Other

The session is addressed to educating startups, SMEs, and researchers to acquire fundamental knowledge on IP within the quantum computing domain. This introductory session includes real-world examples to explain the patent process with a view to commercialization of quantum computing projects. Other forms of IP are also covered. The session is facilitated by Benjamin Mak and Marco Clementoni of Ridout & Maybee LLP. 

Zoom Link: TBD

The aim of the presentation is to review the beautiful geometry underlying the standard model of particle physics, as captured by the framework of "SO(10) grand unification." Some new observations related to how the Standard Model (SM) gauge group sits inside SO(10) will also be described. 

I will start by reviewing the SM fermion content, organising the description in terms of 2-component spinors, which give the cleanest picture. 

I will then explain a simple and concrete way to understand how spinors work in 2n dimensions, based on the algebra of differential forms in n dimensions.

This will be followed by an explanation of how a single generation of standard model fermions (including the right-handed neutrino) is perfectly described by a spinor in a 10 ("internal") dimensions. 

I will review how the two other most famous "unification" groups -- the SU(5) of Georgi-Glashow and the SO(6)xSO(4) of Pati-Salam -- sit inside SO(10), and how the SM symmetry group arises as the intersection of these two groups, when they are suitably aligned.

I will end by explaining the more recent observation that the choice of this alignment, and thus the choice of the SM symmetry group inside SO(10), is basically the choice of two Georgi-Glashow SU(5) such that the associated complex structures in R^{10} commute. This means that the SM gauge group arises from SO(10) once a "bihermitian" geometry in R^{10} is chosen. I will end with speculations as to what this geometric picture may be pointing to. 

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95984379422?pwd=SE1ybktzQzcreWREblhEUkZWWElMUT09

Hank Chen, Perimeter Institute and University of Waterloo

Drinfel’d double symmetry of the 4d Kitaev model

We construct the 2-Drinfel'd double associated to a finite 2-group G, and compute its braided 2-category of 2-representations, in order to characterize the topological excitations in the 4d toric code and its spin-Z_2 variant. This work relates the categorical and field theoretical approaches toward characterizing higher-dimensional topological phases in existing literature. In particular, we show that particular twists of the underlying 2-Drinfel'd double is responsible for much of the higher-structural properties that arise in gapped topological phases in 4d. We emphasize that this work also displays the first ever instance of higher Tannakian duality for 2-categories.

Jacob Barnett, Perimeter Institute

Locality and Exceptional Points in Pseudo-Hermitian Physics

This talk discusses the role of non-Hermitian operators in fundamental and effective theories of physics. An implicit assumption of the tensor product model of locality is that the inner product factorizes with the tensor product. Quasi-Hermitian quantum frameworks can be used to lift this assumption while preserving the reality of spectra and unitarity. After characterizing local observable algebras and expectation values, I will examine Bell's inequality and its generalizations, the nonlocal games, in the setting of quasi-Hermitian theories. Pseudo-Hermitian operators characterize systems with time-reversal symmetry. These operators exhibit rich perturbative and symmetry-breaking properties that are unparalleled in the Hermitian regime. I will convey some geometric and topological aspects of these features, with emphasis placed on non-interacting many-body systems.
 

The recent advancement of machine learning provides new opportunities for tackling challenges in quantum science, ranging from condensed matter physics, high energy physics to quantum information science. In this talk, I will first discuss a class of anti-symmetric wave functions based on neural network backflow,  which is efficient for simulating strongly-correlated lattice models and artificial quantum materials. Next, I will talk about recent progress of simulating continuum quantum field theories with neural quantum field state, and lattice gauge theories such as 2+1D quantum electrodynamics with finite density dynamical fermions using gauge symmetric neural networks. I will further discuss neural network representation based on positive-value-operator and phase space measurements for quantum dynamics simulations. Finally, I will present applications of machine learning in quantum control, quantum optimization and quantum machine learning.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/93834456412?pwd=R0hxdEpxanFFRnZmTHlqZTBXRi82QT09

In this colloquium, I will review how the notion of quantum error-correction has transformed our understanding of quantum gravity in the past decade.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/94349082665?pwd=OFdJdkpHU1NEcmlNeW5pWlg4WmNBZz09

 I will present a novel behavior developed by scattering amplitudes in certain regions of the kinematic space, in which amplitudes factorize into 3 pieces without becoming singular. This is opposed to what happens in standard factorization or soft limits. We call this behavior a 3-split, and it is "semi-local" in nature. As 3-splits cannot be obtained from standard unitarity arguments, they represent a new phenomenon in QFT. I will introduce 3-splits in their simplest version, i.e. for the biadjoint scalar theory (which I will also introduce). If time allows, I will also comment on how 3-splits arise in other QFTs and how they lead to the discovery of more general theories.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/95575818902?pwd=V1RKYW9WMmZQNElVL2VyUGFGMFgxQT09