This event is a part of the Quantum Information Science and Technology (QuIST) Colloquium series. There will be a pre-colloquium reception at 2:30pm at 1310 Walker Hall.

Speaker: Bruno Nachtergaele, UC Davis Mathematics         

Title: Mathematical Approaches to Quantum States

Abstract: Quantum information is carried by a state of a physical quantum system. In this talk I consider the standard mathematical framework to describe quantum states, state preparation, state transformations, and measurements. An essential aspect of quantum state complexity is entanglement, which is also the central resource for quantum information and computation. I discuss mathematical approaches which, with the help of nature, help us find interesting states that strike a balance between sufficient and too much entanglement. To illustrate the general concepts, I will introduce a useful class of examples known as Matrix Product and Tensor Network States. 

Bio: Bruno Nachtergaele is a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Davis. His general research area is Mathematical Physics with an emphasis on equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, quantum spin systems, quantum information theory, and applications of these fields in condensed matter physics.

Nachtergaele received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Leuven, Belgium, in 1987. Before moving to UC Davis, he held positions at the Universidad de Chile and Princeton University and visiting positions at the Newton Institute (Cambridge, UK), the University of Marseille, CNRS-Luminy (France), the Erwin Schroedinger Institute (Vienna), the Mittag-Leffler Institute (Sweden), and the Technical University of Munich. He is a member of the American Physical Society and the International Association of Mathematical Physics, of which he currently serves as the president. He is a fellow of the American Mathematical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was an Invited Speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians, Beijing, 2002. He received the  Humboldt Foundation's Carl Friedrich von Siemens Research Award and was elected to the Academia Chilena de Ciencias as a foreign member in 2021.

Nachtergaele was the editor-in-chief of Journal of Mathematical Physics from 2006 till 2018. At UC Davis his service appointments included Chair of the Department of Mathematics (2007-2010), the Committee on Research 1998-2001 (2 years as chair), the Committee on Planning and Budget 2005-09, and 2019-21 (3 years as chair) and Chair of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate (2012-14). He serves on the Physics Advisory Board of the arXiv, and was a moderator of the arXiv's mathematical physics section from 1998 till 2014.