Author: dabacon

Posted on

SFI Postdocs

This is a bit late being posted, but the Santa Fe Institute is running their postdoc search this year. SFI has always had a running interesting the border between physics and computer science and was even crazy enough to hire a crazy theorist like me as a postdoc. Oh, how I miss those green chiles. Here is the information for the positions, which I highly recommend quantum computing people to consider as an option. Plus you’ll get to live in New Mexico and eat lots of awesome New Mexican food and go skiing at the ever awesome Taos ski area (not to mention that the UNM and Los Alamos quantum computing groups are but a short drive away):

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) anticipates offering several Postdoctoral Fellowships to begin in September 2007.
The Postdoctoral Fellowship program provides up to three years of support for independent research at SFI. Postdoctoral Fellows are encouraged to engage research questions of their own design, and to form collaborations with members of the faculty, other SFI postdocs, and researchers from around the world. Fellows pursue research that lies at the boundaries of the traditional academic disciplines, and that creates new fields of inquiry.
In addition to salary, health benefits, and retirement contributions, Fellows have access to funds to support travel to meetings, to visit collaborators at other institutions, and to bring collaborators to visit SFI. Fellows are encouraged to participate in all SFI activities, to invite speakers for the colloquium series, and to organize workshops and working groups.
Research at SFI is integrative, and there are no formal programs or departments. Individual research projects draw input from a variety of fields, including biology, chemistry, computer science, physics, mathematics, economics, sociology, anthropology, and political science. We welcome applications from any of these fields, as well as others not listed here. Descriptions of the research interests of the faculty and current Postdoctoral Fellows can be found at http://www.santafe.edu/research/researchers.php. Most research at SFI focuses on theoretical and computational approaches, although applicants whose research includes an experimental or data-collection component in collaboration with off-site colleagues are also encouraged to apply.
Candidates should have a Ph.D. (or expect to receive one by September 2007), a strong academic record, and a proven ability to work independently. We are particularly favorable toward applicants with an interest in trans-disciplinary interactions and collaboration, and who have demonstrated the potential to think outside traditional paradigms.
Applications are welcome from candidates in any country. Women and minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Successful foreign applicants must acquire an acceptable visa (usually a J-1) as a condition of employment
TO APPLY: Please view the full position announcement and application instructions at http://www.santafe.edu/education/postdocinst07.php. For full consideration, please submit all application materials, including three letters of recommendation, by November 15, 2006. For further information, please e-mail postdocinfo[at]santafe.edu.

Posted on

Where In the World Is David San Diego?

Visiting the Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech! Just in time because it was freeeezing in Seattle (ice on the windshield…which means snow in the hills soon!)

Nov. 01, 2006 (Wednesday), 3pm
When Physics and Computer Science Collide!
Our world, at its very base, appears to be a cauldron of indeterminism. Not only does quantum theory tell us that we can at best predict the probabilities of different events, but every system in nature is an open system which interacts with its surroundings to produce uncertainties in the state of the system. How, then, in such an uncertain world, is it possible to produce machines which operate with virtual certainty? This question is at the heart of defining what is and what is not a computer. In this talk I will discuss how we approach this problem in the field of quantum computing through what is known as the theory of fault-tolerant quantum computing. This will take us on a broad tour of some of the most exciting ideas occuring where physics and computer science collide.

Posted on

Zotero Zero Until Arxivero

No arXiv support yet, but a cool firefox reference organizer tool to keep an eye on Zotero. Without arxiv support its pretty much useless to me right now, but playing around with it for other sites makes me think it would be extremely valuable.

Posted on

Quantum Percent Sign?

Okay, so when we talk about classical systems, our description of the configuration of the different states is given by a probability. So I might say my bit is a mixture of 50% 0 and 50% 1. Now when we move to quantum theory we no longer have probabilities but instead have complex numbers. But what symbol am I supposed to use for this? My state is a mixture of 1/sqrt(2) q% 0 and 1/sqrt{2} q% 1? Mabye we should invent a new symbol which is the % sign but with the slash the other direction? Or turn those 0s in the % sign into “q”s?

Posted on

QIP 2007 Deadlines Approaching

Michel Nielsen passes along and email detailing the fact that the deadlines for QIP 2007, to be held in Brisbane, Australia, are fast approaching:

QIP 2007
The tenth QIP (Quantum Information Processing) Workshop is to be held in
Brisbane, Australia, from January 30 through February 3, 2007. QIP covers
theoretical aspects of quantum information science, including quantum
computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum information theory.
The deadline for abstract submission for contributed talks (long and
short) and for posters is 4 November, 2006.
The deadline for early bird registration is 24 November, 2006.
Some partial support available for students and postdocs will be available
(see the website).
Full details are available at the workshop website:
http://qipworkshop.org/
Links to past QIP workshops (including programs) are available at the
website. Note that this year’s program will follow a similar format to
QIP 2006, with approximately 10 invited talks, and 30 contributed talks.
Hope to see you in Brisbane in 2007!

I have to decide whether I’m going to be able to make it this year as I’m teaching Data Structures next term. Two years in a row missing QIP sounds really bad to me.

Posted on

Siskiyou Daily News Police Reports

I grew up in a small town. Whenever I go home, one of the first things I do is turn to the Police Department report in the local newspaper. Why? To see if my friends have ended up in jail? Nope. For gems like this

Possible dead male in wheelchair. Emergency personnel were dispatched. Officier advised, subject was fine, wheelchair was dead. Wheelchair and subject was transported to his residence.

or, how about this,

Report of a dog causing a traffic problem in the area. Officer arrived and located the dog. After a game of fetch the dog was loaded into the car taken to the kennels.

or, maybe this

Report of a man carrying dead turkey down Main Street. Turkey determined to be recent kill and hunting season open.

Posted on

Green Eggs and Green Bacon

Apparently I’m running for the public regulation commission in Albuquerque, NM (spotted by UNM quantum scientists eating at the delicious El Patio, those lucky bastards.)
David Bacon
Free internet for everyone! So you can waste your time reading this blog, of course 🙂

Posted on

A PR Battle Worth Fighting?

Yoinked from the comments of my post laugh therapy, John Preskill weighs in with a wise remark:

…But actually it is nice, for those of us who may have come to take the theory of quantum fault tolerance for granted, to be reminded of how truly remarkable and marvelous it is. This paper does not lay a glove on the theory. Even so, let’s be careful not to be too smug. We sure have a long way to go toward turning the theory into practice.

Indeed! My first reaction is always to act like I’m a book critic, and to crank up my hyperbole meter to overdrive. But I certainly agree with John that we should not be too smug. To destroy a line from a baseball movie, “Until we build it, they won’t come.” Indeed to me the best critique of quantum error correction is simply “you haven’t done it yet” to which I can only nod my head in agreement and then run over to the experimentalists and cheer them along.
But John’s comment got me thinking (again) about the relationship quantum computing theory has with the physics community. Certainly I don’t think there has been much of a change in the hiring practices of U.S. physics departments when it comes to quantum computing theorists. In two words: “not good.” And I wonder if perhaps one of the reasons for this is that the central message of the threshold(s) theorem(s) has not penetrated into physics. Indeed, in my mind, the threshold theorem for quantum computation is essentially a statement about a new phase of many-body quantum systems. But to many physicists, I’ll bet that the result, if they’ve heard anything about it at all, sounds more like a strange engineering/computer science result, and the inclussion of the word “theorem” sets off their antimathematical radar detection system.
In some ways what I’m saying is that it feels like we’ve lost the public relations battle in publicizing the significance of the threshold theorem to physics departments. Perhaps part of this is because the language used to describe the theorem is more often devoid of terms physicist would like to see. Indeed when I talk about the threshold theorem I always always immediately transport myself into computer science speak. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a beautiful way to cast the result in terms of the physics of many-body quantum systems. Should we be making fault-tolerance more accessible to physicists? Maybe this is a PR battle we should be trying harder to overcome!
Okay this is strange. Just as I was about to post this, an email popped into my inbox about the APS March meeting:

TGQI is also organizing a tutorial on Quantum Error Correction and Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computation, which will be given on Sunday, March 4, with Daniel Gottesman of the Perimeter Institute as the instructor. To attend a tutorial, you must pre-register for the Meeting.

Sounds like a good way to convert some physics skeptics!