PIRSA:22030036

Putting resource theories to work in chemistry

Yunger Halpern, N. (2022). Putting resource theories to work in chemistry. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/22030036

Yunger Halpern, Nicole. Putting resource theories to work in chemistry. Perimeter Institute, Mar. 30, 2022, https://pirsa.org/22030036 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:22030036,
            doi = {10.48660/22030036},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/22030036},
            author = {Yunger Halpern, Nicole},
            keywords = {Quantum Information},
            language = {en},
            title = {Putting resource theories to work in chemistry},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2022},
            month = {mar},
            note = {PIRSA:22030036 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Nicole Yunger Halpern

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Talk number
PIRSA:22030036
Collection
Talk Type
Subject
Abstract

The past decade has seen an explosion of research into resource theories—simple, quantum-information-theoretic models for constrained agents. Resource theories have provided foundational insights about thermodynamics, entanglement, and more. Yet whether resource theories can inform science outside our neighborhood of quantum information theory has been an outstanding question. I will present what is, to my knowledge, the first application of a resource theory to answer a pre-existing question in another field. Molecular switches, or photoisomers, surface across nature and technologies, from our eyes to solar-fuel cells. What probability does a switch have of switching? A general answer defies standard chemistry tools, as photoisomers are small, quantum and far from equilibrium. I will bound the switching probability by modeling a photoisomer within a thermodynamic resource theory. This work has helped pave the path for resource theories to impact science broadly.

References
• NYH and Limmer, Phys. Rev. A 101, 042116 (2020). https://journals.aps.org/pra/
abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.101.042116
• NYH, in Eddington, Wheeler, and the Limits of Knowledge, Eds. Durham and
Rickles, Springer (2017) arXiv:1509.03873.

Zoom Link: https://pitp.zoom.us/j/99315796008?pwd=dDJBMjR2ckRmdlhtdWJZeHJuNUI1QT09