The conversation at this group dinner was remarkably philosophical—about whether math is invented or discovered, what makes for taste in physics research, whom AI can and can't replace, etc. Maybe there was something in the horchatas...

Goldilocks quantum cellular automata generate a great deal of complexity. Some are integrable and so may help with benchmarking quantum computers. Thanks to Logan Hillberry, Lorenzo Piroli, Eric Vernier, Tomaž Prosen, & Lincoln Carr for the collaboration! iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Trust a faculty member from Trinity College Dublin @tcddublin.bsky.social to depict a medieval philosopher and show Latin during a quantum-physics talk. Thanks to Felix Binder for the excellent QuICS Seminar about memory!

tfw philosophy and physics actually imprint themselves deeply on your everyday life quantumfrontiers.com/2026/04/12/h...

The University of Maryland libraries are featuring the quantum-steampunk-creative-writing class in their event on science fiction in the classroom. Come listen to a sci-fi writer and a quantum physicist in dialogue! umd.libcal.com/event/16685824

We’re just beginning to understand the implications of non-Abelian symmetry for the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. SU(2) symmetry turns out to have the potential to disrupt a prediction of linear-response theory. @umdscience.bsky.social doi.org/10.1063/5.03...

Clarice Aiello @claricedaiello.bsky.social of the Quantum Biology Institute proposes 5 tiers of quantum phenomena in biology at the Quantum-Biotech Conference at the University of Maryland. @umdscience.bsky.social

Congratulations to Dr. Greeshma Shivali Oruganti, who’s heading to Cornell to postdoc with Mark Wilde @markwilde.bsky.social soon! @umdscience.bsky.social

The quantum-steampunk creative-writing class tours trapped-ion labs. Thanks to Alaina Green and Connor Goham for showing us around! Later this week, students begin reading and critiquing each other’s quantum-steampunk short stories… @umdscience.bsky.social @umdbiochemphys.bsky.social

Continuous-variable systems offer many opportunities in quantum error correction and beyond. Victor Albert @vva.bsky.social lifts the JQI's gaze beyond qubits and even qudits at this week's seminar

The last time I took a photo with this fellow, I was a college sophomore who'd just declared a Physics Modified major. Little did I suspect that I'd end up a physicist in the DC area... @nasonline.org

If you receive an offer of a faculty position, congratulations! And good luck---more work and consideration lie ahead of you. In this blog post, I offer my advice about navigating the post-offer process. quantumfrontiers.com/2026/03/11/n...

With characteristic attention to detail, @nicoleyh11.bsky.social offers guidance on handling faculty offers. quantumfrontiers.com/2026/03/11/n...

Science-fiction novelist Mark Alpert will present the keynote at the symposium “Quantum Thermodynamics and Decoherence” on Mar. 3! The keynote is open to the public, not only symposium registrants, so come join us! qtd-hub.umd.edu/event/sympos...

Pedram Roushan demonstrates the optimal way to hook a quantum thermodynamicist on midcircuit measurements: characterize them as "in the spirit of Maxwell's demon"

Phantom codes: not “a free lunch, but it’s a lunch that was sitting there and that we weren’t fully eating.” Shayan Majidy @majidy.bsky.social at the QuICS Seminar---after which we took him to an all-you-can-eat buffet.

NIST has a theme song! www.nist.gov/blogs/taking...

A reader's recall ability is limited by their working memory's capacity (4 ideas). Remember this limitation as you draft each sentence, paragraph, and section of a paper! Weishun Zhong @weishunzhong.bsky.social from the IAS applies statistical mechanics to memory—and offers useful applications.

The quantum-steampunk creative-writing course had a treat when Shayan Majidy @majidy.bsky.social came to guest-lecture about quantum computers...and he was joined by the Power Rangers of quantum computing.

Liang Jiang: Concerned that noise is spoiling your quantum advantage? Use entanglement to learn the noise channel efficiently! #SIPQNP @rleatmit.bsky.social

One reason why I'm a theorist #SIPQNP @rleatmit.bsky.social

My first workshop-banquet talk. It was a technical talk about photonic thermodynamics, rather than a bird's-eye view of the field of quantum computation, but I still felt a bit like a chip off the old @preskill.bsky.social block.

Some of the dilution refrigerators in Will Oliver's lab @MIT are still wearing their Halloween costumes. Thanks to Aziza Almanakly for the lab tour!

When I read that bosonic statistics can benefit Maxwell’s demon, I was delighted. How surprising, yet intuitive. The prediction appeared by 2011...and now collaborators have tested it, using photons. arxiv.org/abs/2602.11276 @umdscience.bsky.social

What not even Google Maps can show you. @librarycongress.bsky.social quantumfrontiers.com/2026/02/11/q...

Physics Today @physicstoday.bsky.social published its first crossword puzzle in its Jan. edition. My husband and I filled in every box except one. More crossword puzzles, please (especially more that refer so often to thermodynamics)!

I had fun tag-teaming with my student José Antonio on this QMeets Seminar. I introduced quantum thermodynamics broadly, and then he delved into autonomous quantum machines. Thanks for hosting us! Video available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kui...

Collaborators and I noticed that many quantum metrologists apply effective time reversals, but in (sometimes radically) different ways and often without knowing of each other's work. This perspective bridges the gaps and highlights new ones. arxiv.org/abs/2601.20952

People often ask me what open problems in quantum thermodynamics need addressing. Now, the "Roadmap on quantum thermodynamics" addresses this question---and has just been published. @ioppublishing.bsky.social @umdscience.bsky.social iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

Announcing the symposium Quantum Thermodynamics and Decoherence! Registration is free and now open. Highlights include a keynote by a physics-inspired novelist and poster-session prizes for students/postdocs. Join us in New York June 3–4! qtd-hub.umd.edu/event/sympos...

My coauthor Stefano Baiguera created an online talk for the Physics Reports Seminar Series, profiling our review about quantum complexity. Check out the video for an introduction to the toolkit! cassyni.com/events/FPkaL...

Overheard in the grocery: "That negativity." My head whips around. "That poor perspective." Never mind---I continue on my way. #quasiprobabilities #onetrackmind

What have our members achieved in the last year..? Quite a lot it turns out. qspace.fqxi.org/news/165315/... @alyssaney.bsky.social @nicoleyh11.bsky.social @seanmcarroll.bsky.social @nafshordi.bsky.social @saraimari.bsky.social @rovelli.bsky.social @coecke.bsky.social @postquantum.bsky.social

Somebody ran an experimental protocol I proposed during my PhD! This was the first major protocol I came up with (with some help), and it led to several more, some already experimentally implemented. Lesson to students: theory dreams can come true! 😁 #OTOC arxiv.org/abs/2512.226...

Welcome to faculty-interview season! Here's my advice about surviving and thriving. Feel free to share with postdocs and students on the market this year. quantumfrontiers.com/2026/01/04/n...

Mini-reunion of two former ITAMP Fellows. Getting together with ITAMP alumni feels a bit like getting together with cousins/uncles/aunts. :)

One of my first encounters with closed timelike curves (CTCs) took place when I read The Eyre Affair as a teen. I didn't expect to become a physicist who co-writes papers about simulating CTCs to improve quantum metrology. quantumfrontiers.com/2025/12/14/m... @jasperfforde.bsky.social

Thanks to Physics Today @physicstoday.bsky.social for hosting my webinar “Useful autonomous quantum machines” in its Editor’s Series! You can watch the video by registering at event.on24.com/wcc/r/513304....

Even before his distinguished lecture, Steven Strogatz @stevenstrogatz.com was mobbed by fans. Anyone seeking insight into the nature of synchronization, why it matters, and what we have yet to uncover, check out Steven's research program. (The line only grew after the lecture!)

At the end of every Nov., I tell my research group that our next meeting is the most important one of the year. That’s when we sign holiday/thank-you cards for our administrative staff. They help keep science chugging along. (Of course the cards have a Victorian aesthetic.)

“I always consider myself a youngster.” Perhaps that's why Jun Ye stays so energetic and creative. @JQI Seminar

Quantum Steampunk has been translated into Greek! And a 20% discount is apparently available. katoptro.gr/index.php?op...

Today marks (at least roughly) the 404th Thanksgiving...and my 150th post for Quantum Frontiers! Only 254 to go to catch up, right? quantumfrontiers.com/2025/11/26/w...

The inimitable Bob Coecke. (I feel like there isn't much more one can say about this photo.) @coecke.bsky.social @Oxford Quantum Centenary Conference

Philosopher of physics David Wallace courts controversy at the Oxford Quantum Centenary Conference.

Lucien Hardy: “It’s useful to be married, because your spouse will tell you things that other people won’t.” For example: “Maybe time isn’t asymmetric.” @Oxford Quantum Centenary Conference

Matt Leifer at the Oxford Quantum Centennial: Not only are we celebrating the 100th anniversary of quantum theory, but Matt is also celebrating the 25th anniversary of his PhD. So he's "25 years more confused."

Pub night with some physicists after my public lecture at Oxford. Thanks to @oxfordphysics.bsky.social, the Oxford Quantum Information Society, and the Oxford Physics Society for hosting!

Thanks to Natalia Ares and postdoc Federico Fedele for the tour of her lab in Oxford engineering!

At the Oxford University Museum of Natural History @morethanadodo.bsky.social in 2013 and in 2025. No, my wearing the same scarf both times was coincidental.