TEDxCaltech

Oh wow, very cool.  TEDxCaltech (http://tedxcaltech.com/):

On Friday, 14 January 2011, Caltech is hosting TEDxCaltech, an exciting one-day event to honor Richard Feynman—Nobel Laureate, Caltech physics professor, iconoclast, visionary, and all-around “curious character.” You won’t want to miss a minute. Stay tuned for more details.

Via @seanmcarroll.  Here is the YouTube teaser:

Oh I would absolutely love to see this. And, “Dear organizers, Please make sure Scott Aaronson is one of your speakers as he is clearly the Richard Feynman of the modern era (without the bongos, I think.)”

Homogeneous

Down the rabbit hole of universes I dread…
Opening up the daily scientific journal of Oct 23, 2051, a torrent of computer modern fonted journal articles confront me with yet more additions to the proven facts of the Human and Robot American Republic’s known knowledge. New bits xored into the database of that which is true, to be consumed by the rational robots that govern our modern libretarian robotocracy.
Switching on the music now, the artificial intelligence picks out a song guaranteed to satisfy my previous preferences, clustering me into a machine learned sisyphusian hell, from which esape isn’t even listed on the menu of options. How soothed the past feels, served up one associative memory inspired lyric at a time…with catchy bridge lyrics too boot!
But short this entertainment must last, for the advertising dollars that are being lost not peddling to my immediate virtual surroundings the ABSOLUTE bargain that is a Google sponsored cruise to the port of Long Beach. Buy it now, see cargo shipped through direct express tubes to the heartland of America! Witness the end result of the optimal combinatorial solution to economic policy, executed within epsilon of the NP-hard solution.
But all of this is, of course, just a distraction from the true meaning of life: to appear unfiltered on national YouTube. To live, alas to be viral, among the social webs, that truely is the one goal that will make life worth living. A life lived adored by millions justifying any lack of substance, for what is substance if not another check mark in the list of known knowledge?
To sleep now, a day spent pushing the epsilons of an optimized marketing drive, epsilon small but multiplied by billions. Dreams now of Superman III, and salami slices so thin yet so numerous that they even evade the IRS. Sweet dreams to influence my vote, sweet dreams to keep me warm during everything but at night. Sleep. Sleep.

More Quantum Postdocapalooza – Um, Due Today

Two more postdocs that are due…today and tomorrow.  Better late than never?  First Mic pointed out postdocs at Cambridge:

Post-doctoral Research Associates in Quantum Computing, Quantum Information Theory & Foundations
Salary: £27,319-£35,646
Limit of tenure: 2 years
Closing date: 31 August 2010
The Department invites applications for two post-doctoral research positions to commence on 1st October 2010 or later by agreement. The successful candidates will be associated with the Centre for Quantum Information and Foundations (formerly Centre for Quantum Computation) of the University of Cambridge.

And Debbie points me to the CIFAR postdocs:

The Junior Fellow Academy of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research is an elite fellowship program designed to build research and leadership capacity in gifted young scholars at a critical early stage of career development.  The Academy provides unique opportunities for personal and professional growth through close collaboration with and mentorship from some of the best researchers in Canada and around the world.
By participating both in an innovative CIFAR research program and the leadership-building Junior Fellow Academy, Junior Fellows learn to embrace CIFAR’s core values:  to think broadly and imaginatively across disciplines and to collaborate on a deep level with colleagues.  These valuable experiences are intended to profoundly impact a Junior Fellow’s future career path.
CIFAR Junior Fellowships are held in conjunction with a university appointment.  Most typically, Junior Fellows work as postdoctoral fellows under the direct supervision of one or more CIFAR program members.
Eligibility: The program is targeted to individuals who have completed their PhD within the past three years and have demonstrated outstanding scholarship and research potential.  Individuals currently completing their doctorates are also eligible to apply.
Duration: Two years.
Value:  For postdoctoral fellows (per year): $65,000 CDN for salary, plus benefit support, if needed, and $5,000 CDN for research support.
How to Apply: Available Junior Fellowships in Cosmology & Gravity, Nanoelectronics, Quantum Information Processing, and Quantum Materials are now posted, along with application instructions, at www.cifar.ca/JFA, with an application deadline of September 1, 2010.  Visit today for more information about CIFAR and its Junior Fellow Academy.

Interested parties can contact Debbie for more info: wcleung [at sign goes here here] uwaterloo.ca

The Second International Conference on Quantum Information and Technology

ICQIT II:

On October 21st and 22nd of 2010, the Japanese National Institute of Informatics will be hosting a satellite conference to the conference “Updating Quantum Cryptography and Communications 2010” (www.uqcc2010.org <http://www.uqcc2010.org/>).  This will be a follow up to our conference in 2009, “The Second International Conference on Quantum Information and Technology (ICQIT)” http://www.qis.ex.nii.ac.jp/icqit2010/index.html,  We would like to put out a general call for participation in this event.  The short conference focuses on,

  • Active quantum devices for quantum communications and quantum computation,
  • System development for quantum computers, repeater networks and quantum simulators,
  • Experimental progress in solid state and optics based quantum devices,
  • Computational Models for large scale computation, specifically topological coding techniques
  • Classical control of large scale quantum systems

The current list of accepted invited speakers are,
Keiichi Edamatsu (Tohoku Univ, Japan)
Masatoshi Fujisawa (TiTech, Tokyo)
Masahito Hayashi (Tohoku Univ, Japan)
Miguel A. Martin-Delgado (Universidad Complutense, Madrid)
Susumu Noda (Kyoto University)
Jeremy O’Brien (Bristol University, U.K.)
Michele Trupke (WUT, Austria)
Andrew White (UQ, Australia)
To find out more information about the conferences (and more especially important dates) please visit the website at  http://www.qis.ex.nii.ac.jp/icqit2010/index.html .  Key information includes
1.  Registration is free for all participants
2.  Abstract submission for posters and contributed talks is the 15th Sept.  Abstracts should be no longer than one page in pdf format. They should be emailed directly to Simon Devitt at devitt [here is the at] nii.ac.jp
3.  Notification of Acceptance of contributed talks and posters is 20th Sept
4.  Registration for Poster presentations and Contributed talks is on the 30th of Sept. 5.  Registration for general participation can be made at any time. However, to adequately cater for this event, we would kindly ask that you register online before the 30th of sept.
Next this conference will be publishing a proceedings in the journal  of “Progress in Informatics”.  Final papers will be due on the 31st Oct 2010 for participates associated with the conference. Contributions will also be considered from those not attending the conference but need to submitted directly to the journal before 30th Sept 2010 www.nii.ac.jp/pi <http://www.nii.ac.jp/pi>.
Please feel free to contact Simon Devitt (devitt [here is the at ]nii.ac.jp) regarding any queries on conference participation or local information in Tokyo.
Best Regards,
Kae Nemoto,
Masahide Sasaki,
Simon Devitt.
Bill Munro.

Quantum Postdocapalooza

Quantum postdocs aplenty.
First up, David Poulin sends a letter about multiple postdocs at the Université de Sherbrooke:

I would like to bring to your attention several open postdoctoral positions in Sherbrooke on various aspects of theoretical and experimental quantum information processing, including:

  • Experimental realization of spin qubits in various materials (GaAs, SiGe, InAs, NV centers,…)
  • Experimental investigation of quantum and non-gaussian noise in various mesoscopic devices
  • Theoretical aspects of superconducting qubits, circuit quantum electrodynamics, quantum limited amplification,…
  • Quantum information theory including quantum error correction, quantum algorithms design, and numerical methods for many-body problems (PEPS, MPS, DMRG).

The positions are available immediately and candidatures will be accepted until all positions are filled. See the attached file for more details.

Second, Jonathan Dowling at LSU sends me a note that he is looking for quantum error correcting postdocs:

I have recently gotten word of some impending funding to support a postdoc in theoretical-mathematical-computational quantum error correction, decoherence free subspaces, dynamical decoupling, and related things.
I would need the person to start likely in January 2011.
If you have any likely candidates please forward this email to them and have them contact me.
A more senior person, perhaps looking toward their second postdoc would be preferred.
We would pay up to $40K/Y for up to a maximum of three years.
(As a reference, the cost of living here is about 1/2 that of Los Angeles.)
Please forward this to any interested parties.
Jonathan’s email is jdowling[change this bracket to “at”]lsu.edu

Another person looking for postdocs is Christoph Simon at the University of Calgary:

I am looking for postdoc candidates who are interested in joining my theoretical quantum optics group at the University of Calgary, ideally starting January 2011 or soon thereafter. Our current research interests are briefly described below. My group is part of the Institute of Quantum Information Science at the University of Calgary, which encompasses several excellent experimental and theoretical groups (see http://www.iqis.org/), guaranteeing a rich and stimulating research environment.
Candidates should send an email with a CV and publication list to christoph.simon [hereiswhere the at goes] gmail.com. Recommendation letters (by email) are also greatly appreciated.
Research Interests:
The interaction of light and matter at the quantum level has played a major role in the development of quantum physics. Its detailed study in the field of quantum optics has led to the development of important applications such as the laser, and to the first experimental demonstrations of the most striking features of quantum physics, such as entanglement and quantum non-locality. But quantum optics is not ready to rest on its laurels. There are two key future challenges. On the one hand, we strive to develop genuine applications of these fundamental quantum features. Our group is particularly interested in
the development of quantum repeaters, which will be essential for future long-distance quantum communication. This motivates us to study potential implementations of quantum memories and of quantum gates between individual photons in various systems. On the other hand, quantum optical systems are ideally positioned to explore the quantum-classical transition, allowing us to deepen our understanding of how the classical macroscopic world arises out of microscopic quantum behavior. This motivates us to study the quantum amplification of photons to macroscopic levels, as well as quantum opto-mechanical systems. All these directions are pursued in close contact with
leading experimental groups.

Then there is the Perimeter Institute:

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics is inviting applications for Postdoctoral Research positions.  For more information please visit http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Scientific/Applications/Postdoctoral _Researcher/
We hope you will share the news by:
1.  Forwarding this information directly to prospective candidates who may be interested in this opportunity.
2.  Printing and hanging the poster located here.
Perimeter Institute offers a dynamic, multi-disciplinary environment with maximum research freedom and opportunity to collaborate.  We welcome all candidates to apply by November 15th, 2010, but applications will be considered until all positions are filled.

QIP 2011 Call for Submissions Lah

QIP on the equator:

QIP 2011
Call for submissions
14th workshop on Quantum Information Processing
Tutorials January 8-9, NUS, Singapore
Workshop January 10-14, The Capella, Sentosa Singapore
Conference Website: http://qip2011.quantumlah.org
Paper Submission: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=qip2011
Quantum Information Processing (QIP) is a rapidly developing field of research spanning both physics and computer science. As the name implies, the field extends information processing (including computing and cryptography) to physical regimes where quantum effects become significant.
QIP 2011 is the fourteenth workshop on theoretical aspects of quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum information theory in a series that started in Aarhus in 1998 and was held last year in Zurich. QIP 2011 will feature plenary talks (called invited talks at previous QIP workshops), featured papers (previously called long contributed talks), contributed papers, and a poster session.
Submissions of abstracts for contributed papers are sought in research areas related to quantum information science and quantum information processing. A small number of contributed paper submissions will be selected as featured papers. The submission to QIP should consist of 2-3 pages, containing a non-technical, clear and insightful description of the results and main ideas, their impact, and their importance to quantum information and computation.  In addition, the submission should direct the reader to a technical version of the work (this should preferably be online but otherwise can be provided as an
attachment). The submission should not consist of a compressed version of the technical exposition of the paper, but instead should facilitate the reading of the technical version and help the program committee assess its importance. In exceptional cases, submissions
without technical versions may be accepted.
The 2-3 page abstracts of the accepted contributed papers and featured papers will be posted on the QIP 2011 website.  More details will be provided in the acceptance notices.
Submission deadlines
Contributed papers: October 14
Posters: December 1
Notifications of acceptance
Contributed talks: November 17
Posters submitted by November 10: November 17
Posters submitted after November 10: December 8
Programme Committee:
Andris AMBAINIS (University of Latvia)
Steve BARTLETT (University of Sydney)
Sergey BRAVYI (IBM)
Wim van DAM (UC Santa Barbara)
Daniel GOTTESMAN (Perimeter Institute) (chair)
Pawel HORODECKI (Gdansk University of Technology)
Iordanis KERENIDIS (Universite Paris-Sud)
Hirotada KOBAYASHI (National Institute of Informatics)
Robert KOENIG (Caltech)
Barbara KRAUS (University of Innsbruck)
Mio MURAO (University of Tokyo)
Peter SHOR (MIT)
Graeme SMITH (IBM)
Frank VERSTRAETE (University of Vienna)
Michael WOLF (Niels Bohr Institute)
Steering Committee:
Dorit AHARONOV (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Ignacio CIRAC (MPQ, Garching)
Eddie FARHI (MIT)
Renato RENNER (ETH Zurich)
Louis SALVAIL (Universite de Montreal)
Barbara M. TERHAL (IBM T J Watson)
John WATROUS (University of Waterloo)
Andreas WINTER (University of Bristol / CQT, NUS) (chair)
Andrew Chi-Chih YAO (Tsinghua University)
Local Organisers:
Cedric BENY (Poster Session)
Rahul JAIN (Local Arrangement and Social Events)
Hartmut KLAUCK (Tutorials)
KWEK Leong Chuan (Sponsorship)
Darwin GOSAL (Webmaster)
Markus GRASSL (Outreach and Publicity)
Ethan LIM (Webmaster)
Tomasz PATEREK (Rump Session)
Stephanie WEHNER
Andreas WINTER (Coordinator)
Miklos SANTHA (Advisor)

Double A-G in TR35

Congrats to Alán Aspuru-Guzik for landing a spot on MIT Tech review’s 2010 Young Innovators under 35:

In theory, quantum mechanics should offer perfect understanding of some of the most interesting events in chemistry–for example, the behavior of excited electrons, which controls such things as photosynthesis in plants. In practice, however, the necessary calculations are far too difficult for even the most powerful computers. So approximations must be made, especially when larger molecules such as proteins are involved.
Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a theoretical chemist at Harvard, is developing methods that could one day do away with the need for approximations altogether–and lead to better drugs or solar cells.

Hey I didn’t know Alán could supply me with better drugs 😉

Fuchs Wins Quantum Communications Award

Congrats to Chris Fuchs for winning? the “International Quantum Communication Award”:

WATERLOO, Ontario, Canada, August 2010 – PI researcher Christopher Fuchs has been awarded the International Quantum Communication Award at the 10th International Conference on Quantum Communication, Measurement and Computation (QCMC) for his “outstanding contributions to the theory of quantum communication including quantum state disturbance.” The award was given at a ceremony in Brisbane, Australia, on July 21….

Now if I only had some clue as to what his Paulian idea is all about 🙂