Victor V. Albert

The Fast for the Curious: How to accelerate fault-tolerant quantum applications We evaluate strategies for reducing the run time of fault-tolerant quantum computations, targeting practical utility in scientific or industrial workflows. Delivering a technology with broad impact re...

"Even for the fastest qubit modalities, such as superconducting qubits, it will be challenging to achieve the required logical clock speeds. ...in the long term, the best quantum computer may be the one that runs the fastest." arxiv.org/abs/2510.26078

QuICS Hartree fellowship application is out! A competitive and completely free-range postdoc. Anyone interested in quantum science and technology topics is encouraged to apply, preferably by Dec. 1. umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/j...

"Quantum hardware platforms are advancing steadily, but no one knows when quantum computers will run applications that broadly benefit society."

2025 UMD Quantum postdoc job thread.

We start with the Quantum Optics Fellowship, intended for AMO and QI. Anyone who would have applied for the JQI Fellowship should apply to this one. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/fellowsh...

Group Representation for Quantum Theory This book explains the group representation theory for quantum theory in the language of quantum theory. As is well known, group representation theory is very strong tool for quantum theory, in partic...

Impressive span of group theory here, covering Schur-Weyl, Peter-Weyl, bosonic systems, modular qudits, Galois qudits, designs, MUBs, and more. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Every time I interact with Michel, he has some deep insight that I understand only years later. Maybe it is not completely fleshed out technically but it is always on point. It reminded me of other winners in the past. Well deserved!

Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media Unlike most nonimmigrant classifications, which are admitted for a fixed time period, aliens in the F (academic student), J (exchange visitor), and most I (representatives of foreign information media...

A new proposal imposes significant restrictions on F-1 and J-1 visas, which would sharply curtail foreign talent flow to US grad schools. Both UMD Physics and umiacs are urging faculty to comment, so please consider. Comment period expires Sept 29. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Composable logical gate error in approximate quantum error correction: reexamining gate implementations in Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill codes Quantifying the accuracy of logical gates is paramount in approximate error correction, where perfect implementations are often unachievable with the available set of physical operations. To this end,...

This is interesting and surprising: some Clifford gates cannot be implemented arbitrarily well on arbitrarily good approximate GKP states with Gaussian operations!

Nice work by Brenner, Diaz and Koenig
arxiv.org/abs/2509.14658

Cat qubits (and generalizations) for the win, I guess
;-)

David Gross (Cologne) talks about SDP based quantum algorithms. Take home: hidden constants matter. Even if there is an asymptotic speedup in your favorite use case, it may still not be in the parameter regime that is relevant to the problem size you're interested in.

Nobel Prize Laureate Roger Penrose, Yvette Fuentes, and myself, request your help in order to save an archive of incredible scientific and historical value. Please raise awareness by *sharing*, or *contribute*:

www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/roger-penr...

Do you have examples? Maybe that's how I can finally learn algebraic geometry.

I had another fun opportunity to talk about our quantum formulation of the space of molecular orientations at Sorbonne University. Great workshop! Organized by Ugo Boscain, Christiane Koch, Mario Sigalotti, and Dominique Sugny. zenodo.org/records/1705...

@ox.ac.uk debate by Simon Benjamin & Bálint Koczor, host @mariaviolaris.bsky.social. Motion: "quantum computers will have a greater impact on our lives than conventional ones." Terry Rudolph, Nathan Wiebe, Elham Kashefi vs @jenseisert.bsky.social, @graemesmith.bsky.social, me. Motion defeated 94-72.

Congress wants to cut the smartest investment taxpayers ever made Virtually every smartphone on the planet runs on a chip paid for by American taxpayers — a chip that I helped invent. Now Congress is moving to cut funding for the National Science Foundation that …

"Every American taxpayer is a silent shareholder in that success. If we walk away now, we lose not just future breakthroughs but also what we have already earned." thehill.com/opinion/tech...

We are now at 999 codes. What should be our 1000th? If we pick yours, we will feature you in a post about the code.

Comment, reply, message, and spread the word.

Understanding Quantum Information and Computation This is a course on the theory of quantum computing. It consists of 16 lessons, each with a video and written component, covering the basics of quantum information, quantum algorithms (including query...

After 3 1/2 years of work my course on quantum computing is finally finished — the "Director's Cut" of Understanding Quantum Information and Computation is now available.

arxiv.org/abs/2507.11536

Thanks, you are correct.

Future of Quantum Computing On Tuesday 26th November 2024, four discussants participated in a moderated virtual panel titled Future of Quantum Computing as one session of the 8th International Conference on Quantum Techniques in...

Corrected paper: arxiv.org/abs/2506.19232

"For quantum computers to get significant speed-up, they need to take advantage of special structure. They do not offer significant speed-up for unstructured problems, so we do not expect to be able to just throw them at anything." Andrew Childs arxiv.org/pdf/2408.16175

From Barbara Terhal: On July 17-18 a small symposium "Dreams of Quantum" will be held in honor of David DiVincenzo's work and retirement at RWTH Aachen. The event can be attended by all via a Zoom link. www.quantuminfo.physik.rwth-aachen.de/cms/~bmmwed

YouTube video by GOP Oversight Preparing for the Quantum Age: When Cryptography Breaks

"We're likely to experience a DeepSeek moment in quantum." www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqPw...

The KAK decomposition | PennyLane Demos Learn about the KAK decomposition and how it powers circuit decompositions.

Lots of good Lie group stuff in this post by @dwierichs.bsky.social, as it related to circuit compilation: pennylane.ai/qml/demos/tu...

A Quadrennial Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative: Nanoscience, Applications, and Commercialization Read online, download a free PDF, or order a copy in print or as an eBook.

"for U.S. developed nanotechnology to compete in the current era, the United States must rethink the entirety of its ... framework, within which nanotechnology knowledge is created, innovation is protected, and products are commercialized by industry." nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/2572...

The integer eigenvalues of angular momentum in a 2D space with periodic boundary conditions are scaled by the radius (for sufficiently large radii). Turns out there is a continuum of angular momenta! arxiv.org/abs/2506.03254

Happy to see our book "Why Nobody Understands Quantum Physics" published in English www.panmacmillan.com/authors/fran.... Unlike other popular science books, we explain quantum and its applications in the way working physicists use and understand them, without shying away from the many-body problem.

Physics Today - Physics, astronomy graduate admissions in the US expected to shrink amid funding uncertainty The predicted decrease is larger than pandemic-era disruptions, according to a survey of university departments.

"AIP projects a 13% drop in first-year enrollment in fall 2025 compared with fall 2024. ... One in six of the responding chairs reported that at least one faculty member in the department has had their federal grant funding reduced or canceled." digital.physicstoday.org/physicstoday...

"Skinny" US budget out today w/ many cuts to specific programs + NSF now at 15% overhead. Silver lining: "[
NSF] Funding for Artificial Intelligence and quantum information sciences research is maintained at
current levels."

Most continuous-variable cluster states are too entangled to be useless We define absolutely maximal entanglement (AME) in continuous-variable (CV) systems and show that, in stark contrast to qudit systems, this entanglement is generic among infinitely squeezed Gaussian s...

Absolutely maximal entangled states are maximally entangled along any bipartition. We extend this to continuous variables and show this property is generic among infinitely squeezed states. In contrast, it doesn't exist for states on more than six qubits. arxiv.org/abs/2503.15698

This broad overview complements a deeper dive into stabilizer and subsystem codes at the 2023 Boulder lectures. Any omitted references can be found in
@eczoo.bsky.social. Boulder slides are here: zenodo.org/records/1491...

Here are slides for my @qip2025.bsky.social tutorial on quantum error correction. doi.org/10.5281/zeno...