Talks

Highly magnetized neutron stars are a source of extreme transients observed in different bands, like the fast radio burst (FRB) and associated hard X-ray burst from the Galactic magnetar SGR 1935+2154. The origin of such outbursts, hard X-rays on the one hand and millisecond duration FRBs on the other hand, is still unknown. We present a global model for various kinds of such magnetar outbursting activities. Crustal surface motions are expected to twist the inner magnetar magnetosphere by shifting the frozen-in footpoints of magnetic field lines. We discuss criteria for the development of various instabilities of 3D twisted flux bundles in the force-free dipolar magnetospheres and compare their energetic properties to observations of magnetar X-ray flares. We then review a recently developed FRB generation mechanism in the outer magnetosphere of a magnetar. The strong magnetic pulse induced by a magnetar flare collides with the current sheet of the magnetar wind, compresses and fragments it into a self-similar chain of magnetic islands. Time-dependent plasma currents created during their collisions produce relatively narrow-band GHz emission with luminosities sufficient to explain bright extragalactic FRBs.

Zoom ink:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/96469987183?pwd=N1UzVkh6RGZUeWV6TFZJLzk0M3VWZz09

"Many relevant tasks in Quantum Information processing can be expressed as polynomial optimization problems over states and operators. In the earlier talk by David, we saw that this is also the case for certain (quantum) causal compatibility and causal optimization problems. This talk will focus on several closely related semidefinite programming (SDP) hierarchies that have recently been shown to be complete for such polynomial optimization problems [arxiv:2110.14659, 2212.11299, 2301.12513]. We give a high-level overview of the techniques and mathematics that are needed for proving such statements. In particular, we will see a version of a Quantum De Finetti theorem, as well as a sketch of a constructive proof of convergence for the SDP hierarchies. Afterwards, these results are linked back to the causal compatibility problem to conclude that such SDP hierarchies are complete for a certain type of causal structures known as tree networks."

"Is there a complete semi-definite programming hierarchy for quantum causal problems? We divide the question into two parts. First: Can quantum causal problems be expressed as polynomial optimization problems (this talk). Second: Can this class of polynomial optimizations be solved by means of SDPs (Laurens' talk). The optimizations we consider here are ""polynomial"" in two ways. They are over the unknown observable algebra of the hidden systems, which are specified by non-commutative polynomials in a set of generators. But they also involve independence constraints, which are commutative polynomials in the state. A hierarchy of such polynomial tests is complete if one can construct a quantum model for any observed distribution that passes all of them. We've recently had some success in finding such constructions, but also ran into problems in the general case [1, 2]. I give a high-level presentation of the state of the play. [1] https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.14659 [2] https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.11299"

For binary instrumental variable models, there seems to be a long-standing gap between two sets of bounds on the average treatment effect: the stronger Balke–Pearl ("sharp") bounds versus the weaker Robins–Manski ("natural") bounds. In the literature, the Balke–Pearl bounds are typically derived under stronger assumptions, i.e., either individual exclusion or joint exogeneity, which are untestable cross-world statements, while the natural bounds only require testable assumptions. In this talk, I show that the stronger bounds are justified by the existence of a latent confounder. In fact, the Balke–Pearl bounds are sharp under latent confounding and stochastic exclusion. The "secret sauce" that closes this gap is a set of CHSH-type inequalities that generalize Bell's (1964) inequality.

The class of problems in causal inference which seeks to isolate causal correlations solely from observational data even without interventions has come to the forefront of machine learning, neuroscience and social sciences. As new large scale quantum systems go online, it opens interesting questions of whether a quantum framework exists on isolating causal correlations without any interventions on a quantum system. We put forth a theoretical framework for merging quantum information science and causal inference by exploiting entropic principles. At the root of our approach is the proposition that the true causal direction minimizes the entropy of exogenous variables in a non-local hidden variable theory. The proposed framework uses a quantum causal structural equation model to build the connection between two fields: entropic causal inference and the quantum marginal problem. First, inspired by the definition of geometric quantum discord, we fill the gap between classical and quantum conditional density matrices to define quantum causal models. Subsequently, using a greedy approach, we develop a scalable algorithm for quantum entropic causal inference unifying classical and quantum causality in a principled way. We apply our proposed algorithm to an experimentally relevant scenario of identifying the subsystem impacted by noise starting from an entangled state. This successful inference on a synthetic quantum dataset can have practical applications in identifying originators of malicious activity on future multi-node quantum networks as well as quantum error correction. As quantum datasets and systems grow in complexity, our framework can play a foundational role in bringing observational causal inference from the classical to the quantum domain.

We investigate the problem of bounding counterfactual queries from an arbitrary collection of observational and experimental distributions and qualitative knowledge about the underlying data-generating model represented in the form of a causal diagram. We show that all counterfactual distributions in an arbitrary structural causal model (SCM) with finite discrete endogenous variables could be generated by a family of SCMs with the same causal diagram where unobserved (exogenous) variables are discrete with a finite domain. Utilizing this family of SCMs, we translate the problem of bounding counterfactuals into that of polynomial programming whose solution provides optimal bounds for the counterfactual query.

Explaining the natural world through cause-and-effect relations is the fundamental principle of science. Although a classical theory of causality has been recently introduced, enabling us to model causation across diverse research fields, it is crucial to examine which aspects of it require modification or abandonment to also comprehend causality in the quantum world. To address this question, we will investigate paradigmatic scenarios, including the double slit, Bell's theorem and generalizations to quantum networks, also exploring recent experimental advancements.

We present a quantum algorithm for simulating the classical dynamics of 2^n coupled oscillators (e.g.,  masses coupled by springs). Our approach leverages a mapping between the Schrodinger equation and Newton's equations for harmonic potentials such that the amplitudes of the evolved quantum state encode the momenta and displacements of the classical oscillators. When individual masses and spring constants can be efficiently queried, and when the initial state can be efficiently prepared, the complexity of our quantum algorithm is polynomial in n, almost linear in the evolution time, and sublinear in the sparsity. As an example application, we apply our quantum algorithm to efficiently estimate the kinetic energy of an oscillator at any time, for a specification of the problem that we prove is BQP-complete. Thus, our approach solves a potentially practical application with an exponential speedup over classical computers. Finally, we show that under similar conditions our approach can efficiently simulate more general classical harmonic systems with 2^n modes.

Zoom link:  https://pitp.zoom.us/j/91882209363?pwd=UndJRVdaZW04RGtpL0M2SE52RDJwZz09

"Many relationships in causality, statistics or probability theory can be expressed as conditional independence relations between the occurring random variables. Since the invention of the notion of conditional independence one aim was to be able to also express such relationship between random and non-random variables, like the parameters of a stochastic model, the input variables of a probabilistic program or intervention variables in a causal model. Over time several different versions of such extended conditional independence notion have been proposed, each coming with their own advantages and disadvantages, oftentimes limited to certain subclasses of random variables like discrete variables or ones with densities. In this talk we present another such notion of conditional independence, which can easily be expressed in measure-theoretic generality and even in categorical probability. We will study its expressivity, present its (convenient) properties, and relate it to other notions of conditional independence."