Scientific Series

Entanglement is one of the most studied features of quantum mechanics and in particular quantum information. Yet its role in quantum information is still not clearly understood. Results such as (R. Josza and N. Linden, Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A 459, 2011 (2003)) show that entanglement is necessary, but stabilizer states and the Gottesman-Knill theorem (for example) imply that it is far from sufficient. I will discuss three aspects of entanglement. First, a quantum circuit with a "vanishingly small" amount of entanglement that admits an apparent exponential speed-up over the classical case. Second, I will discuss techniques for lower-bounding the amount of entanglement in bipartite quantum states. Finally, I will discuss the role of entanglement in quantum metrology. Specifically, I will show that entangling ancillas can make no difference to the accuracy of a quantum parameter estimation, regardless of the nature of the coupling Hamiltonian. I will conclude by discussing strategies for improving the scaling of quantum parameter estimation.

Traditional quantum state tomography requires a number of measurements that grows exponentially with the number of qubits n. But using ideas from computational learning theory, I'll show that "for most practical purposes" one can learn a quantum state using a number of measurements that grows only linearly with n. I'll discuss applications of this result in experimental physics and quantum computing theory, as well as possible implications for the foundations of quantum mechanics. quant-ph/0608142

I will demonstrate how one can realize Cascade inflation in M-theory. Cascade inflation is a realization of assisted inflation which is driven by non-perturbative interactions of N M5-branes. Its power spectrum possesses three distinctive signatures: a decisive power suppression at small scales, oscillations around the scales that cross the horizon when the inflaton potential jumps and stepwise decrease in the scalar spectral index. All three properties result from features in the inflaton potential. The features in the inflaton potential are generated whenever two M5-branes collide with the boundaries. The derived small-scale power suppression serves as a possible explanation for the dearth of observed dwarf galaxies in the Milky Way halo. The oscillations, furthermore, allow to directly probe M-theory by measurements of the spectral index and to distinguish cascade inflation observationally from other string inflation models.

My field is the foundations of quantum mechanics, in particular Bohmian mechanics, a non-relativistic theory that is empirically equivalent to standard quantum mechanics while solving all of its paradoxes in an elegant and simple way, essentially by assuming that particles have trajectories. Bohmian mechanics possesses a straightforward generalization to relativistic space-time, be it flat or curved, if one assumption against the spirit of relativity is granted: the existence of a "time foliation", i.e., a physical object mathematically represented by a slicing of space-time into spacelike 3-surfaces, which evolves according to a Lorentz-invariant law. On the basis of this kind of theory, describing particles in a background 4-geometry, I propose an extension in which the space-time geometry is dynamically generated, as in general relativity. Whether my model is empirically equivalent to any known type of quantum gravity I don't know. In this model, there is a Lorentzian metric on configuration-space-time, evolving according to the higher-dimensional analog of the Einstein field equation. The 4-metric is obtained from the configuration-space-time metric and the actual particle configuration. Thus, this Bohm-like model generates (up to diffeomorphisms) a 4-metric and particle world lines from a given wave function.

Studies of ${cal N}=4$ super Yang Mills operators with large R-charge have shown that, in the planar limit, the problem of computing their dimensions can be viewed as a certain spin chain. These spin chains have fundamental ``magnon\'\' excitations which obey a dispersion relation that is periodic in the momentum of the magnons. This result for the dispersion relation was also shown to hold at arbitrary \'t Hooft coupling. Here we identify these magnons on the string theory side and we show how to reconcile a periodic dispersion relation with the continuum worldsheet description. The crucial idea is that the momentum is interpreted in the string theory side as a certain geometrical angle. We use these results to compute the energy of a spinning string. We also show that the symmetries that determine the dispersion relation and that constrain the S-matrix are the same in the gauge theory and the string theory. We compute the overall S-matrix at large \'t Hooft coupling using the string description and we find that it agrees with an earlier conjecture. We also find an infinite number of two magnon bound states at strong coupling, while at weak coupling this number is finite.

We introduce a new top down approach to canonical quantum gravity, called Algebraic Quantum Gravity (AQG): The quantum kinematics of AQG is determined by an abstract $*-$algebra generated by a countable set of elementary operators labelled by an algebraic graph. The quantum dynamics of AQG is governed by a single Master Constraint operator. While AQG is inspired by Loop Quantum Gravity LQG), it differs drastically from it because in AQG there is fundamentally no topology or differential structure. The missing information about the topology and differential structure of the spacetime manifold as well as about the background metric to be approximated is supplied by coherent states and is therefore only available in the semiclassical sector of the theory. Given such data, the corresponding coherent state defines a sector in the Hilbert space of AQG which can be identified with a usual QFT on the given manifold and background. Thus, AQG contains QFT on all curved spacetimes at once, possibly has something to say about topology change and provides the contact with the familiar low energy physics. We will show that AQG admits a semiclassical limit whose infinitesimal gauge symmetry generators agree with the ones of General Relativity.

I will first argue that the notion of black hole entropy extends universally to causal horizons. Then I will deduce the causal dynamics of spacetime from the equilibrium thermodynamics of causal horizons. Specifically, it will be shown how the Clausius relation dS = dQ/T between entropy change, energy flux, and acceleration temperature for all local causal horizons implies the Einstein equation, with Newton's constant determined by the universal horizon entropy density. Implications, non-equilibrium processes, and relations to AdS/CFT duality will also be discussed.

In this talk I will present several new results from joint work with Dmitry Gavinsky, Oded Regev and Ronald de Wolf, relating to the model of one-way communication and the simultaneous model of communication. I will describe several separations between various resources (entanglement versus event coin, quantum communication versus classical communication), showing in particular that quantum communication cannot simulate a public coin and that entanglement can be much more powerful than a public coin, even if communication is quantum. I will also present a characterization of the quantum fingerprinting technique.

How should we think about quantum computing? The usual answer to this question is based on ideas inspired by computer science, such as qubits, quantum gates, and quantum circuits. In this talk I will explain an alternate geometric approach to quantum computation. In the geometric approach, an optimal quantum computation corresponds to "free falling" along the minimal geodesics of a certain Riemannian manifold. This reformulation opens up the possibility of using tools from geometry to understand the strengths and weaknesses of quantum computation, and perhaps to understand what makes certain physical operations difficult (or easy) to synthesize.

Currently, most physicists believe that only a small fraction of all the matter and energy in the universe is visible and can be seen through our most powerful telescopes. The remaining majority of the universe is thought to consist of elusive dark matter and dark energy, two substances about which we know very little. This presentation will explore the evidence in supporting the dark matter and dark energy theories and discuss some of their implications for how our universe will evolve.