COMP-761: Advanced Quantum Information Theory

COMP-761: Quantum Information Theory

Student Presentations

Format:

Each student will make a fifty minute presentation on a topic from the recent quantum information theory literature. Most presentations will focus on a single research paper, but I am open to presentations that synthesize results from several papers. Presentations should be targeted to the other students in the class, who will likely not be familiar with the objectives, definitions and techniques used in the paper under consideration. Therefore, a significant amount of time should be devoted to motivating and introducing the problem, say roughly 10-15 minutes. Some effort should be made to explain the methods used in the paper even when a full description will be impossible due to the time constraint. Laptop projector, overhead transparencies and blackboard are all acceptable media and I harbor no preference among them. (Just beware the risks of each medium: blackboard lectures can degenerate into confusion if not carefully prepared and PowerPointers must act consciously to avoid powerpoints.) Be sure to leave a few minutes at the end to sum up and offer some perspective. There will be a ten minute question period after each presentation.

Schedule: TBA

Some tips (By no means an exhaustive list):

Practice to make sure your presentation isn’t too long or too short.

Find a partner and practice again. Ask for constructive criticism.

Try to anticipate questions.

Be sure to explain all symbols on your slides. Don’t assume the audience has time to read them.

Possible topics (In rough schedule order – feel free to suggest others):

1) The Landauer erasure principle and Maxwell’s Demon

quant-ph/0103108 (a review article)

2) Quantum states cannot be broadcast

quant-ph/9511010

3) Accessible information, POVM’s and nonlocality