Walter Boas Lecture - University of Melbourne

Date: 3rd of October 2022, 6.30pm (AEST)

Venue: Hercus Theatre, University of Melbourne, Parkville

In the original Matrix movie, the bulk of the human population lives not in the real world but inside a computer simulation called the Matrix. They are unable to detect this situation, except for the fact that certain agents can transcend the normal rules of physics. In this talk, I will explain how this is eerily similar to the world we live in. Certain people (quantum physicists) can transcend the normal rules by using entangled particles to do things that "should be" impossible. This makes the world very puzzling place, even for quantum physicists. These "super-powers" are also central to the burgeoning field of quantum information technology. To end, I will try to explain very recent work by myself and co-workers that ties all of this together in order to show that the world is even more puzzling than we had thought. Much like the latest Matrix movie.

Biography:

Howard Wiseman is an Australian theoretical quantum physicist. He is best known for his work in quantum control (manipulating matter and information at the quantum scale) and quantum foundations (trying to understand what is really going when we do this). He is least known for his work in Arthurian history and literature. Howard has been elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the American Physical society, and the Optical Society of America. He has won the Bragg Medal (AIP), the Pawsey Medal (AAS), the Malcolm McIntosh Medal (PM's Science Prizes), and most recently the Boas Medal (AIP) for his physics research. He has been Director of the Centre for Quantum Dynamics at Griffith University since 2007.