Victor V. Albert

"For quantum computers to get significant speed-up, they need to take advantage of special structure. They do not offer significant speed-up for unstructured problems, so we do not expect to be able to just throw them at anything." @andrewmchilds arxiv.org/pdf/2408.16175

"The emphasis is on keeping a very tight leash on this new over-eager junior intern savant with encyclopedic knowledge of software, but who also bullshits you all the time, has an over-abundance of courage and shows little to no taste for good code."

We are now at 999 codes. What should be our 1000th? If we pick yours, we will feature you in a post about the code. Comment, reply, message, and spread the word.

Encouraging. science.org/content/articl…

From Barbara Terhal: On July 17-18 a small symposium "Dreams of Quantum" will be held in honor of David DiVincenzo's work and retirement at RWTH Aachen. The event can be attended by all via a Zoom link. quantuminfo.physik.rwth-aachen.de/cms/~bmmwed

"We're likely to experience a DeepSeek moment in quantum." youtube.com/watch?v=dqPwXo…

Lots of good Lie group stuff in this post by @DWierichs, as it related to circuit compilation: pennylane.ai/qml/demos/tuto…

Raymond Laflamme 1960-2025. A great scientist, renowned for his pioneering contributions to quantum error correction. A great leader, founding director of @QuantumIQC. A great colleague and teacher whose legacy continues to inspire us. uwaterloo.ca/institute-for-…

"for U.S. developed nanotechnology to compete in the current era, the United States must rethink the entirety of its ... framework, within which nanotechnology knowledge is created, innovation is protected, and products are commercialized by industry." nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25729/…

The integer eigenvalues of angular momentum in a 2D space with periodic boundary conditions are scaled by the radius (for sufficiently large radii). Turns out there is a continuum of angular momenta! arxiv.org/abs/2506.03254

"AIP projects a 13% drop in first-year enrollment in fall 2025 compared with fall 2024. ... One in six of the responding chairs reported that at least one faculty member in the department has had their federal grant funding reduced or canceled." digital.physicstoday.org/physicstoday/l…

Quantum computing and artificial intelligence: status and perspectives In recent years, several research lines became important that are located at the intersection of the study of quantum computers and of notions of artificial intelligence. scirate.com/arxiv/2505.238… This white…

Austin Fowler out at Google, cites security risk due to open-source software collaboration. linkedin.com/posts/austin-f…

"Skinny" US budget out today w/ many cuts to specific programs + NSF now at 15% overhead. Silver lining: "[@NSF] Funding for Artificial Intelligence and quantum information sciences research is maintained at current levels." whitehouse.gov/wp-content/upl…

I often hear or ask "what's the application/impact/importance" or "why should I care" when I discuss results. Maybe the drive is primarily curiosity, but the guardrails seem to be set by applications.

Is your research primarily driven by curiosity or applications?

@newscientist covers our work at @QuantinuumQC on pushing both quantum and classical algorithms for a famous problem in knot theory: evaluating the Jones polynomial. This problem is quantum native and, therefore, a good candidate for exhibiting exponential quantum advantage.

Congratulations, Jeongwan Haah, recipient of the New Horizons in Physics Prize "for the discovery of Haah's code, in which fractal conservation laws emerge, and other models bringing discrete mathematical structures to physics"! breakthroughprize.org/News/91