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www.perimeterinstitute.ca 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo,
ON, Canada N2L 2Y5 I 519.569.7600
FALL 2010
InsIde the
PerImeter
whaTs InsIde UPCOMING SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 2
NEILS NOTES: FALL CHALLENGE 3
A CHAT WITH NEW FACULTY NATALIA TORO AND PHILIP SCHUSTER 4
FOUR LEADING SCIENTISTS JOIN SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE 6
DAVIDE GAIOTTO JOINS PI FACULTY 7
SUN LIFE PARTNERS ON PUBLIC LECTURES 7
CHRIS FUCHS WINS QUANTUM COMMUNICATION AWARD 8
TWO FACULTY MEMBERS NAMED FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 9
AN EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR BLACK HOLE MERGERS 10
NEW LIGHT ON THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE 11
GOOGLE RECOGNIZES AIMS AS WORLD CHANGING IDEA 12
PI PUBLICATIONS 13
CONFERENCE RECAPS 14
THE STRANGE TRUE STORY OF LIFSHITZ AT A GRAVITY POINT 15
THE WELCOME SECTION 18
OUTREACH OUTLOOK 24
THE LIFE OF PI IN PHOTOS 28
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InsIde the PerImeter
02 Fall 2010
COLLOQUIAFor up-to-date information on colloquia, please visit:
www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Scientifi c/Seminars/Colloquium
Steve giddings, University of California at Santa Barbara TBA
OCTOBER 27 AT 2 PM, Bob Room
kristen menou, Columbia University TBA NOVEMBER 3 AT 2 PM, Bob
Room
Andrew Hamilton, University of Colorado TBA NOVEMBER 10 AT 2 PM,
Bob Room
Dmitry Abanin, Princeton University TBA NOVEMBER 17 AT 2 PM, Bob
Room
Carl bender, Washington University making sense of non-Hermitian
Hamiltonians NOVEMBER 24 AT 2 PM, Bob Room
SemINARSFor up-to-date information and locations, please visit:
www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Scientifi c/Seminars/Series
yacine Ali-Haimoud, California Institute of Technology Cosmology
& Gravitation OCTOBER 21 AT 11 AM
Derek Teaney, State University of New York at Stony Brook
Particle Physics OCTOBER 22 AT 2:30 PM
esther Hanggi, ETH Zurich Quantum Information OCTOBER 25 AT 4
PM
brian Swingle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Condensed
Matter OCTOBER 26 AT 2 PM
Cora Dvorkin, University of Chicago Cosmology & Gravitation
OCTOBER 26 AT 2 PM
uPComIng sCIenTIFIC evenTs
ConFerenCe CornerHOW TO SUBMIT A CONFERENCE PROPOSAL
You should submit your conference proposal as far in advance as
possible. The budgeting period begins in February of each year for
the coming fi scal year, which runs from August to July. Some funds
are set aside for hot topic workshops which come up throughout the
year; however, the more lead time the better. The online
application for conference proposals is available at the Conference
Proposals page on the PI website. Please click on Online
Application. Once you have completed the online application, it
will automatically be emailed to the Conference Coordinator. Once
your conference proposal has been submitted, it will be reviewed by
the Conference Committee Chair with input from the committee
members. You will be notifi ed once the proposal has been scientifi
cally approved. You will then meet with the Conference Coordinator
to discuss the conference budget. Once the budget has been
approved, planning will begin. If you have questions about this
process, please feel free to ask Stephanie mohl, Conference
Coordinator (top right), or Jodie Carriere, Scientifi c Programs
Assistant (bottom right).
gabriela gonzalez, Louisiana State University Strong Gravity
OCTOBER 28 AT 1 PM
guy moore, McGill University Particle Physics OCTOBER 29 AT 2:30
PM
eugenio bianchi, CPT, Marseille Quantum Gravity NOVEMBER 3 AT 4
PM
Andrea Lommen, Franklin & Marshall College Strong Gravity
NOVEMBER 4 AT 1 PM
UPCOmINg CONFeReNCeS AT PIFor more details on PI conferences,
please visit: www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Scientifi
c/Conferences/Conferences
IR Issues and Loops in de Sitter Space OCTOBER 27 30, 2010
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Fall 2010 03
Fall Challenge
F or me, and for many of us I suspect, fall feels like a new
beginning. As the academic year commences, the gorgeous autumn
leaves and vivid skies bring a sense of renewed potential. In these
pages, you will meet many new faces, and read about many
developments. If youve been in the Bistro bright and early, youve
probably already met some of our 31 new PSI Masters students, who
come from 15 countries (see page 23). They are a fun crew, as I
discovered for myself when they dunked me in a water-filled bin to
measure my volume, or so they claimed. For three weeks in early
September I returned the favour, by immersing them in general
relativity and mentally journeying with them into spinning black
holes. The non-stop questions reminded me of just why we started
PSI: young people are better than anyone at questioning everything
you think you know. I would like to extend a specially warm welcome
to our many new staff: Brian Abbott, Mark Brown, Diana Gonalves,
Natalia Klein, Stephanie Mohl, Katherine Sage, Troy Schlueter,
Marie Strickland, and Dustin Windibank, and to our two newest
Faculty members, Philip Schuster and Natalia Toro. They drove all
the way from California to get here! In addition to being top-notch
theorists, Philip and Natalia work with experimental teams at the
Large Hadron Collider, and are leading an experiment to search for
dark forces at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator in
Virginia. Another very warm welcome to Davide Gaiotto, a brilliant
theorist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton who will
join our Faculty beginning next September. Davide was here for a
week at the end of September, helping us recruit new Faculty in
condensed matter physics and quantum gravity. Perhaps as a newcomer
youre wondering about where youve landed. Over the summer one of
Canadas leading columnists, Paul Wells, came and stayed for a
month. His article about Perimeter did a wonderful job of capturing
PIs spirit and vibrancy. If you havent read it yet, I urge you to
do so (see Solving The Universe in Macleans September 27 issue).
One has only to look north to The Stephen Hawking Centre, docked
alongside us, to see where were going. The SHCs spacy lines make it
appear closer to lift-off every day. This time next year, it will
be full of researchers; within a few years Perimeter will be the
largest institute for theoretical physics in the world. Were aiming
to assemble an exceptional community with broad expertise, capable
of fostering scientific breakthroughs and insights of genuine
significance. Lets allow the chill in the air to energize us and
sharpen our focus. Together, at Perimeter, all things seem
possible.
Neil Turok
Physics in Canada: The all PI Issue The most recent issue of
Physics in Canada is a themed issue devoted to us! Physics in
Canada is a quarterly publication produced by the Canadian
Association of
Physicists (CAP), and PIs Communications department worked with
CAP to produce
an engaging issue that provides a glimpse of some of the
exciting science being done
at PI. It features articles from across the spectrum of the
Institutes science and
researchers, including PI Faculty, Associate Faculty,
postdoctoral researchers, and
Distinguished Research Chair William Unruh. The entire issue is
available online at
http://www.cap.ca/en/publications/physics-canada-pic/issue/66/2.
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InsIde the PerImeter
04 Fall 2010
Natasha: Welcome! Could you tell me a little about your
educational background and research experience?
Philip: Im from Oregon City, Oregon -- a relatively small town
near Portland, but known for being the end of the Oregon Trail. I
went to MIT as an undergrad, and Harvard for graduate work. My PhD
advisor was Nima Arkani-Hamed (now at the IAS). Before coming to
PI, I was a postdoc at SLAC.
Natalia: Im from Boulder, Colorado. Immediately before coming to
PI, I was a postdoc at Stanford. Like Philip, I went to MIT as an
undergrad, and Harvard for graduate work with Nima
Arkani-Hamed.
Natasha: I understand that you drove all the way to Waterloo
from California. How was the trip?
Philip: We did drive. Its a big continent, but the trip was
good. In Yellowstone Park, we had a close run-in with a grizzly
bear while hiking along the side of a mountain. Im not sure if that
was impressive, odd, funny, or a little scary.
Natasha: What are the results you are best known for?
Philip: A lot of the work Im most excited about was done in
collaboration with Natalia. We proposed and justified the validity
of a method for characterizing data from the LHC that closely links
collider observables to quantities useful for figuring out the
underlying theory. This was meant to address the so-called LHC
Inverse problem, or the problem of how physicists can construct the
underlying theory of the weak-scale from LHC data. These methods,
and variants of them, are being applied in CMS and ATLAS. Ive also
devel-oped new theories of dark matter and, with Natalia and other
collaborators, proposed a series of experimental approaches to look
for GeV-scale vector bosons, motivated in part by recent dark
matter related data. We proposed an experiment to search for light
vector bosons using existing equipment at Jefferson Lab. The
experiment, APEX, was conditionally approved and we had a test run
in June of 2010. Analysis of the data is ongoing.
Natasha: What is the current focus of your work?
Philip: Im focused on understanding what early data from the LHC
can and does tell us about weak-scale dynamics, and Im continuing
to explore new theories of dark matter motivated by recent data.
Recently, Ive also started to think about new ways that we might
test quantum mechanics.
Natalia: Nows a very exciting time for the two more
experi-mental directions that Ive been involved in for a few years
now. On the one hand, the LHC is taking data, and the ATLAS and CMS
detectors are performing beautifully. We have a great opportunity
to impact how the LHC experiments search for new physics, and help
maximize the clarity, reach, and long-term impact of those search
results. Likewise, making the most of the APEX test run data is
very important to me. Helping to run an experiment has been a
tremendous learning experience for me, and even more fun than I
anticipated. There are several more formal things that Ive been
curious about for a while, but right now Im just trying to catch up
on the literature.
Natasha: What made PI attractive to you?
Philip: I like the researchers as well as the atmosphere. PI is
particularly special in that identifying and addressing the most
important problems in fundamental physics is the primary focus,
with minimal distraction. This is a unique situation, and so I feel
a strong sense of obligation to make good use of this
opportunity.
Natalia: There are several things I like about PI. The first is
the researchers in particular, Im excited about some of the
pio-neering work being done by the string theory group, but quite
broadly I was struck by how many people here are tackling really
major questions, earnestly and matter-of-factly, without a lot of
pretense. Everyone staff and researchers is really pleasant to work
with. The second thing that struck me about PI was that its a
really great place to focus and get work done. There is a huge
amount of activity and there are many people to talk to, but its
also very easy to focus without much day-to-day distraction.
Natasha: Whats your first memory of being fascinated by
physics?
Philip: Actually, my childhood obsession (still the case) was
with all aspects of aircraft and spaceflight. My introduction to
physics occurred as I tried to understand how flight works. Of
course, this introduction to physics was oriented at very practical
questions (I used to design and build my own radio controlled
planes as a hobby), but the fact that there were basic rules that I
could use to understand how flight works really impressed me -- it
still strikes me as amazing that there are any rules at all in
nature. It wasnt until later that I started to appreciate that its
possible to frame and answer questions in extremely simple terms
that, when applied appropriately, work to explain most of what we
encounter in nature. The book A Brief History of Time had a strong
impact on me
a ChaT wITh new FaCulTy members naTalIa Toro and PhIlIP sChusTer
Interview by Natasha Waxman
Co-spokespersons for the APEX experiment gathered in the Hall A
control room after completing their test run in June of 2010.
Pictured, left to right, are JLab experimentalist Bogdan
Wojtsekhowski, Philip Schuster, Natalia Toro, and Rouven Essig,
SLAC.
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Fall 2010 05
I think before reading that book I didnt realize that it was
possible to spend time identifying and understanding the rules of
nature professionally.
Natalia: I had really great math and science teachers in grade
school. My grade-school math teacher used lots of mechanics
examples, and my science teacher had us do things like model
rockets. I was one of those little kids who just couldnt get enough
of the science outreach programs at the University of Colorado. But
one very specific moment when things clicked was when I read George
Gamows Thirty Years That Shook Physics for a 6th-grade book report.
Its a fantastic book about the discoveries and theoretical ideas
that paved the way to modern quantum mechanics. I think that book
gave me a really clear understanding of how scientific ideas evolve
and mature, and the crucial role that experimental data can play in
this process.
Natasha: What are your hobbies or interests outside of
physics?
Philip: I spend most of my free time doing physics of one form
or another. Thats not to say I dont have other interests. I love
history and politics but I dont devote a lot of time to those
topics at the moment.
Natalia: I love to read, especially novels, ancient history and
archaeology, and history of science. I try to hike a lot, and have
wanted to try climbing for years but havent found the time. And,
when I have the time (which I rarely do any more), I really enjoy
baking bread.
Natasha: What are your impressions of Canada so far has anything
surprised you?
Philip: Canada is great so far! I really like the feel of
Kitchener-Waterloo in particular, and the Fall here is beautiful. I
enjoy painfully cold weather (and the blue sky that can accompany
it), so Im looking forward to winter. One thing that has surprised
me was Highway 401 its completely nuts. Im used to busy highways,
but traffic on that highway works in unusually mysterious ways.
PI Profiled in MacleansOver the summer, journalist Paul Wells
spent nearly a month
at Perimeter, hanging out with the locals and soaking up the
atmosphere. His article on the adventure, called Solving the
Universe recently appeared in Macleans, Canadas weekly
news magazine, in its Rethink Issue (Sept 27, 2010).
If you missed picking up a copy, you can read it online at:
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/09/17/solving-the-universe/
Poster for the 2009 workshop Dark Forces: Searching for New
Forces at the GeV Scale, co-organized by Natalia Toro and Philip
Schuster at SLAC. Source images used courtesy of CERN and V.
Springel et al./Millennium Simulation
Natalia: Canadas great! People really are friendlier here even
the border guards are nice. So far Im surprised by how balmy the
weathers been, but I guess I should watch out!
Natasha: What is something that might surprise folks about
you?
Natalia: Our most prized possession is a partially-built scale
P-51. We started building it as an RC plane in grad school, and
since then weve been hauling a near-complete wing, several boxes of
supplies, and an elaborate makeshift work-bench around North
America but making very little progress.
FURTHeR ReADINg:On the LHC inverse problem:
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0703088 and
http://arxiv.org/abs/0810.3921
http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=94910
http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=107769
http://www-conf.slac.stanford.edu/topologies10/
ReCeNT FINDINgS IN DARk mATTeR DATA:
http://arxiv.org/abs/0903.3941 and
http://arxiv.org/abs/0906.0580
ON THe APeX eXPeRImeNT AT JeFFeRSON LAbORATORy:Description of
the experiment: http://arxiv.org/abs/1001.2557, APEX web page:
http://hallaweb.jlab.org/experiment/APeX/
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InsIde the PerImeter
06 Fall 2010
Four leadIng sCIenTIsTs joIn PerImeTer InsTITuTes sCIenTIFIC
advIsory CommITTee
bRIAN gReeNeBrian Greene is a Professor of Mathematics and
Physics at Columbia University, where he is co-Director of the
Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics
(ISCAP). Profes-sor Greene has made groundbreaking discoveries in
superstring theory, exploring the physical implications and
mathematical properties of the extra dimensions the theory posits.
His cur-rent research centres on string cosmology, seeking to
understand the physics of the universes first moments. Professor
Greene is well known for his work on communicating theoretical
physics for general audiences, and his books include The Elegant
Universe, which has sold more than a million copies worldwide; The
Fabric of the Cosmos, which spent six months on the New York Times
Best Seller List; and Icarus at the Edge of Time, A Childrens Tale.
A three-part NOVA special based on The Elegant Universe won both
the Emmy and Peabody Awards.
ReNATe LOLLRenate Loll is a Professor of Theoretical Physics and
a member of the Institute for Theoretical Physics in the Faculty of
Physics and Astronomy at Utrecht University. Her research centres
on quantum gravity, the search for a consistent theory that
describes the microscopic constituents of spacetime geometry and
the quantum-dynamical laws governing their interaction. She has
made major contributions to loop quantum gravity and, with her
collaborators, has proposed a novel theory of quantum gravity via
Causal Dynamical Triangulations. Dr. Loll heads one of the largest
research groups on nonperturbative quantum gravity worldwide, and
is the recipient of a prestigious personal VICI-grant of the
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Professor Loll is
a Perimeter Institute Distinguished Research Chair, and is also a
lecturer in the Perimeter Scholars International program at the
Institute.
eRIk veRLINDeErik Verlinde is a Professor of Theoretical Physics
at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of
Amsterdam. Professor Verlinde is world-renowned for his many
contributions, which include Verlinde algebra and the Verlinde
formula, which are important in conformal field theory and
topological field theory. His research centres on string theory,
gravity, black holes and cosmology. He recently proposed a
holographic theory of gravity which appears to lead naturally to
the observed values of dark energy in the universe.
bIRgITTA WHALeyBirgitta Whaley is a Professor in the Department
of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, where she
is Director of the Berkeley Quantum Information and Computation
Center. Professor Whaleys research centres on understanding and
manipulating quantum dynamics of atoms, molecules and nanomaterials
in complex environments to explore fundamental issues in quantum
behavior. She has made major contributions to the analysis and
control of decoherence and universality in quantum information
processing, as well as to analysis of physical implementations of
quantum computation. Professor Whaley is also known for her theory
of molecular solvation in nanoscale superfluid helium systems.
Current research includes theoretical aspects of quantum
information science, quantum simulation of exotic topological
phases and exploration of quantum effects in biological
systems.
Natasha Waxman
Perimeter Institute Director Neil Turok is pleased to announce
the appointment of an additional four eminent international
scientists to serve on Perimeter Institutes Scientific Advisory
Committee (SAC).
In making the announcement, Dr. Turok stated, These outstanding
scientists will provide crucial guidance as the Institute expands,
ensuring that our research and training programs continue to grow
and flourish in exciting new directions.
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Fall 2010 07
davIde gaIoTTo joIns PerImeTer InsTITuTe FaCulTy Perimeter
Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) is pleased to announce the
appointment of Davide Gaiotto to its research faculty. Dr. Gaiotto
joins PI from the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In
making the announcement, PIs Director Neil Turok said, Davide is an
exceptionally cre-ative young theoretical physicist. His work has
provided powerful new approaches to our fundamen-
tal understanding of quantum fields, which are the basis of our
description of all of particle physics, nuclear and condensed
matter physics, as well as early universe cosmology. With Davide
joining PI, we will have one of the strongest groups worldwide in
what I would call high powered quantum field theory.
Dr. Gaiotto works at the interface of quantum field theory and
string theory, and has already achieved several important advances.
In a paper published in 2009 (Arxiv:09042715), for example, he
presented a new way of constructing and studying supersymmetric
gauge theories which has led to novel techniques for probing the
quantum dynamics of gauge theories.
Dr. Gaiotto received his PhD from Princeton University in 2004
under the supervision of Leonardo Rastelli. He was a postdoctoral
fellow at Harvard from 2004 to 2007, and has been a long-term
Member at the Institute for Advanced Study since 2007. He will
arrive at Perimeter Institute in 2011 as a junior Faculty
member.
Natasha Waxman
breaKIng news: PI distinguished research Chair yakir aharonov
wins us national medal of scienceProfessor yakir Aharonov has been
named by US President barack Obama as one of the 2010 recipients of
the National medal of Science, the highest scientific honour
bestowed by the United States government. Prof. Aharonov was
honoured for his contributions to the foundations of quantum
physics and for drawing out unexpected implications of that field,
ranging from the Aharonov-bohm effect to the theory of weak
measurement. Prof. Aharonov is internationally recognized for his
many contributions to physics, and is the recipient of numerous
prizes, including the Wolf Prize, the elliot Cresson medal of the
Franklin Institute, the Hewlett-Packard europhysics Prize, and
others. In addition to being a Perimeter Distinguished Research
Chair, Prof. Aharonov is the James J. Farley Professor in Natural
Philosophy at Chapman University and Professor emeritus at Tel Aviv
University.
PI welComes sun lIFe ParTnershIPThe Development team is pleased
to announce that through a leadership gift to the Expanding the
Perimeter campaign, Sun Life has partnered with PI to become the
exclusive sponsor of the Perimeter Institute Public Lecture Series
for the 2010-2011 season.
The Perimeter Institute Lecture Series, presented by Sun Life,
will continue to bring great thinkers from around the world to
Waterloo to share their ideas on a wide variety of
thought-provoking topics in science. The 2010-2011 season kicked
off October 6 with William R. Newman, a Distinguished Professor in
History and Philosophy of Science from Indiana University,
discussing, Why did Isaac Newton Believe in Alchemy?
PI is grateful for Sun Lifes contribution to promoting the
wonder and mystery of science to the public.
Carrie Gabla
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InsIde the PerImeter
08 Fall 2010
with the award include the quantum no-broadcasting theorem [5],
which formal-ized key differences between classical and quantum
information and had impor-tant implications for quantum
cryptography. Quantum cryptography seeks to harness the laws of
quantum mechanics to provide unconditional data and communications
security based on the fact that eaves-dropping inevitably disturbs
quantum information, and is therefore detected.
In [3] Dr. Fuchs demonstrated that quantum states can sometimes
carry more classical information than classical states themselves.
Dr. Fuchs also found the minimal tradeoff between information gain
and quantum state disturbance in quantum channel theory [1, 4]. He
used these ideas to define criteria for successful quantum
teleportation [2] in a paper which was recognized by the journal
Science as one of the Top 10 Breakthroughs of the Year. Quantum
teleportation is a quantum protocol by which quantum infor-mation
held in a quantum superposition can, in principle, be transmitted
exactly from one location to another. Intensive research is now
underway seeking to harness quantum teleportation for quantum
communication and, ultimately, to build quantum computers.
Dr. Fuchs previous honours include having been Lee DuBridge
Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at the California Institute of Technology
and a winner of the Albert A. Michelson award. He is Chair-Elect of
the 1,000-member American Physical Society Topical Group on Quantum
Information. Dr. Fuchs was also recently named as the 2011 Clifford
Lecturer by Tulane University in New Orleans. His second book,
Coming of Age with Quantum Information: Notes on a Paulian Idea,
was recently published by Cambridge University Press.
Mike Brown
ReFeReNCeS AND FURTHeR ReADINg: [1] C. A. Fuchs. Information
Gain vs. State Disturbance in Quantum Theory. Fortschritte der
Physik 46(4,5), 535-565 (1998).
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9611010
[2] A. Furusawa, J. L. Srensen, S. L. Braunstein, C. A. Fuchs,
H. J. Kimble, and E. S. Polzik. Unconditional Quantum
Teleportation. Science 282(5389), 706-709 (1998).
[3] C. A. Fuchs. Nonorthogonal Quantum States Maximize Classical
Informa-tion Capacity. Physical Review Letters 79(6), 1162-1165
(1997). http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9703043
[4] C. A. Fuchs and A. Peres. Quantum State Disturbance vs.
Information Gain: Uncertainty Relations for Quantum Information.
Physical Review A 53(4), 2038-2045 (1996).
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9512023
[5] H. Barnum, C. M. Caves, C. A. Fuchs, R. Jozsa, and B.
Schumacher. Noncommuting Mixed States Cannot Be Broadcast. Physical
Review Letters 76(15), 2818-2821 (1996).
http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9511010
ChrIs FuChs wIns InTernaTIonal quanTum CommunICaTIon awardPI
researcher Christopher Fuchs was awarded the Internation-al 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.
The International Quantum Communication Award is bestowed every
two years during the QCMC conference. This year, Dr. Fuchs was
honoured alongside Masanao Ozawa of Nagoya University, Alexander
Lvovsky of the University of Calgary, and Perimeter Institute
Scientific Advisory Commit-tee Chair, Gerard Milburn of the
University of Queensland. Previous years winners have included many
of the pioneers of the field of quantum information, such as
Charles Bennett (1996), Peter Shor (1998), David Deutsch (2002),
Ignacio
Cirac (2006), and Anton Zeilinger (2008). In learning of the
award, PI Director Neil Turok said, We are delighted by this timely
recognition of Dr. Fuchs work. His foundational work on the
structure of quantum mechanics has provided genuinely new insights
into quantum information and quantum cryptography and shows once
again the fruitful in-terplay of these subjects. We are also
naturally pleased that the Chair of our Scientific Advisory
Committee, Gerard Mil-burn, has likewise been honoured. Dr. Fuchs
said, I feel deeply honoured to be ranked in the company
of scientists whose work has shaped the field of quantum
information. For years, I have tried to understand what is at the
root of quantum mechanics, which appears to have so many strange
and counterintuitive aspects. It struck me early on that many of
these mysteries may be solved, or at least better understood, by
recasting them in the terms of infor-mation theory. This is why I
took a PhD in the subject even though there wasnt really a field of
quantum information to be employed in yet. The fact that these
foundational ideas have found wider use for practical quantum
communication systems and engineering is very satisfying.
Dr. Fuchs publications include two books and more than 60
scientific papers, with over 4,200 citations to date (Google
Scholar). Some of Dr. Fuchs key contributions recognized
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Fall 2010 09
School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, has
played a key role in building Canadas interna-tional leadership in
quantum computing. He helped to open up the field of quantum
com-munication complexity, where quantum information can be used to
drastically reduce communication costs in some scenarios, and
co-discovered quantum-walk algorithms that can provide exponential
speed-up over classical computers.
Professor Cleve is a Fellow in the Canadian Institute for
Advanced Research (CIFAR) Quantum Information Program, and was the
2008 winner of the CAP-CRM Prize in Theoreti-cal and Mathematical
Physics, awarded by the Canadian Asso-ciation of Physicists and
Centre de recherches mathmatiques.
In learning of his election, Professor Smolin said, I am
especially grateful for this because I am a very happy immigrant to
Canada. I see Canada as the country of the future and I am very
proud to be able to contribute to that future, through PI and
otherwise.
Professors Smolin and Cleve will be formally inducted as Fellows
at a ceremony to be held on November 27, 2010, in Ottawa.
Natasha Waxman
On September 13, Faculty member Lee Smolin and Associate Faculty
member Richard Cleve were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society
of Canada (RSC), Canadas highest academ-ic accolade. Professors
Smolin and Cleve join PI Faculty members Robert Myers, Cliff
Burgess, and Raymond Laflamme, who are also RSC Fellows. On
receiving the announcement, PI
Director Neil Turok commented, These are welcome and
well-deserved honours. Lee Smolin and Richard Cleve are both
outstanding scientists who have played pioneering roles in their
respective fields of quantum gravity and quantum computation.
Professor Smolin is a founding Faculty member at Perim-eter
Institute whose contributions span several fields of theo-retical
physics, most notably quantum gravity, which seeks to unify
Einsteins theory of special relativity with quantum mechanics. He
co-founded a leading candidate theory called loop quantum gravity,
and has led the development of a new approach to the phenomenology
of quantum gravity known as deformed special relativity. He has
also authored three popular books addressing the major conceptual
and philosophical puzzles confronting modern physics. Professor
Smolins previous honours include the Majorana Prize (2007),
Fellowship in the American Physical Society (2007), and the
Klopsteg Memorial Award from the American Association of Physics
Teachers (2009), for his extraordinary accomplishment in
communicating the excitement of physics to the general public.
Professor Cleve, who is jointly appointed as a Faculty member at
the Institute for Quantum Computing and the
two faculty members named fellows of the royal society of
canada
Faculty member Lee Smolin (top) and Associate Faculty member
Richard Cleve.
you may now call me doctorRecently, the PI community got
together to celebrate
Chanda Prescod-Weinsteins successful completion of her
doctorate. Niayesh Afshordi, who supervised Chandas
thesis along with Lee Smolin, arranged for this magnificent
cake, which (deliciously) highlights part of the work that
she did. We wish Chanda all the best in her new position
as a postdoctoral fellow in the Observational Cosmology
Lab at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center.
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InsIde the PerImeter
10 Fall 2010
within the decade. It is hoped that they will open a new window
on the universe that could be as transformative to our
understanding as the optical telescope. However, the detec-tion and
understanding of these new signals will rely on the theoretical
underpinning provided by the complex numerical simulations
performed by Prof. Lehner and others.
According to Prof. Lehner, One thing that gravitational wave
detectors such as LISA wont tell us is the precise location that
the signal is coming from. We need a counter-part. Electromagnetic
waves can be precisely localized, so by combining the two, you
remove the ambiguity.
Prof. Brian McNamara, University Research Chair in Astro-physics
at the University of Waterloo, commented, One of the outstanding
questions in science that we hope to answer in coming decades is
how supermassive black holes black holes that are a billion times
more massive than the Sun came into being. We believe they achieved
their great sizes in part by gobbling up other black holes during
the process of galaxy formation. This new result by Luis and his
collabora-tors suggests that by combining data from powerful radio
telescopes and from the future, Earth-orbiting gravitational wave
telescope, LISA, we may be able to witness the process of black
hole formation in exquisite detail. Prof. Lehner and his colleagues
are now developing more detailed models of black hole merger
dynamics that will incorporate factors such as spin and black holes
of differing sizes. He says, This is just the tip of the iceberg.
There is a whole family of different systems that we havent been
able to understand because we only see the big burst of
electromagnetic radiation afterwards that helps, but we cannot
probe deeply enough to see whats going on at the very core. For
that, gravi-tational waves are the key to understanding. Now with
the two together you can do some amazing science.
Natasha Waxman
FURTHeR ReADINg: - C. Palenzuela, L. Lehner, S. Leibling, Dual
Jets From Binary Black Holes, Science 20 August 2010:Vol. 329. no.
5994, pp. 927 930, DOI: 10.1126/science.1191766.
- Talks from the recent conference, Theory Meets Data Analysis
at Comparable and Extreme Mass Ratios held at PI in June 2010 can
be viewed on PIRSA at: http://pirsa.org/C10015
an early warnIng sysTem For deTeCTIng blaCK hole mergers
A new paper published in Science by PI Associate Faculty member
Luis Lehner, Carlos Palenzuela (Louisiana State University and the
Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophys-
ics) and Steven Liebling (Long Island University) indicates that
as two supermassive black holes move toward each other and
ultimately coalesce, powerful jets of electromag-netic radiation
are released. Because the jets are released in advance of the
merger, they may provide an early warning system to astronomers
seek-ing to observe these events directly with gravitational wave
detectors that are now being developed.
According to Prof. Lehner, This gives us a chance of getting
there to see the main event. Most galaxies are thought to contain
supermassive black holes, which are as yet poorly understood. Since
many galaxies collide and merge, many may in fact contain two-black
hole systems which orbit one another and ultimately coalesce. Data
from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Hubble Space telescope
have given observational evidence of black hole mergers (see image
at top of page). The model developed by Prof. Lehner and his
colleagues is the first to incorporate the interaction of two black
holes with their surrounding plasma of electrons and positrons,
which is created by orbiting disks of gas and dust around them. The
merging black holes orbital motion stirs the plas-ma, inducing two
extremely powerful jets of radiation from each black hole. These
jets are theoretically detectable from two to six billion light
years away, and thus could provide tracers of impending black hole
mergers. The work provides an important tool for the emerging field
of gravitational wave astronomy. Predicted by the theory of
relativity, gravitational waves are small disturbances in the
fabric of spacetime that result from huge masses interacting with
one another. Black hole mergers are expected to be the most
powerful sources of gravitational waves in the universe.Unlike
electromagnetic radiation (such as visible light), gravitational
waves are not scattered by intervening objects as they travel
through space. Thus, they carry pristine information about the
forces and fields that created them, and for this reason are highly
sought to provide clues to many puzzles in theoretical physics.
Gravitational wave detectors such as the Laser Interfer-ometry
Space Antenna (LISA) and the Laser Interferometer gravitational
Wave Observatory (LIgO) should be deployed
-
Fall 2010 11
maKIng heIsenbergs unCerTaInTy PrInCIPle less unCerTaInA paper
published in Nature Physics in late July by PI post-doctoral
researcher Roger Colbeck and colleagues at several European
universities has made Heisenbergs uncertainty principle one of the
central (and strangest) features in quantum physics a lot less
uncertain in some situations.
One question addressed by the uncertainty principle is whether
it is possible to predict both the position and momentum (or other
pairs of observables) of a subatomic particle. In its original
formulation, the uncertainty principle implies that it is not.
However, the paper shows that in the presence of quantum memory, a
device capable of reli-ably storing quantum states, it is possible
to predict both precisely. Intensive research efforts are currently
focused on producing such a memory and there is hope that one will
be available in the near future.
To illustrate the main ideas, the paper outlines an imaginary
uncertainty game (illustrated below) in which two people, Alice and
Bob, begin by agreeing on two measurements, R and S, one of which
will be performed. Bob then prepares a particle in a quantum state
of his choosing. Without telling Alice what he has done, he sends
the particle (over a channel) to Alice. Alice performs one of the
two measurements (chosen at random) and tells Bob which observable
she has measured, though not the measurements value. Bob wants to
correctly guess the measurement value. If Bob had only a classical
memory (e.g. a piece of paper), he would not be able to guess
correctly all of the time this is what Heisen-bergs uncertainty
relation implies. However, if Bob is able to entangle the particle
he sends with a quantum memory, for any measurement Alice makes on
the particle, there is a measurement on Bobs memory that always
gives him the same outcome. His uncertainty has vanished. The paper
provides a new uncertainty relation valid in the presence of a
quantum memory. More precisely, it proves
a lower bound on the uncertainties of the measurement outcomes
which depends on the amount of entanglement be-tween the measured
particle and the quantum memory. This had been conjectured by
former PI researcher J.C. Boileau and J.M. Renes in 2008
(http://arxiv.org/abs/0806.3984) but was unproven until Colbeck et
als work.
There are a number of potential applications arising from this
work, notably for the burgeoning field of quantum cryptography.
Although it was realized in the 1970s that the uncertainty
principle could be used as the basis for ultra-secure
communications, most quantum cryptographic approaches to date have
not made use of it directly. The results may also yield a new
method of witnessing entangle-ment. Creating entangled states
between particles (such as photons) is notoriously difficult, and
once created, the states are easily destroyed by noise in the
environment. A more straightforward witnessing method would be of
great value to experimentalists striving to generate this precious
resource, a necessary step towards developing quantum
computers.
Natasha Waxman
Entanglement is a property of two or more particles which links
them such that when one particle is measured, it collapses the
state of the other (no matter how far away it is). Certain
observable properties of the particles are shared in the sense that
a measurement of that property on one of the particles implies the
value of that property on the other. However, these correlations
cannot be classically explained and are often referred to as
nonlocal correlations. Although counterintuitive, the existence of
entanglement has been experimentally confirmed many times.
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InsIde the PerImeter
12 Fall 2010
as part of a project to fund world-changing ideas, Google has
awarded US$2 million to the African Institute for mathematical
Sciences (AImS) for its Next einstein Initiative (NeI), a plan that
will accelerate higher education in math and science across Africa.
PI has adopted AIMS-NEI as the centrepiece of its Global Outreach
program. AIMS is one of the winners of Googles Project 10100, which
gathered over 150,000 ideas from the public to change the world by
helping as many people as possible. In late September, Google
donated US$10 million to five organizations who will bring to life
the top five ideas, as voted on by the public. The African
Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a globally recognized
centre of excellence for postgraduate education and research based
in Cape Town, South Africa. Its mission is to rapidly and
cost-effectively expand Africas scientific and technological
capacity by providing advanced training to exceptional African
graduates. The AIMS-Next Einstein Initiative took off in 2008 when
Perimeter Institute (PI) Director Neil Turok, founder of AIMS in
South Africa, won the TeD Prize and announced his vision to unlock
and nurture scientific talent across Africa, by building a network
of 15 AIMS centres spanning the continent. Googles award to
AIMS-NEI will support the creation of three new AIMS centres by
2013, planned in Sngal, Ghana and Ethiopia. The investment builds
upon googles earlier contribution of US$1 million for scholarships
at AIMS, which helped spur support from other private and public
groups, including funding of CDN$20 million announced by the
Government of Canada this past July. Prof. Turok said, We are
deeply honoured to receive this support from Googles Project 10100.
The goal of AIMS and of the Next Einstein Initiative is simple: to
enable Africas bright-est students to gain the high-level
scientific and technical skills they need to propel Africas future
economic, educational and technological self-sufficiency. In the
process of training many gifted students, we expect to uncover
people of rare creative talent, capable of scientific and technical
breakthroughs which will serve all of humanity.
nexT eInsTeIn InITIaTIve reCognIzed as world ChangIng Idea wITh
us$2m award From google
Support from African leaders is also adding momentum to the
AIMS-Next Einstein Initiative (NEI). In May 2010, Sngals President
Abdoulaye Wade announced on national television that his government
will contribute US$1.3 million toward AImS-Sngal, and declared its
establishment a top national priority. He also supported the
designation of AIMS-Sngal as a Fondation dutilit publique, making
it a state-sanc-tioned charitable institution. President Wade also
used the occasion to award Prof. Turok with la mdaille de lOrdre
National du Lion, Sngals highest state honour. Similar honours were
conferred upon Professor Vincent Rivasseau (Universit Paris-Sud
XI), co-founder of AIMS-Sngal, and Professor Maxim Kontsevich
(lInstitut des Hautes tudes Scientifiques), an eminent
mathematician who is a patron of AIMS-Sngal. Plans for the new
centre are being finalized, and construction should commence
shortly, with the first students expected in September 2011. His
Excellency President Abdoulaye Wade has been an inspirational
figure promoting science, enlightenment and pan-Africanism for many
years, said Prof. Turok. To receive his governments full commitment
of support for AIMS-Sn-gal, and then this extraordinary medal from
him, alongside my colleagues Professors Maxim Kontsevich and
Vincent Rivas-seau, was an unforgettable experience. In return, I
can promise our absolute commit-ment to helping AIMS-Sngal emerge
as a centre of excel-lence which President Wade, Sngal and Africa
can truly be proud of. The success of AIMS-South Africa has been
recognized by the African Union and the New Partnership for Africas
Development (NePAD) who have also endorsed the AImS-NeI plan. PI
Global Outreach is now coordinating support from the North American
academic community for the One For Many Scholarship Program, which
partners international universities with AIMS centres by supporting
African students and promoting a two-way flow of students and
lecturers. In addition, leading Canadian mathematical institutes
have expressed interest in working with AIMS-NEI.
Neil Turok receives la mdaille de lOrdre National du Lion from
President Abdoulaye Wade.
-
Fall 2010 13
The following table lists recent publications by PI Researchers.
The list is organized alphabetically by publication title. To
search all publications by PI scientists, please visit
www.perim-eterinstitute.ca/en/Scientific/Papers/Publications_Search/.
A Direct Proof of BCFW Recursion for Twistor-Strings, David
Skinner, arXiv:1007.0195 A formalism-local framework for general
probabilistic theories including quantum theory, Lucien Hardy,
arXiv:1005.5164 A Note on G-Fluxes for F-theory Model Building,
Joseph Marsano, Natalia Saulina, Sakura Schafer-Nameki,
arXiv:1006.0483 A Theory of a Spot, Niayesh Afshordi
(Perimeter/Waterloo), Ane Slosar (Brookhaven), Yi Wang (McGill),
arXiv:1006.5021 Abelian Chern-Simons theory, Stokes Theorem, and
generalized connections, Hanno Sahlmann, Thomas Thiemann,
arXiv:1004.2834 Amplitudes at Weak Coupling as Polytopes in AdS_5,
Lionel Mason, David Skinner, arXiv:1004.3498 An Operator Product
Expansion for Polygonal null Wilson Loops, Luis F. Alday, Davide
Gaiotto, Juan Maldacena, Amit Sever, Pedro Vieira, arXiv:1006.2788
Bimetric structure formation: non-Gaussian predictions, Joao
Magueijo, Johannes Noller, Federico Piazza, arXiv:1006.3216 Black
Strings, Low Viscosity Fluids, and Violation of Cosmic Censorship,
Luis Lehner, Frans Pretorius, arXiv:1006.5960 Boundary entropy of
supersymmetric Janus solutions, Marco Chiodaroli, Michael Gutperle,
Ling-Yan Hung, arXiv:1005.4433 Breakdown of Semiclassical Methods
in de Sitter Space, C.P. Burgess, R. Holman, L. Leblond, S.
Shandera, arXiv:1005.3551 Bs Mixing and Electric Dipole Moments in
MFV, Brian Batell, Maxim Pospelov, arXiv:1006.2127 Charged rotating
noncommutative black holes, Leonardo Modesto, Piero Nicolini,
arXiv:1005.5605 Classical paradoxes of locality and their possible
quantum resolutions in deformed special relativity, Lee Smolin,
arXiv:1004.0664 Clifford Gates by Code Deformation, H. Bombin,
arXiv:1006.5260 Consistent Probabilities in Wheeler-DeWitt Quantum
Cosmology, David A. Craig, Parampreet Singh, arXiv:1006.3837
Critical phenomena in N=4 SYM plasma, Alex Buchel, arXiv:1005.0819
Discreteness of Space from GUP II: Relativistic Wave Equations,
Saurya Das, Elias C. Vagenas, Ahmed Farag Ali,
Phys.Lett.B690:407-412,2010, arXiv:1005.3368 Dual Jets From Binary
Black Holes, C. Palenzuela, L. Lehner, S. Leibling, Science 20
August 2010:Vol. 329. no. 5994, pp. 927 930, DOI:
10.1126/science.1191766 Dual Jets from Binary Black Holes, Carlos
Palenzuela, Luis Lehner, Steven L. Liebling, arXiv:1005.1067
Enhanced Peculiar Velocities in Brane-Induced Gravity, Mark Wyman,
Justin Khoury, arXiv:1004.2046 Entanglement verification with
finite data, Robin Blume-Kohout, Jun O.S. Yin, S. J. van Enk
Comments: 4 pages, 3 pretty pictures, arXiv:1005.0003 EPRL/FK Group
Field Theory, Joseph Ben Geloun, Razvan Gurau, Vincent Rivasseau,
arXiv:1008.0354 Evolutions of Magnetized and Rotating Neutron
Stars, Steven L. Liebling, Luis Lehner, David Neilsen, Carlos
Palenzuela, arXiv:1001.0575v1 Fast quantum algorithms for
traversing paths of eigenstates, S. Boixo, E. Knill, R.D. Somma,
arXiv:1005.3034 From twistors to twisted geometries, Laurent
Freidel, Simone Speziale, arXiv:1006.0199 Functional
Renormalization of Noncommutative Scalar Field Theory, Alessandro
Sfondrini, Tim A. Koslowski, arXiv:1006.5145 Gauss-Codazzi
thermodynamics on the timelike screen, Federico Piazza,
arXiv:1005.5151 Generalized self-testing and the security of the
6-state protocol, Matthew McKague, Michele Mosca, Proceedings of
TQC 2010, arXiv:1006.0150 Geometric phase with nonunitary evolution
in presence of a quantum critical bath, F. M. Cucchietti, J.-F.
Zhang, F. C. Lombardo, P.I. Villar, R. Laflamme, arXiv:1006.1468
Graphical calculus for Gaussian pure states with applications to
continuous-variable cluster states, Nicolas C. Menicucci, Steven T.
Flammia, Peter van Loock, arXiv:1007.0725 Holographic studies of
quasi-topological gravity, Robert C. Myers, Miguel F. Paulos,
Aninda Sinha, arXiv:1004.2055 How to Run Through Walls: Dynamics of
Bubble and Soliton Collisions, John T. Giblin Jr, Lam Hui, Eugene
A. Lim, I-Sheng Yang, arXiv:1005.3493 Inflationary solutions in
asymptotically safe f(R) gravity, Alfio Bonanno, Adriano Contillo,
Roberto Percacci, arXiv:1006.0192 Information preserving
structures: A general framework for quantum zero-error information,
Robin Blume-Kohout, Hui Khoon Ng, David Poulin, Lorenza Viola,
arXiv:1006.1358 Inverting a permutation is as hard as unordered
search, Ashwin Nayak, arXiv:1007.2899 Limited Holism and
Real-Vector-Space Quantum Theory, Lucien Hardy, William K.
Wootters, arXiv:1005.4870 Logic is to the quantum as geometry is to
gravity, Rafael D. Sorkin, G.F.R. Ellis, J. Murugan and A. Weltman
(eds), Foundations of Space and Time (Cambridge University Press),
arXiv:1004.1226 Lost in Translation: Topological Singularities in
Group Field Theory, Razvan Gurau, arXiv:1006.0714
PI PublICaTIons Magnetospheres of Black Hole Systems in
Force-Free Plasma, Carlos Palenzuela, Travis Garrett, Luis Lehner,
Steven L.Liebling, arXiv:1007.1198 Mergers of Magnetized Neutron
Stars with Spinning Black Holes: Disruption, Accretion and
Fallback, Sarvnipun Chawla, Matthew Anderson, Michael Besselman,
Luis Lehner, Steven L. Liebling, Patrick M. Motl, David Neilsen,
arXiv:1006.2839 Metastable GeV-scale particles as a solution to the
cosmological lithium problem, Maxim Pospelov, Josef Pradler,
arXiv:1006.4172 Minimum-error discrimination of entangled quantum
states, Yang Lu, Nick Coish, Rainer Kaltenbaek, Deny R. Hamel,
Sarah Croke, Kevin J. Resch, arXiv:1008.0843 No-go Theorem for
One-way Quantum Computing on Naturally Occurring Two-level Systems,
Jianxin Chen, Xie Chen, Runyao Duan, Zhengfeng Ji, Bei Zeng,
arXiv:1004.3787 Non-relativistic metrics from back-reacting
fermions, Ling-Yan Hung, Dileep P. Jatkar, Aninda Sinha,
arXiv:1006.3762 Non-standard primordial fluctuations and
nongaussianity in string inflation, C.P. Burgess, M. Cicoli, M.
Gomez-Reino, F. Quevedo, G. Tasinato, I. Zavala, arXiv:1005.4840 On
1-loop diagrams in AdS space and the random disorder problem,
Ling-Yan Hung, Yanwen Shang, arXiv:1007.2653 On limitations of the
extent of inertial frames in non-commutative relativistic
spacetimes, Lee Smolin, arXiv:1007.0718 On plane gravitational
waves in real connection variables, Franz Hinterleitner, Seth
Major, arXiv:1006.4146 On the instantons and the hypermultiplet
mass of N=2* super Yang-Mills on S^4, Takuya Okuda, Vasily Pestun,
arXiv:1004.1222 On the Possibility of Anisotropic Curvature in
Cosmology, Tomi S. Koivisto, David F. Mota, Miguel Quartin, Tom G.
Zlosnik, arXiv:1006.3321 Perfect porcupines: ideal networks for low
frequency gravitational wave astronomy, Latham Boyle,
arXiv:1003.4946 Properties of Quantum Graphity at Low Temperature,
Francesco Caravelli, Fotini Markopoulou, arXiv:1008.1340 Prospects
and Constraints for Vector-like MFV Matter at LHC, Jonathan M.
Arnold, Bartosz Fornal, Michael Trott, arXiv:1005.2185 Quantum
computational renormalization in the Haldane phase, Stephen D.
Bartlett, Gavin K. Brennen, Akimasa Miyake, Joseph M. Renes,
arXiv:1004.4906 Reviving Gravitys Aether in Einsteins Universe,
Niayesh Afshordi (Perimeter Institute/ University of Waterloo),
arXiv:1004.2901 Ruling Out Multi-Order Interference in Quantum
Mechanics, Urbasi Sinha, Christophe Couteau, Thomas Jennewein,
Raymond Laflamme, Gregor Weihs, Journal-ref: Science Vol 329 23rd
July 2010 pg 418-421, arXiv:1007.4193 Searching for axions and
other exotics with dark matter detectors. Maxim Pospelov,
(Perimeter Inst. Theor. Phys.) . 2010. 9pp. Published in
Int.J.Mod.Phys.A25:564-572,2010. Journal Server
doi:10.1142/S0217751X10048858 Seeing a c-theorem with holography,
Robert C. Myers, Aninda Sinha, PACS numbers: 11.25.Tq, 11.25.Hf,
arXiv:1006.1263 Semi-Analytic Stellar Structure in Scalar-Tensor
Gravity, M.W. Horbatsch, C.P. Burgess, arXiv:1006.4411 Shape in an
Atom of Space: Exploring quantum geometry phenomenology, Seth A.
Major, arXiv:1005.5460 Spin foams with timelike surfaces, Florian
Conrady, arXiv:1003.5652 Spinning Loop Black Holes, Francesco
Caravelli, Leonardo Modesto, arXiv:1006.0232 Stability of self-dual
black holes, Eric Brown, Robert Mann, Leonardo Modesto,
arXiv:1006.4164 Symmetry, Compact Closure and Dagger Compactness
for Categories of Convex Operational Models, Howard Barnum, Ross
Duncan, Alexander Wilce, arXiv:1004.2920 The effect of extra
dimensions on gravity wave bursts from cosmic string cusps, Eimear
OCallaghan, Sarah Chadburn, Ghazal Geshnizjani, Ruth Gregory,
Ivonne Zavala, arXiv:1005.3220 The new vertices and canonical
quantization, Sergei Alexandrov, arXiv:1004.2260 The space
complexity of recognizing well-parenthesized expressions in the
streaming model: the Index function revisited, Rahul Jain, Ashwin
Nayak, arXiv:1004.3165 Axio-electric effect, A. Derevianko, V. A.
Dzuba, V. V. Flambaum, M. Pospelov, PACS numbers:
14.70.Pw,95.35.+d,32.80.F, arXiv:1007.1833 Topological boundary
conditions in abelian Chern-Simons theory, Anton Kapustin, Natalia
Saulina, arXiv:1008.0654 Topological Order with a Twist: Ising
Anyons from an Abelian Model, H. Bombin, Phys.Rev.
Lett.105:030403,2010, arXiv:1004.1838 Tricolored Lattice Gauge
Theory with Randomness: Fault-Tolerance in Topological Color Codes,
Ruben S. Andrist, Helmut G. Katzgraber, H. Bombin, M. A.
Martin-Delgado, arXiv:1005.0777 Uber-naturalness: unexpectedly
light scalars from supersymmetric extra dimensions, C.P. Burgess,
Anshuman Maharana, F. Quevedo, arXiv:1005.1199 U(N) Coherent States
for Loop Quantum Gravity, Laurent Freidel, Etera R. Livine,
arXiv:1005.2090 Unification of gravity, gauge fields, and Higgs
bosons, A. Garrett Lisi, Lee Smolin, Simone Speziale,
arXiv:1004.4866 Unitary irreducible representations of SL(2,C) in
discrete and continuous SU(1,1) bases, Florian Conrady (Perimeter
Inst. Theor. Phys.), Jeff Hnybida (Perimeter Inst. Theor. Phys. and
Waterloo U.), arXiv:1007.0937 Universal quantum computer from a
quantum magnet, Jianming Cai, Akimasa Miyake, Wolfgang Dr, Hans J.
Briegel, arXiv:1004.1907 Viscosity Bound and Causality in
Superfluid Plasma, Alex Buchel, Sera Cremonini, arXiv:1007.2963
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InsIde the PerImeter
14 Fall 2010
A few of the talks did not fit into any of the above catego-ries
and gave the meeting a broader perspective. Ruth Durrer aimed to
sharpen the question of how large-scale magnetic field correlations
could have been produced. Curt Cutler explained how the Big Bang
Observer, a proposed gravita-tional wave satellite experiment
originally designed to pursue the gravitational wave background
produced by primordial inflation, would also measure various
properties of the late universe with unparalleled precision.
Finally, Alex Maloney gave evidence that astrophysical black holes
(i.e. non-extre-mal asymptotically-flat Kerr spacetimes in 3+1
dimensions) are, in some sense, dual to 2-dimensional conformal
field theories. All in all, the talks presented a very stimulating
menu of current ideas and recent results. Thanks especially to
Holly Hatch and Neenah Navasero of PIs Conference department for
all of their help in making it a success! Latham Boyle and Rob
Myers, Conference Co-organizers
editors note: All conference talks may be viewed on PIRSA at
http://pirsa.org/C10014.
Junes Cosmological Frontiers in Fundamental Physics meeting was
excellent! This was the fourth in a series of workshops jointly
organized by the International Solvay Insti-tute, the APC
(Universit Paris VII, Paris) and the Perimeter Institute. The
previous two meetings were held in Paris in 2008 and Brussels in
2009. This year, it was Perimeters turn to host the workshop. The
purpose of these meetings is broad: to discuss recent developments
at the inter face of modern cosmology and fundamental physics.
Although the topics varied over a wide range, cer tain themes were
discernible. Talks by Ben Freivogel, Steve Giddings, Thomas Hertog,
Rich Holman, Leonardo Senatore and Leonard Susskind aimed to
clarify issues connected to infrared effects in de Sitter space and
the related phenomenon of eternal inflation. Other talks dealt with
beyond-the-standard-model physics: Maxim Pospelov and Neil Weiner
discussed astrophysical clues that might already be pointing to new
physics, whereas Jonathan Heckman and Alexander Westphal
investigated avenues suggested by string theory. Another collection
of talks, by Gary Horowitz, Eva Silverstein, Kostas Skendaris and
Neil Turok, dealt with insights from string theory about
cosmological spacetimes and cos-mological singularities. Skendaris
and Turok, in particular, presented perspectives on the very early
universe that were quite different from the standard picture of
primordial infla-tion. On the more astrophysical side, Dick Bond,
Ue-Li Pen, Licia Verde and Mattias Zaldarriaga discussed various
ideas concerning the possible detection of primordial gravitational
waves or primordial non-gaussianities.
Theory meeTs daTa analysIs aT ComParable and exTreme mass
raTIosAlmost a hundred researchers met at Perimeter Institute at
the end of July for the Theory Meets Data Analysis at Compa-rable
and Extreme Mass Ratios conference, organized by L. Lehner, E.
Poisson, H. Pfeiffer, S. Fairhurst, G. Gonzalez and Y. Liu. The
workshop was a great success in its goal of bringing together
researchers from three communities experiment, theory, and data
analysis towards realizing the goal of detecting and analyzing
gravitational waves.
Gravity waves, expected to be detected by the end of the decade,
will provide a new and powerful way to scrutinize our universe and
answer fundamental questions about gravity, astrophysics and
cosmology. This lively meeting included discussions by theorists,
responsible for understanding characteristics of the waves expected
from different sources, together with data analysts dedicated to
exploiting these models in the search, and analysis of
gravitational waves in the data stream.
About 60 talks spread over one week, together with many lively
discussions at the PI Black Hole Bistro, provided an excellent
atmosphere for discussion. With so much packed in seven days, there
were many highlights. Several of the main and contributed talks
highlighted the tremendous progress achieved in the detector level,
the understanding of key comparable-mass systems and the data
analysis techniques required for searching for their signals.
For instance, M. Boyle and P. Ajith reviewed the status of
incorporating results from numerical relativity where this problem
is well understood for comparable masses into techniques developed
and deployed for searching for signals from binary black hole
systems. Progress and future plans for advanced detectors were
described by S. Waldman.
On the other hand, the workshop helped to further discuss other
important systems which are still poorly understood, spurring
collaborations and new ideas to tackle them. In
CONFERENCE RECAPS
CosmologICal FronTIers In FundamenTal PhysICs
PI Distinguished Research Chair Leonard Susskind delivering his
seminar on Phases of eternal inflation.
-
particular, J. Read and Z. Etienne reviewed current efforts to
understand neutron star and black hole-neutron star binaries and
binary neutron star systems. These talks highlighted the increased
complexity required for describing these systems, as further
physical ingredients are to be considered. Particularly exciting is
the fact that these details have a clear impact in the expected
signals which can shed light into the equation of states of neutron
stars. Talks by L. Barak and A. Le Tiec discussed important
advances and open problems in the description of extreme mass ratio
binaries which will be prime sources for space-based detectors.
Going 0beyond just gravitational wave detection, talks by S.
Hughes, C. Palenzuela and A. Broderick concentrated on the
tremendously exciting scientific possibilities to be opened by
multi-messenger astronomy, where the combination of gravitational,
electromagnetic and even neutrino signals will
I n early 2009, Prof. Petr Horava, an eminent physicist at the
University of California at Berkeley, proposed that decoupling, or
separating, space and time at very high energies, such as those
found in the early universe, might lead to a new theoretical
framework for quantum gravity. He posited that at low energies,
general relativity might emerge in the same way that new properties
arise in some exotic phase changes that are described by the
concept of a Lifshitz point in condensed matter physics. Prof.
Horavas paper, Quantum Gravity at a Lifshitz Point,
Phys.Rev.D79:084008, 2009, ArXiv: 0901:3775, generated enormous
interest in the international physics community so much so, in
fact, that PI decided to hold the first conference worldwide to
discuss the proposal and its implications last fall. The workshop,
called Gravity at a Lifshitz Point, was organized by PIs own Rob
Myers and Dario Benedetti, and Prof. Horava. In the course of
managing logistics for the 40 attendees, PIs (now former)
Conference Coordinator extraordinaire, Holly Hatch, sent an email
to the participants, with the following subject line: REMINDER:
More information for the Lifshitz at a Gravity Point conference at
the Perimeter Institute. The chance transposition in the emails
title was noticed by one of Prof. Horavas graduate students and led
to some chuckles around Berkeley, and Holly was a little
embarrassed when it was pointed out to her. But as she learned
later, the mix-up also helped spark some new scientific
developments Apparently, Horava and his group took up Lifshitz at a
Gravity Point as a challenge. As he later wrote, We started
speculating whether one could actually come up with a phys-ics idea
that would realize Lifshitz at a gravity point. The ideas started
percolating, and then Horava realized that a
likely revolutionize our understanding of our cosmos. The talks
can be viewed online at http://pirsa.org/C10015. The excitement of
a near detection with all fronts progressing nicely experiment,
theory and analysis towards making this a reality was clear during
the meeting, but there were a few distractions. Abraham Harte was
describing Spin-induced bobbing effects in relativistic systems
when a slide being projected started bobbing on the screen. We
later learned that this was caused by an earthquake north of
Ottawa. Other small disturbances came throughout the week courtesy
of World Cup action, with the nationality of the celebrators
alerting the rest of us to how each match was going.
Luis Lehner, Conference Co-organizer
project he had been working on actually did! The work, done with
Cenke Xu, a Harvard Junior Fellow and a postdoc in their Condensed
Matter Theory Group, delineated the properties of a new class of
algebraic bose liquids (ABLs). Such ABL phases are in strong demand
in condensed matter: They are characterized by the presence of
stable bosonic excitations which persist at very low energies, and
change dramatically the physical behavior of conventional condensed
matter systems. According to Prof. Horava, We realized that my
project with Cenke actually qualifies: Because it starts as a
con-densed matter system which apparently has nothing to do with
gravity, but it does already have a Lifshitz-type behavior at short
distances where it is defined. Then you follow the behavior of this
Lifshitz system at long distances, and surpris-ingly, what you find
is that it flows to a system described by a fixed point which has
emergent gravity in it! Hence, at very low energies, this Lifshitz
system gets to a gravity point. In April, Dr. Xu gave a colloquium
talk at PI about this work (Algebraic Bose Liquid and Emergent
Lifshitz gravity, http://pirsa.org/10040001/), although as Prof.
Horava added, I probably never told this story to my collaborator
Cenke, since he was not involved in the PI workshop last November
and therefore did not know about the mixup. As for Holly, who
recently left PI to seek new challenges on the West Coast, she has
added Physics Muse to her list of accomplishments. Natasha
Waxman
editors note: In case you missed it, the talks given at Gravity
at a Lifshitz Point are archived on PIRSA at:
http://www.pirsa.org/CO9026.
The sTrange True sTory oF lIFshITz aT a gravITy PoInT
Fall 2010 15
Holly Hatch
Prof. Petr Horava
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random maTrIx TeChnIques In quanTum InFormaTIon TheoryThis joint
Fields InstitutePI workshop, which was held at PI, July 4 - 6,
2010, brought researchers from probability theory and random matrix
theory in mathematics together with specialists from quantum
information theory. Organized jointly by Benot Collins (University
of Ottawa), Patrick Hayden (McGill/Perimeter) and Ion Nechita
(University of Ottawa), the workshop was motivated by the recent
resolution of quantum information theorys (QIT) best-known
conjecture, the additivity conjecture, using random matrix
techniques (RMT), and benefited greatly from the presence of almost
all the researchers currently working in this area. A deeper level
of interaction between the quantum informa-tion theory community
and mathematics had already been recognized as fundamental. Indeed,
it was discovered over the last decade that in order to tackle
important questions in quantum information theory such as
additivity problems, probabilistic methods and in particular random
matrix methods could be of critical help. While some previous
events had been held with the operator algebra and operator space
communities, bringing together mathematicians working in
probability theory and quantum information theorists with an
interest in statistical methods had not been yet done. This
workshop efficiently filled that gap, and was very timely, given
that huge breakthroughs had been achieved over the last few years,
especially culminating in M. Hastings breakthrough results on the
additivity of the minimum output entropy. The workshop was attended
by over 40 participants, including more than a dozen students. We
believe that many mathema-ticians attending the conference used the
workshop to orient themselves in preparation for reading the
physics literature in QIT and to become aware of the beautiful,
still-open math-ematical problems raised by QIT. QIT people, on the
other hand, used the opportunity to develop awareness of the
cutting- edge technology in RMT available to tackle their problems.
Twenty lectures were delivered, and since the audience members
backgrounds were extremely diverse, every speaker received the
unusual (and hopefully innovative!) instruction to split their
talks into two parts, a first part that had to be completely
accessible to the other community, and a second part addressing
research questions of relevance to the con-ference. For the
mathematicians, this was a unique chance to learn firsthand about
the quantum information techniques and important problems. For the
quantum information com-munity, this was a unique opportunity to
learn about recent and more classical techniques in random matrix
theory. The additivity conjecture was first stated by C. King and
M. Ruskai, both of whom attended, and updates on develop-ments
surrounding it provided some of the highlights of the workshop.
After several classes of channels were shown to satisfy the
conjecture, P. Hayden and A. Winter showed that a stronger version
of it, which was widely believed to hold at the time, was false;
they used a random construction and their proof relied on
concentration of measure techniques, developed earlier in a joint
work with D. Leung, also a par-ticipant. The counterexample for the
original conjecture was
constructed by M. Hastings in 2009, and his proof also relies on
random matrix techniques. Talks on this subject occupied a whole
day of the schedule: C. King and M. Fukuda gave an introduction to
the conjecture and to M. Hastings proof. F. Brandao presented an
alternative approach to the problem, using concentration of measure
techniques. S. Szarek talked about a very recent joint work of his,
G. Aubruns and E. Werners on another proof of the Hastings result
using Dvoretzkys theorem. B. Collins introduced free probability
techniques useful in studying random quantum channels which can be
used to give precise results on the minimal output entropies.
Finally, the additivity problem day was concluded by A. Harrows
talk on the computational com-plexity of approximating entropies of
channels. This session was emblematic of the workshop, with
mathematicians and quantum theorists alternating at the podium and
presenting their research to a wide audience. Ample time was left
in the schedule to allow discussions between the participants. In
particular, a problem session gave rise to many new and very
interesting questions, providing, we hope, material for future
research work. Audience members par ticipated enthusiastically in
these sessions, offering problems, suggestions and even making a
start on some solutions. Last but not least, this collaboration
between the Fields Institute and the Perimeter Institute enjoyed
some unexpected national media coverage when Canadian Prime
Minister Stephen Harper turned up: he took the occasion to greet
Dr. Stephen Hawking (who was visiting PI at the time) and to make
an important announcement about the funding of post-doctoral
fellowships in Canada. No doubt foreign participants did not expect
to see so much of Canada during this work-shop which had already
filled everybody with new scientific ideas and projects! We believe
that the workshop was very timely, and hope that it will prove to
be a first milestone on the road towards a fruitful and intensive
collaboration between the two communities.
Benot Collins, Patrick Hayden and Ion Nechita, Conference
Co-organizers
editors note: All conference talks may be viewed on PIRSA at
http://pirsa.org/C10016.
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Fall 2010 17
PIRSA Pick of the Issue
Experimental detection of stimulated Hawking thermal radiation
from analog white holes (http://pirsa.org/10090068/)
William Unruh, University of British Columbia
Series: Colloquium
IntegRAbIlIty And ScAtteRIng AmPlItudeS Recent advances in the
computations of scattering amplitudes reveal unexpected and
extraordinary properties that are completely invisible in the usual
textbook formulation. These ndings have led many of us to feel that
we are on the verge of a revolution in our understanding of quantum
chromody-namics (QCD) in general and N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills
theory (SYM) in particular. With this background, in September, PI
hosted a workshop on Integrability in Scattering Amplitudes. The
workshop was organized by Freddy Cachazo, Amit Sever and Pedro
Vieira from PI, together with PI Distinguished Research Chair Nima
Arkani-Hamed from the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). This was
the second workshop in a series of very informal gatherings which
started in April 2010 at the IAS. Many topics and new results were
explained and discussed in the meeting. To name a few:
Zvi Bern explained state-of-the-art precision QCD computations
extremely relevant for collider physics and for analysis of the
data from the Large Hadron
Collider in Switzerland. The presentation was followed by a
discussion on the niteness of a maximally supersym-
metric theory of gravity, known as N=8 SUGRA. Finally,
remarkable new relations between non-planar and planar structures
in perturbative computations in Yang-Mills
and gravity were presented.
Alexander Goncharov (a special mathematician guest) beautifully
introduced the theory of Motives, Symbols and
Generalized Polylogarithms. A discussion on the application of
these to scattering amplitudes followed.
Nima Arkani-Hamed led a discussion on the recent break- through
in the computation of all orders integrand of
supersymmetric gauge theories such as N=4 SYM and its manifest
Yangian invariance. Yangian symmetry is the signaling feature of
integrability in the theory.
David Skinner and Simon Caron-Huot introduced their solution to
a long-standing problem, a supersymmetric generalization of polygon
Wilson loops that computes N=4 scattering amplitudes with all
possible helicities in N=4 SYM.
Juan Maldacena introduced a new operator product expansion for
polygon Wilson loops and the application of this method for the
determination of scattering amplitudes in particular kinematics.
The main building blocks of this construction are the energies of
excitations of the N=4 flux tube.
Dealing more with the integrability side of the workshop, Juan
Maldacena explained how integrability and in particu- lar
Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz techniques are used in the computation
of scattering amplitudes at strong coupling.
Finally, Benjamin Basso presented in detail his exact results
for the excitations around the N=4 flux tube obtained using
integrability.
All in all, these were two outstanding days of discussions with
an enormous number of absolutely fresh and remarkable results
certainly a workshop we hope to see repeated!
Freddy Cachazo, Pedro Vieira, Amit Sever andNima Arkani-Hamed,
Conference Co-organizers
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THE WELCOME SECTION
ProFIles oF PosTdoCToral researChersNEW PI POSTDOCS SHARE THEIR
INTERESTS
JOO PeNeDONeS
ReSeARCH AReA(S) String theory, or more precisely, gauge/gravity
dualities.
mOST INTeReSTINg THINg AbOUT THeOReTICAL PHySICS The quest to
discover and understand the most basic laws of nature.
eARLIeST PHySICS memORy I decided to study physics after reading
the book The Character of Physical Law by Richard Feynman. I was 16
years old and I remember being deeply impressed by the simplicity
and clarity of the authors explanations of many phenomena.
PHySICS ROLe mODeL I dont know much about the life stories of
famous physicists and I dont think I have a role model. However, I
strongly admire the scientific achievements of many physicists. For
example, the new perspective Wilson brought to quantum field theory
was a remarkable change of paradigm in theoretical physics.
LOOkINg FORWARD TO AT PI I think PI is an excellent institute
where Ill have all the conditions to develop my research projects.
I look forward to that.
ReSeARCH AReA(S) I am currently working in quantum gravity, more
specifically in the group field approach of quantum gravity. But I
have other interests, including supersymmetry quantum mechanics,
coherent states, q-mathematics, noncommutative geometry and its
applications to
quantum fields.
mOST INTeReSTINg THINg AbOUT THeOReTICAL PHySICS From my humble
point of view of a theoretician, one of the most interesting things
in physics is the fact that it gives another dimension to human
beings: the capability to understand the world with only
theoretical tools, leaving far behind the technology and awaiting
patiently the day that the world agrees with an unravelled idea. I
relate to the famous quote from Einstein: The most incomprehensible
thing about the world is that it is at all comprehensible.
FAmILy I came alone, but my partner, Melissa, might join me
later on.
INTeReSTS/HObbIeS I like to play soccer and go rock
climbing.
FAvOURITe bOOk/mUSIC/FILm One of my favourite books is Three
Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. The simplicity with which the author
tells us his amazing story is truly remarkable.
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? Before coming here, I was a postdoc
at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara,
California.
PHySICS ROLe mODeL If you asked me, In science in general, who
is your icon?, I would say J. Carl F. Gauss. But in pure physics,
it is difficult to say, because there are a bunch of great men who
deserve to be in the heart of every physicist, each in equal
proportion.
LOOkINg FORWARD TO AT PI Working at PI is a huge opportunity to
collaborate with many of the greatest theoreticians in the entire
world. As an African, I would also like to make more connections
between PI and other institutes (that I will certainly visit) and
my continent.
FAmILy My spouse and daughter accompanied me to Waterloo.
INTeReSTS/HObbIeS My favourite sports are football (or soccer,
as its known in North America) and basketball, and I really enjoy
going to the movie theatres.
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? I am coming from Senegal (West
Africa).
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JOSePH beN geLOUN
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Fall 2010 00 Fall 2010 00
mARkUS mUeLLeR
ReSeARCH AReA(S) Quantum information theory, and quantum
foundations. On the QIT side, this involves foundational questions
on quantum statistical mechanics. For example: How and when do
closed systems thermalize? What are typical properties of random
quantum states? Another question that Im interested in: Are there
simple axioms that characterize quantum theory among all general
probabilistic theories? What about natural theories beyond it?
mOST INTeReSTINg THINg AbOUT THeOReTICAL PHySICS Science in
general is a great tool to overcome typically human prejudices on
our world. We are all born with great curiosity about why and how
our universe works as it does, but also with a bunch of
misconceptions on how to address those questions. For example,
humans naturally assume things like complicated objects do not
arise on their own, but have to be built by some intelligent being.
Science lets us sometimes discover that, surprisingly, such
assumptions are wrong. In theoretical physics, it is mathematics
that makes this possible, and maths is surprisingly successful in
this task. For me, this moment of surprising insight, in connection
with the reliability of a mathematical proof, is what makes
theoretical physics such a great and valuable experience.
eARLIeST PHySICS memORy Definitely reading science fiction books
as a child. And in elementary school, I was terrifying my teacher
by asking her how we could ever have been born, if there are
infinitely many conceivable humans, but only finitely many of them
really exist. It turned out that not too many class fellows were
interested in probability zero events.
PHySICS ROLe mODeL Carl Sagan, and his book The Demon-Haunted
World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.
LOOkINg FORWARD TO AT PI There are some very nice people from PI
that I had the pleasure to meet on earlier occasions, and I am very
much looking forward to meeting with them at greater length in
Waterloo. In general, I think PI is a great, stimulating place for
research, definitely one of the best in the world. Personally, I am
also looking forward to exploring more of Canadas outdoor life, and
to having more time for research than in Berlin, where I was
teaching a lot.
INTeReSTS/HObbIeS I like skiing and snowboarding, and Im a great
fan of indie rock music. I like to go to concerts, and I play the
drums myself from time to time (with lots of fun but little
talent). Im also interested in human rights issues and am a member
of Amnesty International.
FAvOURITe bOOk/mUSIC/FILm Maybe Hermann Hesse or Franz Kafka ...
and Gary Larsons cartoons. Films by David Lynch.
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? From Berlin. Before coming to PI, I
was a postdoc at Jens Eiserts group at the University of Potsdam,
and I was teaching mathematical physics at the TU Berlin.
CHAD HANNA
ReSeARCH AReA(S) Gravitational-wave astronomy/astrophysics.
mOST INTeReSTINg THINg AbOUT THeOReTICAL PHySICS That is tough
to answer. I think the most interesting thing about our universe is
that, despite its immense complexity, it
seems comprehensible. Physics as a discipline is about
understanding every complex layer and finding all the surprises
along the way. It is fun. What can I say?
eARLIeST PHySICS memORy When I was young I was interested in
electromagnetism and electronics. I often constructed small
circuits (radios, etc.). I couldnt do that to save my life these
days ...
PHySICS ROLe mODeL When I was young, Newton. As I aged,
Einstein. But I am sort of looking for a new one right now.
LOOkINg FORWARD TO AT PI I think PI is a fantastic place to
interact. I look forward to the possibilities!
FAmILy My wife, Jenny, will be coming to Waterloo with me.
INTeReSTS/HObbIeS I enjoy cooking, photography, music,
sci-fi.
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? LIGO Laboratory, California Institute
of Technology in Pasadena, CA.
Fall 2010 19
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JeAN-LUC LeHNeRS
ReSeARCH AReA(S) Cosmology and string theory.
mOST INTeReSTINg THINg AbOUT THeOReTICAL PHySICS It allows us to
find out certain aspects of how the universe evolves, and of the
universes past, despite the fact that we are stuck on Earth.
eARLIeST PHySICS memORy Discovering the Moon and the planets
when I was about 10 years old, and when I started getting
interested in astronomy.
PHySICS ROLe mODeL I dont have a physics role model most famous
physicists were crazy, utterly self-absorbed or otherwise
deranged!
LOOkINg FORWARD TO AT PI The particularly open-minded
atmosphere, and the fact that
mISHA SmOLkIN
ReSeARCH AReA(S) High energy physics. In particular, Im
interested in all kind of aspects related to general relativity and
cosmology.
mOST INTeReSTINg THINg AbOUT THeOReTICAL PHySICS It enslaves
minds.
PHySICS ROLe mODeL
There are many outstanding physicists who deserve (at least)
respect. So let us keep the symmetry.
mATT JOHNSON
ReSeARCH AReA(S) Im interested in cosmology and string
theory.
mOST INTeReSTINg THINg AbOUT THeOReTICAL PHySICS That sometimes
even a crude, spherical-cow-like model can actually be a good
enough description to yield new insights or meaningful
predictions.
eARLIeST PHySICS memORy One day when I was in middle school, I
was in the library procrastinating, and came across a book called
The Big Bang Never Happened. Being the rebellious punk that I was,
this seemed interesting. After reading the book, I guess I was
hooked since Im still trying to figure out if the Big Bang ever
happened ...
PHySICS ROLe mODeL I always thought Frank Oppenheimer had an
interesting life, and that the exploratorium was a neat idea.
PI is continually improving, growing and providing
opportunities.
FAmILy My family is moving with me: my wife, Linda (who is a
dancer, choreographer and dance writer), our son Julien (two years
old) and our daughter Caroline (six months).
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? Princeton, more specifically the
Princeton Center for Theoretical Science.
LOOkINg FORWARD TO AT PI Doing good research.
FAmILy I have the minimal possible family: me and my wife. She
is accompanying me to Waterloo.
FAvOURITe bOOk/mUSIC/FILm Favourite is too strong. Let us say
instead that I like Kafka, Akutagawa, Oe, Hesse, and many
others.
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? Im coming from Israel. I graduated at
the Hebrew U. in Jerusalem.
LOOkINg FORWARD TO AT PI Collaborating with all of the fantastic
people!
INTeReSTS/HObbIeS Hiking, making music, gardening, cooking,
reading ...
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? Caltech in Pasadena, California.
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Fall 2010 00 Fall 2010 21
ROgeR COLbeCk
ReSeARCH AReA(S) Quantum information and quantum
foundations.
mOST INTeReSTINg THINg AbOUT THeOReTICAL PHySICS The fact that a
few seemingly simple equations describe so much of our world and in
such great detail.
eARLIeST PHySICS memORy When I was around six years old, our
teacher asked us to select from a given set of materials which we
thought would be best to wrap around a can to keep its contents of
hot water warm for the longest, and which would keep cold water
cold for the longest. Almost everyone thought that the thick, furry
material would keep the water warm longest and that the thin
material would keep the cold water cold longest (after all, we wear
thin clothes to keep cool, right?). The experimental result
provided much surprise.
PHySICS ROLe mODeL Not sure I really have one, although reading
Roger Penrose enthused me a lot about physics as a student.
LOOkINg FORWARD TO AT PI Being part of the fantastic scientific
community PI has to offer.
INTeReSTS/HObbIeS I enjoy playing racquet sports and skiing.
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? I was previously at ETH (the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology, in English) in Zurich,
Switzerland.
vALeNTIN bONzOm
ReSeARCH AReA(S) Quantum gravity.
FAmILy My wife and our two-and-a-half-year-old son.
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? Lyon, France.
SImONe gIOmbI
ReSeARCH AReA(S) High energy theoretical physics, primarily
string theory and related topics.
mOST INTeReSTINg THINg AbOUT THeOReTICAL PHySICS To me, the most
interesting thing is how we are getting closer and closer to
understanding how nature works at the most fundamental level, based
on just a relatively small set of unifying principles and
ideas.
eARLIeST PHySICS memORy I think my first real contact with
modern physics was sometime during high school, when I read The
Evolution of Physics by Einstein and Infeld.
PHySICS ROLe mODeL Its difficult to pick one. If I had to choose
among some great physicists of the last century, I would mention
Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman as quite inspirational to
me.
LOOkINg FORWARD TO AT PI I am looking forward to new friends,
new collaborators and new opportunities to grow as a scientist.
FAmILy My wife and our newborn daughter will be accompanying me
to Waterloo.
INTeReSTS/HObbIeS In my free time, I like watching movies and
reading comic books.
FAvOURITe bOOk/mUSIC/FILm Id mention Martin Scorsese and Steven
Spielberg among my favourite movie directors.
WHeRe ARe yOU COmINg FROm? I am coming from Harvard, where I
have been a postdoc for the past three years. I got my PhD from
Stony Brook University in 2007.
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InsIde the PerImeter
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NATALIA kLeINNatalia Klein joined the Perimeter Institute in
August as an assistant, enhancing and providing administrative
support both to the Office of the Director and the Director of
Global Outreach. She holds a teaching degree in German, Russian,
and English from the University of Mannheim, Germany, and an MA in
German & Russian Studies from the University of Waterloo.
Originally born in Kazakhstan, Natalia lived most of her life in
Germany, where she worked as a teaching assistant in various
educational institutions and gained her administrative experience
through two-and-a-half years of employment in both industry and
university settings. After living in Waterloo while studying her
Masters in 2006-2007, she decided to come back and make Canada her
permanent home in 2009. Natalia is excited to fuse both her
teaching and multicultural backgrounds at PI, cherishing its global
outre