The Quantum Pontiff

Unscientific in Seattle

Posted by Dave Bacon on August 4, 2009
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Chris Mooney, former Scienceblogger and provocateur extraordinaire, will be in Seattle this Thursday talking about the book he co-authored with Sheril Kirshenbaum, “Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future.” Details:

Thursday, August 6 7:00 PM
University Bookstore
4326 University Way N.E.
Seattle, WA 98105
http://www.bookstore.washington.edu/trade.taf?dept=attribute&category=events&par=trade&ttl=events&page=1

From all I’ve heard Chris is an excellent speaker so this should be a fun event.

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Comments

  1. #1 Jonathan Vos Post
    August 5, 2009

    There’s supposed to be an NPR interview this afternoon at 1:0 p.m.-sh my (Los Angeles) time today. And he’s being hosted at a party in Malibu to which I’m invited, but can’t attend due to my severe cat allergy. But, meanwhile, can you comment on:

    arXiv:0908.0198 (cross-list from quant-ph) [ps, pdf, other]
    Title: Replacing Quantum Feedback with Open-Loop Control and Quantum Filtering
    Authors: Joshua Combes, Howard M. Wiseman, A. J. Scott
    Comments: 5 pages, revtex4, 3 eps figures. Comments welcome
    Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Optimization and Control (math.OC)

    Feedback control protocols can stabilize and enhance the operation of quantum devices, but unavoidable delays in the feedback loop adversely affect their performance. We introduce a quantum control methodology, combining open-loop control with quantum filtering, which is not constrained by feedback delays. For the problems studied (rapid purification and rapid measurement) we analytically derive lower bounds on the control performance that are comparable with the best corresponding bounds for feedback protocols.

  2. #2 Josh Combes
    November 11, 2009

    Hi Jonathan,

    I was searching for some references and I ended up here. Im a few months late :) Is there anything specifically you want to know ?

    Josh.