel prize. Vaikuntanathan earned his SM and PhD degrees from MIT, and a BTech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras.
Virginia Vassilevska Williams is a professor of computer science at MIT EECS. Williamss research focuses on algorithm design and analysis of fundamental problems involving graphs, matrices and more, seeking to determine the precise (asymptotic) time complexity of these problems. She has designed the fastest algorithm for matrix multiplication and is widely regarded as the leading expert on fine-grained complexity. Among her many awards, she has received an NSF CAREER award; a Sloan Research Fellowship; a Google Faculty Research Award, a Thornton Family Faculty Research Innovation Fellowship (FRIF), and was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2018. Williams earned her MS and PhD degrees at Carnegie Mellon University, and her BS degree at Caltech.
Visit link:
Five MIT faculty members named 2023 Simons Investigators | MIT ... - MIT News
She got famous on YouTube. Now it helps fund her research in … – NPR
Theoretical physicist and YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder, shown in a photo taken in December at the University of Oxford in England, turned to YouTube "to keep my sanity" during the dark days of the pandemic. Anthony Sajdler hide caption
Theoretical physicist and YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder, shown in a photo taken in December at the University of Oxford in England, turned to YouTube "to keep my sanity" during the dark days of the pandemic.
The dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic helped transform Sabine Hossenfelder into an unlikely social media star. In the process, she has raised a few eyebrows among her fellow scientists. She's also made an important discovery that just might bode well for her future research.
Hossenfelder turned to YouTube "to keep my sanity" when she was unable to go to her office at Germany's Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies. Actually, you might say she returned. She'd started a channel in 2007 but just hadn't been very active. Then came a rebranding Science without the gobbledygook. Today, she has 1 million subscribers (up from 50,000) and also enjoys a strong and growing contingent of Patreon supporters.
Several times a month, the theoretical physicist and mathematician drops a new video, dispensing her dry wit and pithy wisdom to a loyal fan base of nerds across the internet.
She takes her role as a science communicator seriously, aiming her videos at an audience seeking context. "People can go to my channel and get the brief, 20-minute summary," Hossenfelder says. "They don't have to read a whole book or download a review article, which they won't understand anyway."
Her channel stakes out the no-man's land between gee-whiz science and the heavyweight journals. From her experience as a freelance writer, Hossenfelder says she "knew full-well that there were stories you just can't get by an editor, not because they're wrong, but because they have no timely hook." She aims to fill that gap.
It all comes packaged with a spoonful of humor to help the science go down:
Are we all living in a computer simulation? "I quite like the idea ... it gives me hope that things will be better on the next level," she says.
Why does 5G technology use high frequencies? "There's a reason they haven't been previously used for telecommunication, and it's not because millimeter waves are also used as goodbyes for in-laws."
As her YouTube channel has gained traction, Hossenfelder has been able to hire a handful of writers, though she still writes most of her own jokes. She's no longer at the Frankfurt Institute but has a research position at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy. Meanwhile, her dive into social media has allowed her to largely escape the perpetual pursuit of research grants that she says is "always kind of like a lottery."
Posting videos to the internet, it turns out, generates a more reliable revenue stream to fund her work in quantum gravity. YouTube provides some money directly, but Hossenfelder gets more through sponsors who advertise on her channel, Patreon supporters and donations. Crunching the numbers, she "realized that so long as I would keep producing interesting content, I would have an income."
Hossenfelder's science channel has also become a ready platform for her somewhat contrarian views on the state of physics. Among them is what she sees as the problem of beauty, the pursuit of simplicity. Specifically, how her colleagues who try to fathom the fundamental underpinnings of the universe are obsessed with it.
As far back as the Renaissance, scientists have sought compact and elegant descriptions of space, time and motion: a sort of scientific version of Occam's razor that the simplest explanation tends to be the correct one. But as we seek answers in a complex universe, Hossenfelder cautions that the quest for simplicity could be a dead end. Her 2018 book on the topic, Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, served as something of a shot across the bow of modern physics.
Fellow physicists, she contends, "have come up with very narrow notions of beauty, which they derived from things that worked in the past."
"It's all well and fine. It's worth a try," she says. "But now they've gotten stuck on it. This is why you see so many ideas that fail over and over again."
Sabine Hossenfelder via YouTube
In her mind, one such failure has been the effort to explain dark matter, the so-far undetected and unexplained something that makes up a large percentage of the universe. "At the point where we are now, it's pretty clear that it can't be a simple story. It's got to be something more complicated than some kind of new particle," she says.
To be sure, Hossenfelder, 47, isn't the only physicist wondering aloud how far the standard model of particle physics can be pushed in the service of dark matter. She describes herself as "pretty much a voice in the wilderness," but some others, such as astrophysicist Pavel Kroupa, have publicly expressed similar skepticism.
Patricia Rankin, who chairs the department of physics at Arizona State University, says that while she doesn't entirely agree with Hossenfelder's views on physics, "I'm definitely in sympathy with a lot of what she says about it being important to actually delineate what science can and can't tell us." She praises Hossenfelder for "[challenging] people's assumptions ... because that's really what science is all about."
Stacy McGaugh, a professor of astronomy at Case Western Reserve University, met Hossenfelder at a conference several years ago, where they were both on the roster of speakers. They discovered a shared view on many issues, including that the gaping hole in physics left by dark matter might be at least partially filled by a modified theory of gravity. The two have since collaborated on multiple scientific papers. "She's very frank and plainspoken and is not afraid to speak her mind. And that's great," McGaugh says.
That frankness has placed her at odds with some big guns of science, including Don Lincoln, a physicist and researcher at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) outside of Chicago. Unlike Hossenfelder, his work is focused on the experimental side of cutting-edge physics. Lincoln, a fixture on Fermilab's YouTube channel, co-discovered the top quark in 1995 and was part of the team in 2012 that discovered the Higgs boson at Europe's Large Hadron Collider. He and Hossenfelder have occasionally sparred online, he says.
"It's not like we are mortal enemies or anything like that," he's careful to point out. But in a recent episode of Science without the gobbledygook, Hossenfelder took experimental scientists to task for their pursuit of ever-larger, more-powerful and expensive colliders that she believes have little prospect of making important new discoveries.
Lincoln, however, says there are good reasons to believe that dark matter will turn out to be previously unseen particles and not some modified form of gravity. "Most cosmologists would say that while it's true that these modified motion and modified gravity theories can be made to work pretty well on the size of rotating galaxies, or the size of clusters of galaxies, where they fail is on the truly cosmic scale," he says.
Sabine Hossenfelder via YouTube
Hossenfelder has also staked out a number of contentious and not-so-contentious positions through her writings and more than 300 YouTube videos:
Artificial intelligence? "It's going to make a lot of things much more consumer friendly. And mostly I think it's a good thing."
Climate change? "I don't think it's an existential threat. Not by itself, but it's a threat multiplier."
Hossenfelder also "totally believes" in extraterrestrial intelligence. "I would say abundant in the universe. But abundant in our galaxy? I don't know."
On a parallel track to her science channel, Hossenfelder has produced an eclectic mix of music videos, ranging from Beethoven's Ode to Joy to a cover of "Galaxy Song" from the 1983 Monty Python film The Meaning of Life. She learned most of it at YouTube University. "I am mostly interested in audio mixing. I have a thing for quirky sound effects and synths and echoes and reverb and all kinds of distortions," she says.
Juggling the roles of scientist and content creator with her personal life she lives with her husband and has twin daughters in their early teens can be a bit overwhelming, she acknowledges. Besides YouTube, she's on Substack and also hosts a podcast. "If I had the time, I would probably be on TikTok, but at the moment I just can't do it," Hossenfelder says.
It's more acceptable nowadays to be both a scientist and someone who explains science to the public, she says. Giants such as the late Carl Sagan and, more recently, Neil deGrasse Tyson have helped pave the way. But among her fellow scientists, "there's still this line of thought that Sabine is not doing research anymore ... that she's now doing YouTube," Hossenfelder says.
"Basically I don't care. I do my thing," she says.
McGaugh, Hossenfelder's collaborator and co-author, expresses concern that her heavy commitment to social media might inevitably crowd out her research. "I can see the pressures," he admits. "But Sabine so far has managed to do both."
Arizona State's Rankin says Hossenfelder's efforts to fund her own research, while unusual today, hark back to an era when gentlemen scientists put up their own money to build scientific instruments, such as telescopes, and pay for scientific expeditions. "But then ... it was like you just couldn't afford to do science unless you were funded through a federal government," Rankin says.
It remains to be seen whether others follow Hossenfelder's lead. Regardless, she's continuing to build her brand with plans to add quizzes to go with the YouTube videos that she hopes will "help with understanding the material."
Last year, she published her second book, Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions. And she's working on two new scientific papers.
While the gender divide in physics is marginally less stark in Germany than in America by one estimate, a quarter of Ph.D.s in physics are women there, while it's only about a fifth in the U.S. Hossenfelder eschews the "role model" label.
"I'm a sarcastic, annoying, permanently grumpy middle-aged woman, and no one in their right mind should strive to be anything like me," she says.
Read more here:
She got famous on YouTube. Now it helps fund her research in ... - NPR
Researcher talks space-time structures alongside Nobel laureate … – Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Its not very often that you meet your heroes, let alone give a seminar in the same series as them.
Thats what happened to Dr Niels Gresnigt, Associate Professor at XJTLUs Department of Physics. Dr Gresnigt was invited to give a lecture and be an advisor for the online lecture series Octonions, Standard Model, and Unification (OSMU23).
The seminars, occurring fortnightly between February and December 2023, feature ongoing research from eminent physicists and mathematicians working on space-time structures in quantum theory.
As if giving a talk was not nerve-wracking enough, Dr Gresnigts audience included some of the most extraordinary minds in the world of science, including Professor Sir Roger Penrose, who also gave the opening seminar of the series.
Over the course of his career, Professor Penrose has won several of the most prestigious prizes in physics, including the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics and the 1988 Wolf Prize, which he shared with Stephen Hawking.
Other well-known physicists will also deliver lectures in the series, including Professors Basil Hiley, Albert Schwarz, Robert Arnott Wilson, and Geoffrey Dixon.
The speakers at each seminar focus on the physics and mathematics that describe the different elementary particles that make up our universe and their possible interactions.
The standard model of particle physics explains how elementary particles interact through strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces. Although it does a wonderful job of predicting the outcomes of experiments, some theoretical questions remain unanswered.
To answer these concerns, recent research has suggested adopting a particular type of number system called a division algebra. The largest of these number systems, known as the octonions, is one of only four found in nature, says Dr Gresnigt.
Octonions a number system that may hold the key to understanding the laws of nature
During Dr Gresnigts talk, he outlined some ideas of how they might mathematically describe the behaviour of particles within the algebraic framework of the division algebras.
He also discussed a curious association between these algebraic models and a topological description of particles in terms of simple braids: sets of parallel strings that are intertwined in a specific way.
Braids sets of parallel strings that are intertwined in a specific way
This series has brought together over 20 physicists and mathematicians, and Dr Gresnigt says he has already built collaborations and connections with other speakers in this series.
He says: A number of physicists and mathematicians around the world focus on using octonions and the other division algebras to understand why we observe the particles that we do and to explain their behaviour.
Consequently, this seminar series provides a chance for us to exchange ideas, collaborate on research projects, and move forward.
The idea that division algebras may underlie the rules of nature is what inspired the current lecture series.
Dr Niels Gresnigt delivering his online lecture
OSMU23 was presented by the Archive Trust for Research in Mathematical Sciences and Philosophy (Oxford) and the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (Pune).
Dr Niels Gresnigt joined XJTLU in August 2014. His research interests include theoretical high energy physics and loop quantum gravity.
His recent study is Braided matter interactions in quantum gravity via one-handle attachment. Clickhereto read it.
By Qinru Liu
Edited by Catherine Diamond and Patricia Pieterse
Go here to read the rest:
UMD Celebrates Grand Opening of Quantum Computing Research … – Maryland Today
The University of Maryland on Tuesday announced the grand opening of the National Quantum Laboratory (QLab), a groundbreaking quantum research center developed in partnership with College Park-based IonQ, a leader in the quantum computing industry. The QLab enables people from across the nation and around the world to work with one of the worlds most powerful quantum computers alongside leading experts in the field in efforts to address some of the most complex challenges of our time.
Located at the companys headquarters off College Avenue in UMDs Discovery District, this cutting-edge workspace aims to build the next generation of quantum talent and innovations and further establish the region as the Capital of Quantum.
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland told attendees that the university-company partnership is a step toward building quantum computing as a necessary societal tool.
This is important for Maryland and the University of Maryland, but what youre doing here today is critically important to Americas future and quite frankly, the global future, Cardin said.
Thanks to a nearly $20 million UMD investment that fueled the facilitys opening, researchers, students, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and others are already taking advantage of the QLab collaboration to explore how quantum computers can help improve machine learning and AI, materials discovery, supply chain logistics, climate modeling, cybersecurity and more.
As a node in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Quantum Internet, the QLab is also accelerating the development of quantum networking capabilities necessary to realize the full potential of quantum computers, sensors and communications systems. QLab also supports the growth of a skilled quantum workforce and has hosted more than 300 participants in virtual and in-person workshops and bootcamps.
We cannot fully imagine where quantum computing will take us in the future, but we do know the collaborations made possible through QLab will be essential to moving the field forward and reaching the life-altering discoveries we seek, said UMD President Darryll J. Pines. QLab spikes our competitiveness factor for the state and our region as we attract innovators from all over the world to work with us and share resources.
UMD is one of the worlds leading institutions of quantum science and engineering, working in close partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology as well as other federal agencies and labs. The university boasts more than 200 quantum researchers, eight quantum-focused centers and a comprehensive suite of quantum education offerings.
This first-of-its-kind QLab builds upon the universitys $300 million investment in quantum science and more than 30-year track record of driving advances in quantum physics and technology. It additionally marks the latest extension of the universitys partnership with IonQ, a company partially founded on research conducted at UMD.
At IonQ, we firmly believe that the future of quantum relies on a strong partnership between industry and academia. QLab is a testament of our commitment to nurturing this collaboration, paving the way for students to be at the forefront of quantum research and development, said Peter Chapman, CEO and president of IonQ. Through our own journey from a research-oriented approach to our current focus on engineering and manufacturing, we aim to achieve an advanced quantum system in the near future that will deliver significant advantages over classical computing for certain use cases.
The QLab builds on impact-focused regional collaborations enabled by the Mid-Atlantic Quantum Alliance and its 38 members from academia, industry and government.
Among the guests were high-ranking state lawmakers and officials, including Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller.
As an engineer, I am geeking out right now, Miller said. Gov. (Wes) Moore and I believe quantum is one of the biggest opportunities we have as a state to grow, and we are excited to move into this frontier with the best and the brightest."
Continue reading here:
UMD Celebrates Grand Opening of Quantum Computing Research ... - Maryland Today
Research Fellow in Quantum Learning and/or Optimisation Theory … – Times Higher Education
About the Centre for Quantum Technologies
(CQT) The Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) is a research centre of excellence in Singapore. It brings together physicists, computer scientists and engineers to do basic research on quantum physics and to build devices based on quantum phenomena. Experts in this new discipline of quantum technologies are applying their discoveries in computing, communications, and sensing. CQT is hosted by the National University of Singapore and also has staff at Nanyang Technological University. With some 180 researchers and students, it offers a friendly and international work environment. Learn more about CQT atwww.quantumlah.org
Job Description
You will perform research in quantum information theory, in particular on topics in learning and/or optimisation theory; You will be working in an internationally competitive group, and will have the opportunity to work with highly motivated students; You will have access to funds covering your travel expenses to conferences and/or research visits Positions are available immediately.
Job Requirements
More Information
Please include your consent by filling in theNUS Personal Data Consentfor Job Applicants.Applications should contain your latest CV and a description of your research interests.
Salary will be competitive and will commensurate with the candidate's work experience.
Location: [[Kent Ridge]]Department: [[Centre for Quantum Technologies]]Job requisition ID: [[22108]]
Go here to see the original:
Research Fellow in Quantum Learning and/or Optimisation Theory ... - Times Higher Education
Schrodinger Control Optimal Planning for Goal-Based Wealth … – Rebellion Research
Schrodinger Control Optimal Planning for Goal-Based Wealth Management
Science
Erwin Schrdinger. Nobel foundationhttp://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/schrodinger-
Is the wealth management problem a quantum control problem in disguise?
Leaving jokes aside, I believe that the answer to this question becomes affirmative in a very precise sense encoded in the word disguise, which means here mathematically equivalent. Though establishing this equivalence was not specifically my initial objective, this is a by-product of my latest research that I am very happy to share here.
Erwin Schrdinger as a young man
More specifically, the new paper shows that the framework of quantum mechanics. Furthermore, more specifically of quantum optimal control.
Schrdinger equation
Moreover, the exact mathematical framework where the problem of optimal retirement planning can be solved in the most tractable way. As quantum control can be very naturally (at least in theory) implemented with quantum computers, potential applications of quantum computing to wealth management modeling can be a very interesting venue for future research.
This paper addresses a problem routinely solved (or at least supposed to be routinely solved) by millions of working individuals who participate in retirement saving plans such as the 401(K) plans in the US, or similar programs worldwide. The problem is to plan an optimal contribution schedule to their investment portfolio so that their wealth by the time of retirement will be above a certain target wealth level at a certain probability confidence level.
Newtons laws of motion, combined with his law of gravity, allow the prediction of howplanets,moons, and other objects orbit through theSolar System, and they are a vital part of planningspace travel. During the 1968Apollo 8mission, astronautBill Anderstook this photo,Earthrise; on their way back to Earth, Anders remarked, I thinkIsaac Newtonis doing most of the driving right now.[1]
NASA/Bill Andershttp://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a410/AS8-14-2383HR.jpg
Unlike the passive dynamics problem of the conventional quantum mechanics, in tasks of quantum control, the objective is to control the Schrodinger potential in order to bring a quantum system into a desired terminal state at a smallest cost or in a shortest time. In the same way, here we control the degree of non-linearity of the Morse potential and the initial particle position in order to achieve a desired quantum mechanical terminal state.
In this sense, the statement in the title now reads:
The wealth management problem is a quantum optimal control problem in disguise.
Dr. Igor Halperin
See original here:
Schrodinger Control Optimal Planning for Goal-Based Wealth ... - Rebellion Research