Information & Physics Seminar - FS23, USI

Course information



Time Room Professor

Wednesdays 12:30-14:15 D1.14 → Stefan Wolf

Subject of this seminar

In this seminar, topics related to quantum information science, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, information theory and cryptography will be available (3 ECTS → Course Cataloge for more information). An overview on the different topics will be given and papers will be assigned to the students.

For questions please contact William Schober or Stefan Wolf.

For further information, see also the webpage of the Quantum Computing course.

Preliminary list of papers

A: Science as a Human Endeavour

Papers Date and speakers
[1]
The human condition, H. Arendt (1998) PDF
22 March: Dimitrios Galanis
[2]
The genesis and development of a scientific fact, L. Fleck (1979) PDF
31 May: Morteza Rezaalipour
[3]
Nepotism and sexism in peer-review, C. Wenneras, A. Wold (1997) PDF
The academic manifesto: From an occupied to a public university, W. Halffman, H. Radder (2015) PDF
29 March: Alberto Movia
[4]
Rationalism, relativism, and the scientific method, P. Feyerabend (1981) PDF
How to defend society against science, P. Feyerabend (1975) PDF
Erkenntnis für freie Menschen, P. Feyerabend (1980)
24 May: Filippo Casari, Alessandro De Grandi, Volodymyr Karpenko
[5]
The quest for certainty, J. Dewey (1929)
[6]
Sinnliche Elemente und naturwissenschaftliche Begriffe, E. Mach (1910)
[7]
Penser dans un monde mauvais, G. de Lagasnerie (2017)
17 May: Noura El Moussa

B: The Physical Nature of Information

Papers Date and speakers
[8]
The work value of information, O. Dahlsten, R. Renner, E. Rieper, V. Vedral (2009) PDF
Demonic heat engines, B. W. Schumacher (1994) PDF
[9]
Work recoverable from two-particle information, L. B. Levitin, T. Toffoli (2012) PDF
[10]
Simulating physics with computers, R. Feynman (1982) PDF
29 March: Georgios Vakalopoulos, Aparna Devulapalli
[11]
The physical nature of information, R. Landauer (1996) PDF
Irreversibility and heat generation in the Computing Process, R. Landauer (1961) PDF
29 March: Federico Agostinelli
[12]
Information, physics, quantum: The search for links, J. A. Wheeler (1990) PDF
31 May: Timur Taepov
[13]
Quantum gloves: Physics and information, N. Gisin (2004) PDF
[14]
Thermodynamics of computation, C. Bennett (1980) PDF
[15]
Reversible computing, T. Toffoli (1980) PDF
Conservative logic, E. Fredkin, T. Toffoli (1982) PDF
[16]
NP-complete problems and physical reality, S. Aaronson (2005) PDF
5 April: Eleonora Bardelli, Ian Abuaf Pelo
[17]
Three approaches to the quantitative definition of information, A. N. Kolmogorov (1965) PDF
5 April: Qiyang Pan
[18]
Could the physical world be emergent instead of fundamental, and why should we ask?, M. Mueller (2017) PDF
5 April: Volodymyr Kyrylov
[19]
Active P-Colonies, M. Scarpone, G. Molteni, A. Leporati, C. Zandron (2021) PDF
19 April: Matteo Scarpone
[20]
The Brain: The Story of You, David Eagleman (2015)
31 May: Taimoor Tariq

C: The Arrow of Time and Causality

Papers Date and speakers
[21]
The end of time, J. B. Barbour (1999)
The emergence of time and its arrow from timelessness, J. B. Barbour (1994) PDF
19 April: Lorenzo Zaniol, Vedang Naik
[22]
The direction of time, H.Reichenbach (1971)
19 April: Catalina Aliste
[23]
Complexity in the universe, C. H. Bennett (1994) PDF
26 April: Francesco Huber, Gianmarco De Vita, Michele Cattaneo
[24]
"Time" replaced by quantum correlations, W. K. Wootters (1984) PDF
3 May: Pranav Sateesh
[25]
Autonomous quantum clocks: does thermodynamics limit our ability to measure time?, P. Erker, M. T. Mitchison, R. Silva, M. P. Woods, N. Brunner, M. Huber (2017) PDF
[26]
Is time asymmetry logically prior to quantum mechanics?, W. K. Wootters (1994) PDF
3 May: Simon Salzano
[27]
Evolution und Entropiewachstum, C. F. von Weizsäcker (1972) PDF
[28]
Dokumente, C. F. von Weizsäcker (1986)
[29]
The ghost in the quantum Turing machine, S. Aaronson (2013) PDF
[30]
On the notion of cause, with application to the free-will problem, B. Russell (1935) PDF
3 May: Anand Gopalakrishnan
[31]
Kausalität in der Physik, G. Hermann (1935) PDF
[32]
Quantum correlations with no causal order, O. Oreshkov, F. Costa, C. Brukner (2012) PDF
[33]
Causality - complexity - consistency: Can space-time be based on logic and computation?, Ä. Baumeler, S. Wolf (2016) PDF
[34]
Enhanced Communication With the Assistance of Indefinite Causal Order, D. Ebler, S. Salek, G. Chiribella (2017) PDF

D: Information and Quantum Physics

Papers Date and speakers
[35]
Can quantum mechanical description of physical reality be considered complete?, A. Einstein, B. Podolsky, N. Rosen (1935) PDF
[36]
On the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, J. S. Bell (1964) PDF
[37]
The two Bell's theorems of John Bell, H. M. Wiseman (2014) PDF
Hidden variables and the two theorems of John Bell, N. D. Mermin (1993) PDF
[38]
Nonlocality for two particles without inequalities for almost all entangled states, L. Hardy (1993) PDF
A unified view on Hardy's paradox and the CHSH inequality, L. Mancinska, S. Wehner (2014) PDF
[39]
Bertlmann's socks and the nature of reality, J. S. Bell (1981) PDF
[40]
Loopholes in Bell inequality tests of local realism, J.-A. Larsson (2014) PDF
[41]
Die Logik nicht gleichzeitig entscheidbarer Aussagen, E. Specker (1960) PDF
Specker's parable of the over-protective seer: A road to contextuality, nonlocality and complementarity, Y.-C. Liang, R. W. Spekkens, H. M. Wiseman (2011) PDF
[42]
The problem of hidden variables in quantum mechanics, S. Kochen, E. P. Specker (1967)
Bell-Kochen-Specker theorem: A proof with 18 vectors, A. Cabello, J. M. Estebaranz, G. G. Alcaine (1996) PDF
[43]
What does an experimental test of quantum contextually prove or disprove?, A. Winter (2014) PDF
[44]
Cost of exactly simulating quantum entanglement with classical communication, B. Brassard, R. Cleve, A. Tapp (1999) PDF
Communication cost of simulating Bell correlations, D. Bacon, B. Toner (2003) PDF
[45]
Quantum pseudo-telepathy and the Kochen-Specker theorem, R. Renner, S. Wolf (2004) PDF
[46]
No quantum advantage for nonlocal computation, N. Linden, S. Popescu, A. J. Short, A. Winter (2006) PDF
[47]
Information causality as a physical principle, M. Pawlowski, T. Paterek, D. Kaszlikowski, V. Scarani, A. Winter, M. Zukowski (2009) PDF
A limit on nonlocality in any world in which communication complexity is not trivial, G. Brassard, H. Buhrman, N. Linden, A. Methot, A. Tapp, F. Unger (2005) PDF
[48]
A glance beyond the quantum model, M. Navascues, H. Wunderlich (2009) PDF
PR-Box correlations have no classical limit, D. Rohrlich (2014) PDF
Quantum measurement of spins and magnets, and the classical limit of PR-boxes, N. Gisin (2014) PDF
[49]
The prospects of quantum computing in computational molecular biology, C. Outeiral, M. Strahm, J. Shi, G. M. Morris, S. C. Benjamin, C. M. Deane (2020) PDF
3 May: Himanshu Bansal

E: Quantum Cryptography

Papers Date and speakers
[50]
Quantum cryptography: Public key distribution and coin tossing, C. H. Bennett, G. Brassard (1984) PDF
Quantum cryptography based on Bell's theorem, A. Ekert (1991) PDF
31 May: Jorge Condor
[51]
No signaling and quantum key distribution, J. Barrett, L. Hardy, A. Kent (2005) PDF
31 May: Roberto Ibanez
[52]
The black paper of quantum cryptography: Real implementation problems, V. Scarani, C. Kurtsiefer (2009) PDF
[53]
Unconditionally secure bit commitment, A. Kent (1998) PDF
[54]
Unconditionally secure quantum bit commitment is impossible, D. Mayers (1996) PDF
Is Quantum Bit Commitment Really Possible?, H.-K. Lo, H. F. Chau (1996) PDF
[55]
Free randomness can be amplified, R. Colbeck, R. Renner (2012) PDF
[56]
Random numbers certified by Bell's theorem, S. Pironio, A. Acin, S. Massar, A. Boyer de la Giroday, D. N. Matsukevich, P. Maunz, S. Olmschenk, D. Hayes, L. Luo, T. A. Manning, C. Monroe (2009) PDF
[57]
Key Agreement and Oblivious Transfer from Free-Energy Limitations, X. Coiteux-Roy, S. Wolf (2022) PDF

F: Interpretations of Quantum Physics

Papers Date and speakers
[58]
“Relative state” formulation of quantum mechanics, H. Everett (1957) PDF
[59]
The emergent multiverse, D. Wallace (2012)
[60]
Can free will emerge from determinism in quantum theory?, G. Brassard, P. Raymond-Robichaud (2012) PDF
[61]
A suggested interpretation of the quantum theory in terms of "hidden" variables, D. Bohm (1952) PDF
[62]
A tripartite quantum state violating the hidden influence constraints, T. J. Barnea, J.-D. Bancal, Y.-C. Liang, N. Gisin (2013) PDF
Non-locality is transitive, S. Coretti, E. Hänggi, S. Wolf (2011) PDF
[63]
Copenhagen computation: How I learned to stop worrying and love Bohr, N. D. Mermin (2003) PDF
[64]
On nonlocality as a resource theory and nonlocality measures, J. de Vicente (2014) PDF
[65]
La nouvelle cuisine, J. S. Bell (1990) PDF
10 May: Kaveh Boghraty, Francesca Gianni
[66]
Six possible worlds of quantum mechanics, J. S. Bell (1986) PDF
10 May: Nataliya Sevryugina, Isin Su Ecevit
[67]
Against 'measurement', J. S. Bell (1989) PDF
[68]
Einstein, incompleteness, and the epistemic view of quantum states, N. Harrigan, R. W. Spekkens (2007) PDF
[69]
On the reality of the quantum state, M. F. Pusey, J. Barrett, T. Rudolph (2012) PDF
Is a system's wave function in one-to-one correspondence with its elements of reality?, R. Colbeck, R. Renner (2012) PDF
[70]
In defense of the epistemic view of quantum states: A toy theory, R. Spekkens (2004) PDF
[71]
Physics Without Physics: The Power of Information-theoretical Principles, G. M. D'Ariano (2017) PDF
[72]
Three measurement problems, T. Maudlin (1995) PDF
17 May: Noemi Bolzonetti
[73]
Algorithmic Pseudorandomness in Quantum Setups, A. Bendersky, G. de la Torre, G. Senno, S. Figueira, A. Acín (2016) PDF
[74]
One world versus many: The inadequacy of Everettian accounts of evolution, probability, and scientific confirmation, A. Kent (2009) PDF
[75]
The interpretation of quantum mechanics: Many worlds or many words?, M. Tegmark (1997) PDF
17 May: Luca Gasparinetti
[76]
The fabric of reality, D. Deutsch (1997)
[77]
The cellular automaton interpretation of quantum mechanics, G. 't Hooft (2014) PDF
[78]
The Foundations of Quantum Mechanics in the Philosophy of Nature, G. Hermann (1935) PDF
Die Naturphilosophischen Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik, G. Hermann (1935) PDF
[79]
Indeterminism in quantum physics and classical physics, K. Popper (1950) PDF
17 May: Baris Aksakal
[80]
Is quantum theory universally valid?, A. Peres, W.H.Zurek (1983) PDF
[81]
The impossibility of accurate self-measurements, T. Breuer (1995) PDF
[82]
Minipaper: Probability in wave mechanics, H. Everett (1995) PDF
[83]
Quantum mechanics and reality, B. DeWitt (1970) PDF
[84]
QBism, the perimeter of quantum Bayesianism, C. Fuchs (2010) PDF
[85]
Towards a proper quantum theory, J. Levy-Leblond (1976) PDF

* hardcopy available on demand.