Jonathan Oppenheim

Last updated
Jonathan Oppenheim
Born
Cape Town, South Africa [1]
Alma mater University of Toronto (BSc, 1993)
University of British Columbia (PhD, 2000)
Awards Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award
EPSRC Established Career Fellowship [2]
Scientific career
Fields quantum information theory
quantum gravity
Institutions University College London
University of Cambridge
Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University
University of Alberta [2]
Thesis Quantum Time  (2000)
Doctoral advisor Bill Unruh
Website www.ucl.ac.uk/oppenheim/

Jonathan Oppenheim is a professor of physics at University College London. He is an expert in quantum information theory and quantum gravity.

Contents

Life

Oppenheim obtained a bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto in 1993 and PhD at the University of British Columbia in 2001. His PhD thesis titled Quantum Time, focused on time ordering in quantum mechanics and was supervised by Bill Unruh.

In 2004, he was a postdoctoral researcher under Jacob Bekenstein and a Royal Society University Fellow at the University of Cambridge before moving to University College London.

In 2005, together with Michał Horodecki and Andreas Winter, Oppenheim discovered quantum state-merging and used this primitive to show that quantum information could be negative. [3] Following on this work, Oppenheim and collaborators have developed a resource theory for thermodynamics on the nano and quantum scale. [4] [5]

In 2017, Oppenheim and Lluis Masanes derived the third law of thermodynamics using quantum information arguments and set a bound to the speed at which information can be erased. [6] [7]

Oppenheim published a proposal in 2023 for a hybrid theory that couples classical general relativity with quantum field theory. According to this proposal, spacetime is not quantized but smooth and continuous, and is subject to random fluctuations. [8] [9]

Edible ballot society

As a student, Oppenheim was involved in the Edible Ballot Society which satirically advanced eating ballots to highlight the democracy gap in electoral politics. [10] He was arrested at the 1997 APEC protests on University of British Columbia campus. [11] He withdrew from the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP following the refusal of the Prime Minister to testify. [12] [13] His group was responsible for smuggling a siege catapult [14] into the medieval city of Quebec during the Summit of Americas, 2001. It was used to lob teddy bears. [15] [16] [17]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantum gravity</span> Description of gravity using discrete values

Quantum gravity (QG) is a field of theoretical physics that seeks to describe gravity according to the principles of quantum mechanics. It deals with environments in which neither gravitational nor quantum effects can be ignored, such as in the vicinity of black holes or similar compact astrophysical objects, such as neutron stars as well as in the early stages of the universe moments after the Big Bang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantum entanglement</span> Correlation between quantum systems

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. The topic of quantum entanglement is at the heart of the disparity between classical and quantum physics: entanglement is a primary feature of quantum mechanics not present in classical mechanics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black hole thermodynamics</span> Area of study

In physics, black hole thermodynamics is the area of study that seeks to reconcile the laws of thermodynamics with the existence of black hole event horizons. As the study of the statistical mechanics of black-body radiation led to the development of the theory of quantum mechanics, the effort to understand the statistical mechanics of black holes has had a deep impact upon the understanding of quantum gravity, leading to the formulation of the holographic principle.

The conditional quantum entropy is an entropy measure used in quantum information theory. It is a generalization of the conditional entropy of classical information theory. For a bipartite state , the conditional entropy is written , or , depending on the notation being used for the von Neumann entropy. The quantum conditional entropy was defined in terms of a conditional density operator by Nicolas Cerf and Chris Adami, who showed that quantum conditional entropies can be negative, something that is forbidden in classical physics. The negativity of quantum conditional entropy is a sufficient criterion for quantum non-separability.

Induced gravity is an idea in quantum gravity that spacetime curvature and its dynamics emerge as a mean field approximation of underlying microscopic degrees of freedom, similar to the fluid mechanics approximation of Bose–Einstein condensates. The concept was originally proposed by Andrei Sakharov in 1967.

The Born rule is a postulate of quantum mechanics that gives the probability that a measurement of a quantum system will yield a given result. In its simplest form, it states that the probability density of finding a system in a given state, when measured, is proportional to the square of the amplitude of the system's wavefunction at that state. It was formulated and published by German physicist Max Born in July, 1926.

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.

Michał Horodecki is a Polish physicist at the University of Gdańsk working in the field of quantum information theory, notable for his work on entanglement theory.

Andreas J. Winter is a German mathematician and mathematical physicist at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in Spain. He received his Ph.D. in 1999 under Rudolf Ahlswede and Friedrich Götze at the Universität Bielefeld in Germany before moving to the University of Bristol and then to the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) at the National University of Singapore. In 2013 he was appointed ICREA Research Professor at UAB.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entropic gravity</span> Theory in modern physics that describes gravity as an entropic force

Entropic gravity, also known as emergent gravity, is a theory in modern physics that describes gravity as an entropic force—a force with macro-scale homogeneity but which is subject to quantum-level disorder—and not a fundamental interaction. The theory, based on string theory, black hole physics, and quantum information theory, describes gravity as an emergent phenomenon that springs from the quantum entanglement of small bits of spacetime information. As such, entropic gravity is said to abide by the second law of thermodynamics under which the entropy of a physical system tends to increase over time.

In quantum information theory, quantum state merging is the transfer of a quantum state when the receiver already has part of the state. The process optimally transfers partial information using entanglement and classical communication. It allows for sending information using an amount of entanglement given by the conditional quantum entropy, with the Von Neumann entropy, . It thus provides an operational meaning to this quantity.

Paweł Horodecki is a Polish professor of physics at the Gdańsk University of Technology working in the field of quantum information theory. He is best known for introducing the Peres-Horodecki criterion for testing whether a quantum state is entangled. Moreover, Paweł Horodecki demonstrated that there exist states which are entangled whereas no pure entangled states can be obtained from them by means of local operations and classical communication (LOCC). Such states are called bound entangled states. He also showed that even bound entanglement can lead to quantum teleportation with a fidelity impossible to achieve with only separable states.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie Wehner</span> German physicist and computer scientist

Stephanie Dorothea Christine Wehner is a German physicist and computer scientist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantum thermodynamics</span> Study of the relations between thermodynamics and quantum mechanics

Quantum thermodynamics is the study of the relations between two independent physical theories: thermodynamics and quantum mechanics. The two independent theories address the physical phenomena of light and matter. In 1905, Albert Einstein argued that the requirement of consistency between thermodynamics and electromagnetism leads to the conclusion that light is quantized, obtaining the relation . This paper is the dawn of quantum theory. In a few decades quantum theory became established with an independent set of rules. Currently quantum thermodynamics addresses the emergence of thermodynamic laws from quantum mechanics. It differs from quantum statistical mechanics in the emphasis on dynamical processes out of equilibrium. In addition, there is a quest for the theory to be relevant for a single individual quantum system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandu Popescu</span> British physicist

Sandu Popescu is a Romanian-British physicist working in the foundations of quantum mechanics and quantum information.

Stochastic thermodynamics is an emergent field of research in statistical mechanics that uses stochastic variables to better understand the non-equilibrium dynamics present in many microscopic systems such as colloidal particles, biopolymers, enzymes, and molecular motors.

Bound entanglement is a weak form of quantum entanglement, from which no singlets can be distilled with local operations and classical communication (LOCC).

Gravitational decoherence is a term for hypothetical mechanisms by which gravitation can act on quantum mechanical systems to produce decoherence. Advocates of gravitational decoherence include Frigyes Károlyházy, Roger Penrose and Lajos Diósi.

Robert W. Spekkens is a Canadian theoretical quantum physicist working in the fields of quantum foundations and quantum information.

References

  1. ↑ "Jonathan Oppenheim". ieeexplore.ieee.org. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Jonathan Oppenheim". Simons Foundation. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  3. ↑ Horodecki, Michał; Oppenheim, Jonathan; Winter, Andreas (2005). "Partial quantum information". Nature. 436 (7051): 673–676. doi:10.1038/nature03909. ISSN   1476-4687.
  4. ↑ Horodecki, Michał; Oppenheim, Jonathan (2013-06-26). "Fundamental limitations for quantum and nanoscale thermodynamics". Nature Communications. 4 (1). doi:10.1038/ncomms3059. ISSN   2041-1723.
  5. ↑ Brandão, Fernando; Horodecki, Michał; Ng, Nelly; Oppenheim, Jonathan; Wehner, Stephanie (2015-03-17). "The second laws of quantum thermodynamics". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (11): 3275–3279. arXiv: 1305.5278 . Bibcode:2015PNAS..112.3275B. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1411728112 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   4372001 . PMID   25675476.
  6. ↑ Crane, Leah (14 March 2017). "Cooling to absolute zero mathematically outlawed after a century". New Scientist. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
  7. ↑ Masanes, Lluís; Oppenheim, Jonathan (2017). "A general derivation and quantification of the third law of thermodynamics". Nature Communications. 8: 14538. arXiv: 1412.3828 . Bibcode:2017NatCo...814538M. doi:10.1038/ncomms14538. PMC   5355879 . PMID   28290452.
  8. ↑ Jonathan Oppenheim (2023). "A Postquantum Theory of Classical Gravity?". Physical Review X. 13 (4): 041040. doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.13.041040 . Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  9. ↑ Hannah Devlin (2023-12-04). "'Wobbly spacetime' may help resolve contradictory physics theories". The Guardian. Retrieved 2023-12-17.
  10. ↑ Pue, W. Wesley (2000). Pepper in our Eyes: the APEC Affair . Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press. ISBN   978-0-7748-0779-1.
  11. ↑ Clark, Campbell (March 27, 2002). "APEC activists deserve an apology, RCMP told". The Globe and Mail .
  12. ↑ Armstrong, Jane (March 1, 2000). "Protesters withdraw complaints from APEC summit inquiry". The Globe and Mail .
  13. ↑ "University of BC timeline".
  14. ↑ Mitchell, Dave. "Case Study: The Teddy Bear Catapult". Beautiful Trouble. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  15. ↑ Hanes, Allison (May 1, 2001). "The great teddy-bear turn-in". The Gazette (Montreal) .
  16. ↑ "Group Claims Responsibility". 10 October 2008.
  17. ↑ "Quantum physicist helps travellers out of a hole". 26 September 2011.


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