We will have group meeting tomorrow at the usual time and place. Besides Scott's talk today at 4, there are two others that should be of interest to the group: tomorrow and Monday, both at 1:30pm in 6C-442.
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Soonwon Choi, Berkeley
Friday, February 7. 1:30 pm. 6C-442 (Cosman Room)
Title: Phase transitions in the dynamics of quantum information
Abstract:
Quantum information science seeks to understand and control quantum systems with high entanglement and complexity, defining a new frontier of physics. In this talk, we discuss a novel phenomenon that arises in this regime: a phase transition in the dynamics of quantum entanglement and information. We consider a generic quantum many-body system coupled to a noisy environment, which we model with random unitary circuits interspersed by projective measurements. The interplay between unitary evolution and measurements leads to a phase transition: at high measurement rates, any coherent information in the system is completely lost, while at sufficiently low rates, an extensive amount of information is robustly protected. The nature of the phase transition can be understood from two complementary perspectives: firstly, by using the quantum error-correcting properties of scrambling unitary dynamics; and secondly, by using a mapping to ordering transitions in classical statistical mechanics. The implications of our work for on-going experiments as well as for broad future research directions will be discussed.
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Guang Hao Low, Microsoft
Monday, February 10, 1:30 pm. 6C-442 (Cosman Room)
Title: Probing strongly correlated systems: Towards a quantum computational advantage
Abstract:
The properties of strongly correlated systems are of great interest but have often been challenging to elucidate. Some of these difficulties may be overcome by programmable digital quantum computers, which harness the quantum-mechanical nature of reality to simulate quantum systems and promise an advantage over computers rooted in classical physics. In this talk, I review developments in quantum algorithms advancing this goal, highlight the key role of physical insight such as the interaction picture and the finite speed of light driving recent progress, and point towards further challenges in quantum computation as a tool for fundamental physics.