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Quantum information science: tools and applications for fundamental physics (Ext.)

量子信息科学：基础物理的工具和应用（扩展）

基本信息

批准号：
EP/R031282/1
负责人：
Jonathan Oppenheim
金额：
$ 79.39万
依托单位：
University College London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2018 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FR031282%2F1
关键词：
Quantum information science tools applications

项目摘要

This is an extension of the Fellowship 'Quantum information science: tools and applications for fundamental physics'. The fellowship initially focused on applying tools from computer science to study thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, and the extension will focus on applying them to better understand quantum gravity.Computer science has led to a new paradigm in physics, where one understands the laws of nature in terms of the manipulation of information. Computer science also has tools which can be used to analyse how efficient these manipulations are. In the last two decades, this has led to fundamental breakthroughs in our understanding of quantum mechanics, and we now know that quantum computers can be much faster than classical computers, and that quantum particles can be used to transmit information privately, in a way that is impossible in the classical world. The proposed research will develop and apply tools from computer science and quantum information theory to other areas of physics, in a way which aims to deepen our understanding of fundamental laws. Our current theory of gravity -- Einstein's general relativity -- is the theory of space-time and it is incompatible with quantum mechanics. Finding a consistent theory of gravity and quantum mechanics is one of the holy grails of modern physics. One of the few clues we have to reconciling the two theories is the black hole. These are objects which are so heavy, not even light can escape from them. Tantalizing hints from their study, such as the discovery that their entropy is proportional to their area, and that this area obeys thermodynamical laws suggest that information plays a fundamental role in quantum gravity. We know from previous work that thermodynamics is a field which can also be understood, in terms of information theory. Likewise, the black hole information problem, posed by Hawking, appears to suggest that black holes destroy information. If they do, then this requires radical changes to fundamental physics, and if instead they do preserve information, then we need to understand how this can be the case. The black hole information problem is precisely about the way information behaves and is stored in space-time. All these clues strongly suggests that in order to understand quantum gravity, we need to use tools from quantum information theory. It is thus no surprise, that increasingly, quantum gravity researchers are turning to quantum information theory to provide clues as to what a consistent theory of gravity will look like. This has led to a flurry of new ideas in the field. For example, there are some indications that entanglement (an important property of some quantum states) plays an important role in determining the geometry of space time. Likewise there are some indications that nature is holographic, in that information about a region can be described on its boundary (indeed this is the case for black holes). Understanding holography, and whether it holds, is another example where information theory is important, since holography is a statement about how and where information is stored. This project aims to apply and strengthen existing tools from quantum information theory -- many of them developed by the PI -- so that we may better understand what a consistent theory of quantum field theory and space-time will look like.

这是“量子信息科学：基础物理学的工具和应用”奖学金的延伸。该奖学金最初专注于应用计算机科学的工具来研究热力学和统计力学，扩展将专注于应用它们来更好地理解量子引力。计算机科学已经导致了物理学的新范式，人们在信息操纵方面理解自然规律。计算机科学也有工具可以用来分析这些操作的效率。在过去的二十年里，这导致了我们对量子力学理解的根本性突破，我们现在知道量子计算机可以比经典计算机快得多，量子粒子可以用来私下传输信息，这在经典世界是不可能的。拟议的研究将开发并应用计算机科学和量子信息理论的工具到物理学的其他领域，旨在加深我们对基本定律的理解。我们目前的引力理论--爱因斯坦的广义相对论--是时空理论，它与量子力学不相容。找到一个一致的引力理论和量子力学是现代物理学的圣杯之一。黑洞是我们调和这两种理论的为数不多的线索之一。这些物体是如此的重，甚至连光都不能从它们那里逃脱。从他们的研究中得到了一些诱人的暗示，比如发现它们的熵与它们的面积成正比，而这个面积服从物理定律，这表明信息在量子引力中起着基础性的作用。我们从以前的工作中知道，热力学是一个也可以用信息论来理解的领域。同样，霍金提出的黑洞信息问题似乎表明黑洞会破坏信息。如果他们这样做，那么这需要对基础物理学进行根本性的改变，如果他们确实保存了信息，那么我们需要了解这是如何发生的。黑洞信息问题是关于信息在时空中的行为和存储方式。所有这些线索都有力地表明，为了理解量子引力，我们需要使用量子信息理论的工具。因此，越来越多的量子引力研究人员转向量子信息理论，以提供关于引力的一致性理论是什么样子的线索，这并不奇怪。这导致了该领域的一系列新想法。例如，有一些迹象表明纠缠（某些量子态的重要性质）在确定时空几何中起着重要作用。同样，也有一些迹象表明自然界是全息的，因为关于一个区域的信息可以在其边界上描述（黑洞确实是这种情况）。理解全息术，以及它是否成立，是信息论重要的另一个例子，因为全息术是关于信息如何以及在哪里存储的陈述。该项目旨在应用和加强量子信息理论的现有工具-其中许多是由PI开发的-以便我们可以更好地理解量子场论和时空的一致性理论是什么样子的。