Physics Colloquium: Quantum steampunk - Quantum information meets thermodynamics

Physics Colloquium
Quantum steampunk: Quantum information meets thermodynamics

Dr. Nicole Yunger Halpern
Physicist at National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST)
QuICS Fellow
Adjunct Assistant Professor at University of Maryland

This presenter will overview how quantum information theory is being used to modernize thermodynamics for quantum-information-processing technologies.

Abstract:
Thermodynamics has shed light on engines, efficiency, and time’s arrow since the Industrial Revolution. But the steam engines that powered the Industrial Revolution were large and classical. Much of today’s technology and experiments are small-scale, quantum, far from equilibrium, and processing information. Nineteenth-century thermodynamics requires updating for the 21st century. Guidance has come from the mathematical toolkit of quantum information theory. Applying quantum information theory to thermodynamics sheds light on fundamental questions (e.g., how does entanglement spread during quantum thermalization? How can we distinguish quantum heat from quantum work?) and practicalities (e.g., nanoscale engines and the thermodynamic value of quantum coherences). I will overview how quantum information theory is being used to modernize thermodynamics for quantum-information-processing technologies. I call this combination quantum steampunk, after the steampunk genre of literature, art, and cinema that juxtaposes futuristic technologies with 19th-century settings.

Speaker Bio:
Nicole Yunger Halpern is a physicist at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), a QuICS Fellow, and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Maryland. Nicole re-envisions 19th-century thermodynamics for the 21st century, using quantum information theory. She has dubbed this research “quantum steampunk,” after the steampunk genre of art and literature that juxtaposes Victorian settings with futuristic technologies. Nicole completed her PhD at Caltech, winning the international Ilya Prigogine Prize for a thermodynamics thesis. While an ITAMP Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University, she won the International Quantum Technology Emerging Researcher Award from the Institute of Physics. Nicole is the author of the upcoming book for the general public Quantum Steampunk: The Physics of Yesterday’s Tomorrow.

Intended Audience:
Beginners, undergraduates, graduates, experts. Those with interest in the topic.

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