Lately I’ve been thinking about the news. Mostly this involves me shouting obscenities at the radio or the internet for wasting my time with news items the depth of which couldn’t drown an ant and whose factual status makes fairy tales look like rigorous mathematical texts (you know the kind labeled “Introductory X”.) But also (and less violently) I’ve been pondering my favorite type of question, the quantification question: how would one “measure” the news?
Part of motivation for even suggesting that there is a measure of “news” is that if someone asked me if there was a measure of “information” back when I was a wee lad, I would have said they were crazy. How could one “measure” something so abstract and multifaceted as “information?” However there is a nice answer to how to measure information and this answer is given by the Shannon entropy. Of course this answer doesn’t satisfy everyone, but the nice thing about it is that it is the answer to a well defined operational question about resources.
Another thought that strikes me is that, of course Google knows the answer. Or at least there is an algorithm for Google News. Similarly Twitter has an algorithm for spotting trending topics. And of course there are less well known examples like Thoora which seeks to deliver news that is trending in social media. And probably there is academic literature out there about these algorithms, the best I could find with some small google-fu is TwitterMonitor: trend detection over the twitter stream. But all of this is very algorithm centered. The question I want to ask is what quantity are these services attempting to maximize (is it even the same quantity?)
The first observation is that clearly news has a very strong temporal component. If I took all of the newspapers, communications, books, letters, etc. that mankind has produced and regarded it without respect to time you wouldn’t convince many that there is news in this body of raw data (except that there are some monkeys who can type rather well.) Certainly also it seems that news has a time-frame. That is one could easily imagine a quantity that discusses the news of the day, the news of the week, etc.
A second observation is that we can probably define some limits. Suppose that we are examining tweets and that we are looking for news items on a day time scale. We could take the words in the different day’s tweets and make a frequency table for all of these words. A situation in which there is a maximum amount of news on the second day is then a situation where on the first day the frequency distribution over words is peeked one one word, while the second day is all concentrated on another word. One could probably also argue that, on the day time scale, if both frequency distributions were peaked on the same word, then this would not be (day scale) news (it might be week scale news, however.)
This all suggests that our friend, the news, is nothing more than the total variation distance. For two probability distributions $latex p(x)$ and $latex q(x) $, the variation distance between these distribution is $latex d(p,q)=frac{1}{2} sum_{x} |p(x)-q(x)|$ . This is also equal to $latex sup_{E subset X} |P(E)-Q(E)|$ where $latex P(E)=sum_{x in E} p(x)$ and similarly for $latex Q(E)$. Ah, so perhaps this is not as exciting as I’d hoped 🙂 But at least it gives me a new way to talk about the variational distance between two probability distributions: this is a measure of the news that we could associate with changing from one probability distribution to another.
Of course this is just one approach to thinking about how to quantify “news.” What are the drawbacks for my method and what should a real measure have that this one lacks? I mean whats the worst that could happen in thinking about this problem. Okay, so maybe you would learn how many holes it takes
to fill the Albert Hall.
QSpeak Announcements for Week Ending 12/10/2010
- Job opportunity in Quantum Information Science at HRL
An email from Richard at HRL about a job opportunity at HRL: Dear colleagues and friends, We would like to inform you of an immediate job opening for a staff member position in the area of quantum information science. We … Continue reading →
- University of Waterloo Faculty Positions
The Institute for Quantum Computing is now inviting applications for tenured or tenure-track faculty positions in all areas of quantum information research. Positions are available for cross-appointment in the Faculty of Mathematics, the Department of Chemistry and the Department of … Continue reading →
- CRM Quantum Information Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Centre de Recherches Mathematiques in Montreal will be hosting a theme semester on quantum information in fall 2011. The semester will attract researchers from around the world to participate in workshops on quantum algorithms, cryptography, information theory, foundations, and … Continue reading →
- Postdocs at Georgia Tech
Two postdoc positions are available in the Brown lab at Georgia Tech. The first position is for an experimentalist to work on an ion trap quantum computation project. The second position is for a quantum information theorist. More information about … Continue reading →
- Announcing the Quantum Information Science Announcement List
Back in the early days of quantum computing, one could almost keep up with the entire field by attending a few select conferences, reading the arXiv, and keeping in contact with a few colleagues. Quantum information science (quantum computing, quantum … Continue reading →
Balancing the Budget, One NSF Grant at a Time
Now THIS is the kind of idea we pay our Republican house representatives to come up with. A website where we can go through NSF grants and identify the ones we think should not be funded, balancing the budget, one NSF grant at a time.But clearly this is barking up the wrong tree! The NSF budget is only $7 billion-ish (and there is no WAY that this budget pays for itself by barely maintaining the most innovative economy in the world. Psah you say!) So…
Anyone want to help me build a website where we go around and identify senior citizens that are collecting social security but have not contributed enough in their life to merit this money? Grandpa can appear on youtube where he’ll describe what exact it is that he did in his life that merits his current social security check. Too young to fight in world war two, that no good lazy bum, cut his check! BAM, social security solved!
Next we can expand into hospitals where we will be able to identify tons of cost cutting measures. Does little Suzy really need that surgery? See little Suzy via a snazzy web interface. Ask her questions. Find out she is a very unproductive member of society, what with her 3rd grade reading skills and 4th grade math skills. No surgery for you little Suzy! BAM, Medicare problem solved!
Moving down the budget we get to the military. My first suggestion was that we take all members of the armed forces, count the number of people they have killed, sort the list, and start chopping from the bottom up. BAM, military spending cut! Okay that doesn’t use the web and well qualified internet surfers to help us solve this problem. We could have the surfers do the sorting (internet sort is a less well studied sorting algorithm taking 2N time to sort a list of length N, and usually results in the death of far too many neurons.) So instead we could put up videos of every member of the military and vote on whether they are dangerous enough looking to merit their pay. BAM, military spending cut! For a second time! And we’d win wars just by glancing menacingly at our enemies!
And what about income tax rates? Well I suggest we make a great tool where people can vote on what they’d like marginal tax rates to be. And then we can exactly INVERT the results. BAM, income distribution problem fixed!
Okay, enough with reason number 1231 why I am not a Republican.
P.S. If you go to the website for this spirited effort, http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/Review.htm, the web form doesn’t appear to verify that you’ve submitted a valid email address or a grant, and well, you know that those don’t have to be real anyway. Just saying. 😉
Quantum Job of the Teleportation Kind
teleportation technologists seek talented MBA (SOMA / south beach)
Date: 2010-12-03, 2:45PM PST
Reply to: [Errors when replying to ads?]
We are two engineers, brothers (both CalTech grads), who have developed and built a novel teleportation device. Over the last twelve months, we have tested our prototype system with up to 800 kg payloads, over distances of 300 miles. It is portable, safe, but does require a substantial (1800 W) power supply at both sending and receiving locations.
We believe our teleportation device could substantially disrupt many “last-mile” transit technologies and generate extraordinary returns for investors.
The only missing piece is YOU! We are looking for one or two newly-minted MBAs to help us develop critical assets — a logo, a Powerpoint deck, and Excel projections — needed to attract venture capital. In return, we would seek to retain a minority stake in the final venture.
Please send a resume and any other information that may set you apart from other MBAs with pitch experience. Can’t wait for you to join our team!
Life, Death, and the World is Such a Wonderful Place
I am not a big fan of THE NEWS. But then again, some days the universe just tees up some fun stuff. NyTimes obit, Frank W. Lewis, Master of the Cryptic Crossword, Dies at 98.
The younger Mr. Lewis attended secretarial school and the University of Utah (later earning a degree in absentia) and passed the federal government’s civil service test. He then headed for Washington, where he earned a master’s degree in music from the Catholic University of America and took government secretarial jobs.
Col. William Friedman, who ran the Army’s cryptography operations, was looking for very smart people on the eve of World War II. He heard about Mr. Lewis, who was bored “to tears” in the civil service’s death benefits section.
Colonel Friedman hired him as a civilian employee, and Mr. Lewis went on to help break the code used to coordinate Japanese ships. He became addicted to British puzzles while posted in England at the Bletchley Park decryption station at the end of the war. He then followed Colonel Friedman to the National Security Agency, where he won plaudits for his service, started the N.S.A. Glee Club and created English-style puzzles for an N.S.A. magazine.
Mr. Lewis’s 2,962 puzzles for The Nation were proofread by his wife of 74 years, the former Sylvia Shosteck….
One cannot make up, no matter how creative you are, the real life founder of the N.S.A Glee Club. In a similar vein, Sri Daya Mata, Guiding Light for U.S. Hindus, Dies at 96
:
Her death was confirmed by Lauren Landress, a spokeswoman for the group, the Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, which is based in what once was an elegant hotel on Mount Washington in Los Angeles.
….
Besides its headquarters, the society owns a 10-acre sanctuary in the Pacific Palisades, near Malibu, Calif., where a temple crowned by a golden lotus was built in 1966 under Sri Daya Mata’s guidance. Followers come from around the country to meditate.
Previous days obits included Samuel T. Cohen, Neutron Bomb Inventor, Dies at 89:
In contrast to strategic warheads, which can kill millions and level cities, and smaller short-range tactical nuclear arms designed to wipe out battlefield forces, the neutron bomb minimized blast and heat. Instead, it maximized a barrage of infinitesimal neutrons that could zip through tanks, buildings and other structures and kill people, usually by destroying the central nervous system, and all other life forms.
While doubters questioned the usefulness, logic and ethics of killing people and sparing property, Mr. Cohen called his bomb a “sane” and “moral” weapon that could limit death, destruction and radioactive contamination, killing combatants while leaving civilians and towns unscathed. He insisted that many critics misunderstood or purposely misrepresented his ideas for political, economic or mercenary reasons.
A specialist in the radiological effects of nuclear weapons, he relentlessly promoted the neutron bomb for much of his life, writing books and articles, conferring with presidents and cabinet officials, taking his case to Congressional committees, scientific bodies and international forums. He won many converts, but ultimately failed to persuade the United States to integrate the device into its tactical nuclear arsenal.
….
“It’s the most sane and moral weapon ever devised,” he said in September in a telephone interview for this obituary. “It’s the only nuclear weapon in history that makes sense in waging war. When the war is over, the world is still intact.”
In case you missed it, you just read an obit which included an interview of the deceased for the obit. Oh and then there is the moral question of killing people but sparing property.
Does Not Compute
Okay, last one. But damn I could make these movies all night and it would make me laugh and all of you cry:
Quantum Shwantum
The Demiurge's Bytestream
It’s times like these that I wished I’d kept my old Dell desktop around (hell I wish I’d kept my TRS-80 CoCo and my Apple IIGS!)
Won because I know my children’s literature 🙂
A Mailing List for Quantum Information Science!
A while back, Dmitry Maslov who is currently a program direct at the NSF pointed out to me that there wasn’t really a good mailing list for the greater quantum computing community. As you may have noticed this blog has turned into a place where I post such announcements. Of course this gets in the way of important blog posts that could occur at the Quantum Pontiff, like those discussing politics and conference “referee” reports. (*ahem*) So in order to get around this I’ve gone out and done created what Dmitry suggested: a quantum information science mailing list.
Okay so here is how this works. First of all there is a traditional mailing list. You can subscribe to it at this webpage. You can also unsubscribe from this same webpage. Of course email is for old farts like me. So all of the announcements will also be posted on the blog located at http://dabacon.org/qspeak. This blog, of course, has an RSS feed: http://www.dabacon.org/qspeak/?feed=rss2. The announcements will also be tweeted: http://twitter.com/qisannounce. I will also be rebroadcasting these announcement back here on this blog. Note that when I do this the main text will be in the extended text for the blog post. This means these should take up less space on the front of this blog or in your own personal RSS feed.
Okay so that is how you can read and receive updates for this list. What about submitting and also what should be submitted? Well first of all the list is moderated. Moderated by…me. Hopefully in the near future I’ll add some more moderators so that posts can be made more rapidly. So basically the procedure is to email the list at: qspeak [[at]] dabacon.org. Subject? Well I’m hoping it’s things like jobs, conference announcements, funding opportunities, etc. The general rule is that it should be linked to quantum information science, broadly construed, meaning physics, computer science, foundations, etc. If it doesn’t seem to have enough quantum information content it will be rejected but how much is enough will be left up to the Supreme Court of the United States of America (they’re good at things like this, right?) Once the message is approved it will be posted immediately to the blog and tweeted. A weekly digest email will then be sent out for those who are subscribed to the email list. Right now this isn’t automated…there was a bug in the dreamhost api that they haven’t gotten back to me yet, but eventually this will just happen without me having to format the email, which will be very nice, timewise at least for me.
Anyway hopefully you all can spread the word about this new mailing list / blog / twitter feed. Comments, questions, concerns, catching problems with the system, etc are greatly appreciated. Leave a comment or send me an email at qspeak [[[at]]] dabacon.org.
APS March Meeting Quantum Goodness
Chris Fuchs writes in with some good news about the APS march meeting and quantum information science talks. In total there were 359 talks submitted to the GQI topical group this year, and increase from the 256 talks last year. This means that next year the topical group will get an extra invited session. Woot!
More details from Chris:
Just to highlight the details of the focus sessions, the submissions they got were:
Superconducting Qubits – 75
Semiconducting Qubits – 63
Quantum Information for Quantum Foundations – 58 (or at least that’s the number I’ll claim for that session from the various sorting categories)
Quantum Optics with Superconducting Circuits – 32
Advances in Ion Trap Quantum Computation – 12
Chris has also made a handy list of invited talks, both in GQI, and those of GQI general interest:
Sunday, March 20, tutorial
Ivan Deutsch (University of New Mexico) Quantum Simulation and Computing with Atoms
Tuesday, March 22, invited session, “Quantum Information: Featured Experiments”
H. Jeff Kimble (California Institute of Technology) Entanglement of Spin Waves among Four Quantum Memories
Christopher Monroe (Joint Quantum Institute and University of Maryland) Quantum Networks with Atoms and Photons
Till Rosenband (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Quantum-Logic Clocks for Metrology and Geophysics
Robert J. Schoelkopf (Yale University) Towards Quantum Information Processing with Superconducting Circuits
Anton Zeilinger (University of Vienna) Quantum Information and the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics: A Story of Mutual Benefit
Wednesday, March 23, invited session, “20 Years of Quantum Information in Physical Review Letters”
Charles H. Bennett (IBM Research) The Theory of Entanglement and Entanglement-Assisted Communication
David P. DiVincenzo (Aachen University) Twenty Years of Quantum Error Correction
Artur Ekert (University of Oxford and National University of Singapore) Less Reality, More Security
Richard J. Hughes (Los Alamos National Laboratory) Twenty-Seven Years of Quantum Cryptography!
Benjamin Schumacher (Kenyon College) A Brief Prehistory of Qubits
Thursday, March 24, invited session, “Symmetric Discrete Structures for Finite Dimensional Quantum Systems”
Berthold-Georg Englert (National University of Singapore) Pairwise Complementary Observables and Their Mutually Unbiased Bases (MUBs)
Asa Ericsson (Institut Mittag-Leffler) Quantum States as Probabilities from Symmetric Informationally Complete Measurements (SICs)
Steven T. Flammia (California Institute of Technology) The Lie Algebraic Significance of Symmetric Informationally Complete Measurements
Christophe Schaef (University of Vienna) Experimental Access to Higher-Dimensional Discrete Quantum Systems: Towards Realizing SIC-POVM and MUB Measurements using Integrated Optics
William K. Wootters (Williams College) Isotropic States in Discrete Phase Space
Focus Session: Superconducting Qubits
Chair: Robert McDermott (University of Wisconsin – Madison)
John Martinis (University of California at Santa Barbara) Scaling Superconducting Qubits with the ResQu Architecture
Christopher Chudzicki (Williams College), LeRoy Apker Award winner Parallel State Transfer and Efficient Quantum Routing on Quantum Networks
(+ 75 submitted abstracts)
Focus Session: Quantum Optics with Superconducting Circuits
Chair: David Schuster (University of Chicago)
Andreas Wallraff (ETH, Zurich) Tomography and Correlation Function Measurements of Itinerant Microwave Photons
(+ 32 submitted abstracts)
Focus Session: Semiconducting Qubits
Chair: Jason Petta (Princeton University)
Amir Yacoby (Harvard University) Control and Manipulation of Two-Electron Spin Qubits in GaAs Quantum Dots
(+ 63 submitted abstracts)
Focus Session: Quantum Information for Quantum Foundations
Chair: Christopher Fuchs (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)
Giulio Chiribella (Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics) Toward a Conceptual Foundation of Quantum Information Processing
(+ 58 submitted abstracts)
Focus Session: Advances in Ion Trap Quantum Computation
Chair: Jungsang Kim (Duke University)
Richart E. Slusher (Georgia Tech Quantum Institute) Trapped Ion Arrays for Quantum Simulation
(+ 12 submitted abstracts)
Non-GQI Invited Talks of General GQI Interest
Daniel Arovas (University of California at Santa Barbara) Momentum Space Entanglement in Quantum Spin Chains
Al an Aspuru-Guzik (Harvard University) The Role of Quantum Coherence in Excitonic Energy Transfer: Quantum Process Tomography, Molecular Dynamics and Efficiency Measures
David D. Awschalom (University of California at Santa Barbara) Quantum Control and Nanoscale Placement of Single Spins in Diamond
Patrice Bertet (CEA-Saclay) Probing the Quantum Fluctuations of a Nonlinear Resonator with a Superconducting Qubit
Immanuel Bloch (Ludwig-Maximilians University) Quantum Simulations with Ultracold Fermions and Bosons in Optical Lattices
Pasquale Calabrese (University of Pisa) Entanglement Entropies and Spectrum in One-dimensional Systems
Michel Devoret (Yale University) Prospects of Superconducting Qubits for Quantum Computation
Viatcheslav Dobrovitski (Iowa State University) Quantum Control and Decoherence of a Single Spin in Diamond
Sergey Frolov (Delft University of Technology) Spin-orbit Qubit in a Semiconductor Nanowire
Eran Ginossar (Yale University) Novel Approaches to High Fidelity Qubit State Measurement in Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics
F. D. M. Haldane (Princeton University) Identifying Topological Order from the Entanglement Spectrum
Ronald Hanson (Delft University of Technology) Control of Single-Spin Decoherence by Dynamical Decoupling and Spin Bath Manipulation
Kees Harmans (Delft University of Technology) DC-SQUID Quantum Non-Demolition Readout of Superconducting Flux Qubits
Ren-Bao Liu (Chinese University of Hong Kong) Control of Electron Spin Decoherence in Nuclear Spin Baths
Gavin W. Morley (University College London) Quantum Information in Silicon: Initialization, Manipulation, Storage and Readout
Jeremy O’Brian (University of Bristol) Integrated Quantum Photonics
Christian Schonenberger (University of Basel ) Cooper-Pair Splitter: Towards an Efficient Source of Spin-Entangled EPR Pairs
Emre Togan (Harvard University) Quantum Entanglement between an Optical Photon and a Solid-State Spin Qubit
Joel Varley (University of California at Santa Barbara) Quantum Computing with Defects
R. Vijay (University of California at Berkeley) Observation of Quantum Jumps in a Superconducting Quantum Bit
Joerg Wrachtrup (University of Stuttgart) Spin Quantum Measurements on Diamond Defects
Looks like a fantastic lineup. The fact that there are so many invited talks outside of GQI that are quantum related is a testament to the field (of course cynics will say it is a testament to hype and funding, but who listens to cynics anyway?)