Dear quanta,

1. Let's restart group meetings this Friday, Feb 3 at 11am in room 6-310, like in the good old days, but with donuts + coffee starting a bit earlier.

The agenda is: everyone who went to QIP talk about something interesting they learned there.

Also, please think about whether you'd like to speak about your work in some future group meeting or if you want to nominate someone else to talk about their work.

2. Besides 6.443/8.37/118.436, there is another class on just the subfield of quantum information concerning diagonal density matrices. This esoteric special case is also called "probability." This class looks pretty good.

Subject: 6.265 Modern Discrete Probability

Time: MW 1-2:30p in 56-154

Instructors: Guy Bresler and Yury Polyanskiy

Description: This class was developed for those planning to work on discrete probabilistic systems arising in modern statistics and CS. The class will be at a level appropriate for first-year graduate students and aspiring undergraduates. The topics are motivated by and applied to several foundational models: percolation, random graphs, and Ising model, as well as dynamics on them and associated computational problems. A central theme is the study of sharp thresholds.

Prerequisites: 6.436 or equivalent (measure-theoretic probability will not be needed)

Syllabus and more info in the attached pdf.