Harvard University Department of Physics

Artificial Intelligence Accelerates Efforts to Develop Clean, Virtually Limitless Fusion Energy

Artificial intelligence, a branch of computer science that is transforming scientific inquiry and industry, could now speed the development of safe, clean and virtually limitless fusion energy for generating electricity.

Alex Atanasov wins Hertz, NSF, NDSEG Fellowships

Congratulations to Alex Atanasov, winner of Hertz, NSF GRFP, and NDSEG fellowships!

Students Win NSF GRFP Awards

Congratulations to 2019 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Winners: Bernstein, Cesarotti, Contreras, Krulewski, Lee, Putnam, and Wang!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Today

CMP Special Seminar: Silvia Pappalardi, hosted by Jamir Marino (SISSA-ICTP)
Start: 10:00am - End: 11:00am
- Title: How long-range interactions slow down entanglement growth: a novel theoretical paradigm
  
  Abstract: It is by now well established that a large body of information about the non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems can be inferred from the evolution of their entanglement. Numerical simulations have shown that the growth in time of entanglement entropy after a sudden quantum quench typically becomes very slow when interactions are long-ranged, even in the absence of disorder. In this talk, I will present the general mechanism underlying this counter-intuitive phenomenon. First, I will demonstrate that the evolution of entanglement entropy in infinite-range spin systems can be computed analytically in terms of the time-dependent collective spin squeezing, and is governed by the structure of underlying semiclassical trajectories. Hence, by establishing explicit bounds on pre-thermalization time scales, I will show how the slowness of entanglement growth extends to systems with slowly-decaying interactions. All our analytical results agree with exact numerical computations in the paradigmatic quantum Ising chains with long-range interactions. Our findings establish a theoretical paradigm for entanglement dynamics in the presence of long-range interactions, and are directly related to experimental measurements of entanglement entropy in notable platforms, including atomic condensates, cavity-QED systems and trapped ions."
  Ref: A. Lerose, S. Pappalardi - arXiv preprint arXiv:1811.05505, 2018
- 10:00am
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Joint Quantum Seminar: Prof. Umesh Vazirani (UC Berkeley)
Start: 04:00pm - End: 05:30pm
- 04:00pm
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Joint quantum Sciences Seminar - Prof. Umesh Vazirani, UC Berkeley
Start: 04:30pm - End: 05:30pm
- 04:30pm
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Ayse Asatekin - Tufts
Start: 06:00pm - End: 07:30pm
- 06:00pm
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David M. Lee Historical Lecture in Physics (Anton Zeilinger,)
Start: 08:00pm - End: 09:00pm
- "Quantum information and Quantum communication, foundations, and prospects"
- 08:00pm
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Tomorrow

CMP Seminar: Bob Birgeneau (UC Berkeley), hosted by Ashvin Vishwanath
Start: 03:00pm - End: 04:00pm
- Title: Intertwined Nematic, Magnetic, Charge and Superconducting Order in Fe-based Superconductors
  
  Abstract: 12 years ago, to the surprise of many of us, a new family of high temperature superconductors was discovered. These new superconductors involve either sheets or ladders of Fe-pnictides or Fe-chalcogenides. These materials have rich phase diagrams with multiple phases and phase transitions. We will review their general properties with a focus on the phase diagrams. In exploring the properties of these materials experimentally, multiple probes, including neutron and x-ray scattering, ARPES, STM, transport and thermodynamic measurements, are required.
- 03:00pm
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Monday, April 29th

Chris Monroe - University of Maryland
Start: 04:15pm - End: 05:15pm
- Quantum Computing with Atomic Ions
  
  Quantum information science exploits the bizarre features of quantum mechanics -- uncertainty, entanglement, and measurement -- to perform tasks that are impossible using conventional means, such as computing over ungodly amounts of data, and communicating via teleportation. I will describe the leading architecture of a scalable quantum computer, based on individual atoms that store and process quantum bits (qubits) of information. I will summarize the development and performance of atomic ion trap systems at both university and industrial settings, including demonstrations of quantum algorithms and simulations that show a path to scaling quantum computers to useful dimensions, and also a high-level software layer that allows autonomy and remote use via a cloud service. I will also speculate on how this system can realistically be scaled to thousands of qubits and beyond with continued improvements in performance.
- 04:15pm
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Tuesday, April 30th

MATHPHYS:
Start: 03:00pm - End: 03:00pm
- Organizer: Mathematical Picture Language Seminar
- 03:00pm
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CUA Seminar: Prof. Lorenza Viola (Dartmouth University)
Start: 04:00pm - End: 05:30pm
- 04:00pm
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Wednesday, May 1st

Mark Menesses - BU
Start: 06:00pm - End: 07:30pm
- 06:00pm
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