Title: Are we living in the Matrix? What quantum experiments reveal about the world and our powers in it, and what the future may hold.
Abstract: 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 a very puzzling place, even for quantum physicists. These “super-powers” are also central to the emerging field of quantum information technology. Finally, I will explain very recent work by myself and co-workers [1] 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.
[1] K.-W. Bong, A. Utreras-Alarcón, et al., Nature Physics 16, 1199 (2020); E. G. Cavalcanti and H.M. Wiseman, Entropy 23, 925 (2021); H. M. Wiseman, E. G. Cavalcanti, and E.G Rieffel, Quantum 7, 1112 (2023).
About the speaker: Professor Howard Wiseman is an Australian theoretical quantum physicist, best known for his work in quantum information, quantum foundations, and quantum measurement and control. After completing his PhD at the University of Queensland in 1994, he did a postdoc at the University of Auckland before returning to Queensland in 1996. He has been at Griffith University since 1999, and has been the Director of the Centre for Quantum Dynamics there since 2007. Wiseman has won several Australian medals and prizes for his physics research, and was the senior author on a paper that won the 2023 Ehrenfest Award for Quantum Foundations from Austria (not Australia!). He has been elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the American Physical Society, and the Optical Society of America.
This lecture is part of the program "Quantum Trajectories"