Seminars
Seminars occur on Wednesdays from 12:00-1:00 PM Pacific in ISB 130 with a hybrid option over Zoom unless otherwise posted. To join the mailing list, please contact Prof. Ehsan Khatami at ehsan.khatami@sjsu.edu with the words "Seminars and Events" included in the subject heading.
This Week
The Hidden Life of Quantum Circuits
Ken Wharton, San Jose State University
Wednesday, 2/26/2025, 12:00-1:00pm Pacific
Abstract: According to standard quantum theory, keeping track of the state of an N-qubit quantum circuit requires 2^N complex numbers. But if quantum states are merely states of (partial) knowledge, this might be misleading; a realistic underlying description of the circuit could still scale linearly with N, if one is willing to solve the whole circuit “all at once”. In this talk, I’ll discuss a plausible underlying description of what the qubits might really be doing in a quantum circuit, and show evidence that we might be able to dispose of the exponentially-large quantum states in favor of a deeper and more localized account. (With SJSU students Titus Amza and James Saslow; see https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.05456 for more details.
Bio: Dr. Ken Wharton is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at SJSU. Having built up a name for himself in the area of laser physics as a postdoc and in his early career, he has more recently been conducting research in the area of quantum foundations where he has become recognized as one of the foremost authorities in this area.
