Talks

While the formulation of quantum mechanics predates computability theory, the idea of computers based on quantum physics only arose much later, in the 1980s. Initially studied only by the curious and intrepid, quantum computation, and quantum information processing in general, came into the limelight in the 1990s. The impetus, namely, the discovery of rigorous evidence of the advantage offered by quantum computers, culminating in the Shor algorithm for Integer Factorization, is now well-known. Since then, the field has been guided by the promise of new technology while also allowing for the pursuit of ideas unfettered by practical (or even physical) considerations. I will describe some of the advances in the field in the wake of these developments.

Another important interdisciplinary approach in ecology is the search for large-scale or even "universal" empirical patterns with simple explanations, such as distribution of energy and biomass across the world and across various types of organisms (plants, herbivores, carnivores...). This lecture will present some insights and limits of simple deterministic patterns constrained by biological mechanisms.

Understanding the semiclassical limit of the quantization of even the simplest classically chaotic Hamiltonian, proved to be problematic from the inception of quantum mechanics 100 years ago. Arithmetically defined such systems provide instances for which this limit can be analyzed mathematically using central tools from number theory and homogeneous dynamics.As such these can be thought of as "solvable models ". We review some of the many developments for these quantizations.

1. basics on RV (probability, moments, mgf, continuous RVs)
2. summing RVs and central limit theorem
3. sampling (binomial, poisson)
4. intro on stochastic processes
5. random walk
6. birth-death process (basics and exctintiion)
7. birth-death-migration process (stationary probability)

In 1924, Bose communicated a derivation of the Planck distribution, to Einstein, where Bose introduced a key notion of indistinguishability of photon quanta. This was a turning point in the history of quantum mechanics. Bose's article is considered the fourth most important article, in the development of quantum mechanics, following those of Planck, Einstein and Niels Bohr. It was Dirac, who coined the names Bosons and Fermions.  We present a brief historical account of Bose’s discovery, followed by a bird’s eye view of the impacts of boson bloom and Bose-Einstein condensation in modern science and technology.

[1] Boson Bloom, G. Baskaran and A. May, J. Physics B, 57, 142001 (2024)

Quantum mechanics is a cornerstone of modern physics. Just as the 19th century was called the Machine Age and the 20th century the Information Age, the 21st century promises to go down in history as the Quantum Age. Quantum Computing promises unprecedented speed in solving certain classes of problems while Quantum Cryptography promises information theoretically secure communications. In this talk, I will discuss the world of single and entangled photons and also discuss ongoing work towards secure quantum communications, quantum information and precision experimental tests of principles of quantum mechanics in our Quantum Information and Computing lab at the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, India. I will end with our broad vision for the future, which includes establishment of long distance secure quantum communications in India and beyond involving satellite based, fibre based as well as quantum memory and repeater network based approaches towards the global quantum internet.