Frank Verstraete | |
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Born | November 1972 (age 51–52) Belgium |
Alma mater | Ghent University, KU Leuven |
Awards | Lieben Prize (2009), ERC grants (2009, 2015, 2023), Francqui Prize (2018) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physicist |
Institutions | Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Caltech, University of Vienna, Ghent University, University of Cambridge |
Doctoral advisor | Bart De Moor, Henri Verschelde |
Other academic advisors | Ignacio Cirac, John Preskill |
Frank Verstraete (born November 1972 [1] ) is a Belgian quantum physicist who is working on the interface between quantum information theory and quantum many-body physics. He pioneered the use of tensor networks and entanglement theory in quantum many body systems. He holds the Leigh Trapnell Professorship of Quantum Physics at the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Cambridge, and is professor at the Faculty of Physics at Ghent University.
Verstraete obtained a degree of electrical engineering in Louvain and of Master in Physics from Ghent University, and obtained his PhD on the topic of quantum entanglement in 2002 under supervision of Bart De Moor and Henri Verschelde at the KU Leuven. [2] He pioneered the use of quantum entanglement as a unifying theme for describing strongly interacting quantum many-body systems, which are among the most challenging systems to analyze theoretically or numerically, but also very promising for future quantum technologies such as quantum computers. After working as a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in the group of Ignacio Cirac (2002–2004) and at the California Institute of Technology (2004–2006), he became full professor and the chair of theoretical quantum nanophysics at the University of Vienna in 2006. He moved back to Ghent University with an Odysseus grant from the FWO in 2012, where he has since built a large research group on applications of entanglement in quantum many-body systems. Since the fall 2022, he holds the chair of Quantum Physics at to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics of the University of Cambridge.
Among his notable contributions is the discovery that there are nine different ways (represented by equivalence classes under stochastic LOCC operations (SLOCC)) in which four qubits can be entangled, [3] the theoretical demonstration that a universal quantum computer can be realized entirely by dissipation, [4] and the development of a quantum generalization of the classical Metropolis algorithm to find ground states of many-body Hamiltonians. [5] He played a leading role in the development of modern variational methods of quantum many-body physics based on Matrix product states (MPS), Tensor network states, and Projected entangled pair states (PEPS) and applying them to problems in condensed-matter physics, many-body physics, and quantum field theory. Among others, he was among the authors introducing fermionic PEPS, continuous MPS, and matrix product operators, and he is co-author of a highly cited review on the topic. [6]
Verstraete has received numerous awards, among them the Lieben Prize in 2009 [7] and the Francqui Prize in 2018 [8] and is also distinguished visiting research chair at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. [9]
Quantum teleportation is a technique for transferring quantum information from a sender at one location to a receiver some distance away. While teleportation is commonly portrayed in science fiction as a means to transfer physical objects from one location to the next, quantum teleportation only transfers quantum information. The sender does not have to know the particular quantum state being transferred. Moreover, the location of the recipient can be unknown, but to complete the quantum teleportation, classical information needs to be sent from sender to receiver. Because classical information needs to be sent, quantum teleportation cannot occur faster than the speed of light.
Quantum entanglement is the phenomenon of a group of particles being generated, interacting, or sharing spatial proximity in such a way that the quantum state of each particle of the group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, including when the particles are separated by a large distance. Along with the uncertainty principle and wave–particle duality demonstrable in the double-slit experiment, the topic of quantum entanglement is at the heart of the disparity between classical and quantum physics and not present in classical mechanics.
In the interpretation of quantum mechanics, a local hidden-variable theory is a hidden-variable theory that satisfies the principle of locality. These models attempt to account for the probabilistic features of quantum mechanics via the mechanism of underlying, but inaccessible variables, with the additional requirement that distant events be statistically independent.
A trapped-ion quantum computer is one proposed approach to a large-scale quantum computer. Ions, or charged atomic particles, can be confined and suspended in free space using electromagnetic fields. Qubits are stored in stable electronic states of each ion, and quantum information can be transferred through the collective quantized motion of the ions in a shared trap. Lasers are applied to induce coupling between the qubit states or coupling between the internal qubit states and the external motional states.
The Peres–Horodecki criterion is a necessary condition, for the joint density matrix of two quantum mechanical systems and , to be separable. It is also called the PPT criterion, for positive partial transpose. In the 2×2 and 2×3 dimensional cases the condition is also sufficient. It is used to decide the separability of mixed states, where the Schmidt decomposition does not apply. The theorem was discovered in 1996 by Asher Peres and the Horodecki family
In quantum mechanics, separable states are multipartite quantum states that can be written as a convex combination of product states. Product states are multipartite quantum states that can be written as a tensor product of states in each space. The physical intuition behind these definitions is that product states have no correlation between the different degrees of freedom, while separable states might have correlations, but all such correlations can be explained as due to a classical random variable, as opposed as being due to entanglement.
In physics, in the area of quantum information theory, a Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state is a certain type of entangled quantum state that involves at least three subsystems. The four-particle version was first studied by Daniel Greenberger, Michael Horne and Anton Zeilinger in 1989, and the three-particle version was introduced by N. David Mermin in 1990. Extremely non-classical properties of the state have been observed, contradicting intuitive notions of locality and causality. GHZ states for large numbers of qubits are theorized to give enhanced performance for metrology compared to other qubit superposition states.
The W state is an entangled quantum state of three qubits which in the bra-ket notation has the following shape
In quantum computing, a graph state is a special type of multi-qubit state that can be represented by a graph. Each qubit is represented by a vertex of the graph, and there is an edge between every interacting pair of qubits. In particular, they are a convenient way of representing certain types of entangled states.
In quantum information and quantum computing, a cluster state is a type of highly entangled state of multiple qubits. Cluster states are generated in lattices of qubits with Ising type interactions. A cluster C is a connected subset of a d-dimensional lattice, and a cluster state is a pure state of the qubits located on C. They are different from other types of entangled states such as GHZ states or W states in that it is more difficult to eliminate quantum entanglement in the case of cluster states. Another way of thinking of cluster states is as a particular instance of graph states, where the underlying graph is a connected subset of a d-dimensional lattice. Cluster states are especially useful in the context of the one-way quantum computer. For a comprehensible introduction to the topic see.
Within quantum technology, a quantum sensor utilizes properties of quantum mechanics, such as quantum entanglement, quantum interference, and quantum state squeezing, which have optimized precision and beat current limits in sensor technology. The field of quantum sensing deals with the design and engineering of quantum sources and quantum measurements that are able to beat the performance of any classical strategy in a number of technological applications. This can be done with photonic systems or solid state systems.
In quantum information science, the concurrence is a state invariant involving qubits.
In quantum information theory, quantum discord is a measure of nonclassical correlations between two subsystems of a quantum system. It includes correlations that are due to quantum physical effects but do not necessarily involve quantum entanglement.
In quantum mechanics, a matrix product state (MPS) is a quantum state of many particles, written in the following form:
Quantum complex networks are complex networks whose nodes are quantum computing devices. Quantum mechanics has been used to create secure quantum communications channels that are protected from hacking. Quantum communications offer the potential for secure enterprise-scale solutions.
Spin squeezing is a quantum process that decreases the variance of one of the angular momentum components in an ensemble of particles with a spin. The quantum states obtained are called spin squeezed states. Such states have been proposed for quantum metrology, to allow a better precision for estimating a rotation angle than classical interferometers. However a wide body of work contradicts this analysis. In particular, these works show that the estimation precision obtainable for any quantum state can be expressed solely in terms of the state response to the signal. As squeezing does not increase the state response to the signal, it cannot fundamentally improve the measurement precision.
Barbara Kraus is an Austrian physicist specializing in quantum information, quantum entanglement, and quantum key distribution. She is a University Professor at the TUM School of Natural Sciences at the Technical University of Munich.
Tensor networks or tensor network states are a class of variational wave functions used in the study of many-body quantum systems and fluids. Tensor networks extend one-dimensional matrix product states to higher dimensions while preserving some of their useful mathematical properties.
In quantum physics, the "monogamy" of quantum entanglement refers to the fundamental property that it cannot be freely shared between arbitrarily many parties.
Germán Sierra is a Spanish theoretical physicist, author, and academic. He is Professor of Research at the Institute of Theoretical Physics Autonomous University of Madrid-Spanish National Research Council.