Abstract:

I will present a wide range of research aimed at understanding quantum physics of large objects and their dynamical and thermodynamical behavior in the far-from-equilibrium domain. The first fundamental question is what kind of quantum correlations survive in this domain and how we can quantify and measure them. The second question asks if these correlations affect the macroscopic properties of matter. This leads us naturally to investigating how we should phrase the laws of thermodynamics in the far-from-equilibrium domain, and the scenario where we are considering individual (rather than ensemble) behavior. I will discuss how techniques from information theory, quantum and statistical physics, can all be combined to elucidate the physics of macroscopic objects. This question is clearly of fundamental importance to the development of future quantum technologies, whose behavior takes place invariably in the macroscopic, non-equilibrium, quantum regime.

Short Bio:

Vlatko Vedral is a professor of quantum information theory at the University of Oxford and professor of physics at the National University of Singapore (where he is a PI at the Centre for Quantum Technologies). He is the Director of the Oxford Martin School institute on “bio-inspired quantum technologies”. This explores the exciting possibility that living systems are subject to useful quantum effects, with a view to deriving and reverse-engineering architectures to inspire future quantum technologies that will help address serious challenges facing humanity in the 21^st century.
He has received numerous awards in recognition for his contribution to the development of the field, including the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and the World Scientific Medal and Prize. He has over220 publications on quantum physics and collaborates in many inter-disciplinary international networks.