pontiff
Posts by this author
September 25, 2008
An entry into the "best abstract ever" subcompetition of the "best title ever" competition, arXiv:0809.3979:Counterfactual Quantum Cryptography
Authors: Tae-Gon Noh
Abstract: The 'quantum counterfactuality' is one of the most striking counterintuitive effects predicted by quantum mechanics. This…
September 24, 2008
Well that explains why the United States is not mentioned in the Bible! I always wondered about that one.
September 24, 2008
Major news from the quantum information front. Today I see posted on the arXiv a paper by M.B. Hastings: arXiv:0809.3972 "A Counterexample to Additivity of Minimum Output Entropy." If correct this resolves one of the most famous open problems in quantum information theory, and, even more…
September 24, 2008
Over at Information Processing, the bit processor, Steve, has an interesting post up about your chances of getting a faculty job in high energy theoretical physics. (In between the best posts on the financial turmoil around 1, 2, 3.) If you're a high energy theoretical physics graduate student,…
September 23, 2008
A word which might be useful in describing depictions of Jesus in South America:Iconotropy noun. The misinterpretation of icons of an earlier cult by a later cult. Especially so as to bring the beliefs of the old school in line with the new school.
The monotheist bested the polytheist by repeated…
September 23, 2008
The word which is closest in the dictionary to my name:Daven. verb. 1. To recite a prayer. 2. To rock too and fro (as if praying.)
Have you ever noticed how some very smart mathematicians daven when they are excitedly talking about research?
September 22, 2008
I just saw the news that Alexei Kitaev, a pioneer in quantum computing and an incredible physicst/computer scientist, has won a MacArthur "genius" award. Awesome!
Kitaev was my next door neighbor while I was a postdoc at Caltech, and among the many highlights of my short life I count listening to…
September 19, 2008
Two new Mersenne primes: 243,112,609-1 and 237,156,667-1. The former is now the largest prime number known. Interestingly the larger was discovered before the former, thus winning $100,000 from the EFF for Edson Smith who installed the software which identified this Mersenne prime on a UCLA…
September 18, 2008
The University of Marland's Joint Quantum Institute has won an NSF Physics Frontier Center. $12.5 million over five years. This is the first frontier center devoted exclusively to quantum information science. Congrats to UM! Press release below the fold.
UM Awarded $12.5 Million for Research…
September 18, 2008
This blog post is for me, not for you. Brought to you by a trip down memory lane visiting my adviser at Caltech.
Do something new. Do something exciting. Excel. Whether the path follows your momentum is not relevant.
Don't dwell. Don't get stuck. Don't put blinders on.
Consider how the…
September 16, 2008
Scienceblogs has now passed its millionth comment! In celebration many of us are having our own local Scienceblogs million comment parties. See here for your local party.
What does all that boring writing mean in the last paragraph? No need to read it. Just read this one if you're going to be…
September 16, 2008
Anyone who is a U.S. citizen working in the quantum information sciences might be interested in this job announcement from the Aerospace Corporation.
September 16, 2008
This morning, John McCain's top economic adviser made a bit of a mistake:Asked what work John McCain did as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate's top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry.
"He did this,"…
September 15, 2008
For many years, and in particular during my college years, I was a huge Pink Floyd fan. Indeed, I suspect the first trace of me on the internet probably involves a post on a Pink Floyd newsgroup of which I am now quite embarrassed (but my ideas was sound, damnit!). Thus it is with great sadness…
September 15, 2008
Dum, dum, dum, DUM DUM
No, it's not the monolith from 2001, but instead Millikan library at Caltech which I'm visiting. If you're ever around Caltech on Halloween, be sure to check out the pumpkin drop where frozen pumpkins are dropped off this gigantic monolith. I thought I saw a blue spark...…
September 13, 2008
The new father, he of uncertain principles, has analyzed whether his science posts gain viewership over time. My biggest problem with writing scientific content into posts is that when I do that it totally messes up my google searching. I mean when I do that then I end up finding my own blog post…
September 13, 2008
Chris Monroe and David Wineland have an article in Scientific American about ion trap quantum computing.
September 12, 2008
Fifty years ago today, this device
set the course for a pretty big revolution. That's a picture of Jack Kilby's first integrated circuit which first functioned on September 12, 1958.
September 12, 2008
War is a classic kids card game. I spent many an hour wiling away the time playing war growing up. Enough so that I actually developed a strategy for the game. A strategy for the game of war? That's crazy talk.
For those who've never encounter the game of war here are the rules. A standard…
September 11, 2008
You may have noticed an ad running on scienceblogs which says "Has the LHC destoyed the Earth?" If you click on it you find a webpage that says in big letters simply "NO". What's up with that? Check out the webpage source for the page (http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/).
Update 9/12/08…
September 11, 2008
Robert Clark new chief defence scientist for Australian DSTO, Florida quantum computing conference, standard model quantum computing, and Ray Laflamme is Royal in Canada.
Robert Clark, director of the Australia's largest quantum computing effort, the appointed Chief Defence Scientist for the…
September 11, 2008
The techno wonder pundits say that the internet revolutionizes democracy by leveling the playing field (everyone can be an ass online, oh yeah!) But what I find more fascinating about the internet and politics is the role that search plays in polarizing politics. I mean, sure there are dissenting…
September 11, 2008
The physics blogosphere is abuzz about the start up of the large hadron collider. There is a hole in Texas which is very jealous. And of course, everyone is happy that the Earth was not destroyed or a bubble universe wasn't created.
But if I remember my science fiction correctly, I don't believe…
September 7, 2008
The lore I heard when I lived in New Mexico was that the reason Gore won the state in 2000 was that there was a snowstorm in the southern part of the state (which is more conservative.) In 2004 there was no snowstorm in the state, and the state went to Bush. If you could control the weather by…
September 5, 2008
I propose that a good investment would be to short Bill Gates' evil rating:
September 4, 2008
Is fame and fortune what you seek (or at least fame)? Be a first mover, according to a new paper, arXiv:0809.0522
The first-mover advantage in scientific publication
Authors: M. E. J. Newman
Mathematical models of the scientific citation process predict a strong "first-mover" effect under which the…
September 4, 2008
I really need to create a category for blog posts for things which Google's products do which amuse me. Today in reading an email about the National Science Foundation:
Many a faculty member's got NSF, I guess, and are damn sick or writing grants to continue having NSF.
September 3, 2008
When I was a little kid I used to take a pair of dice and throw these dice repeatedly. At each throw I'd fill in a box for the corresponding number on some graph paper and I would essentially "race" the numbers against each other. I suppose for that reason I've always been fascinated not just by…