Abstract:

On outset, complexity and quantum information science appear quite different. One commonly deals with networks of interacting systems on the macroscopic scale, while the describes matter at the quantum mechanical level. The former describes systems inundated by noise, the latter normally assumed to be only relevant to systems carefully isolated from the environment. Yet recent advances in both fields demonstrate many unexpected connections. Quantum effects have been discovered to persist in highly noisy environments – allowing quantum advantage in regimes we never thought possible. Meanwhile the very fundamental notions of what we consider to be complex can change radically in the advent of quantum technology. 

In this talk, I survey recent advances in these areas and how the herald a new inter-disciplinary field of study the straddles quantum and complexity science. 

Short Bio:

Mile Gu completed his PhD at the University of Queensland with Michael Nielsen on the topics of quantum complexity and emergence.  After which, he conducted research at the Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore, and subsequently joined Tsinghua University as assistant professor under the China Thousand Talents Program. In 2016, Mile Gu was named a National Research Foundation Fellow of Singapore, and joined the Complexity Institute at Nanyang Technological University. There, he currently heads the quantum and complexity science initiative – which seeks to explore how complexity science generalizes in a quantum world.  Gu has made significant contributions to the interface of quantum information, complexity theory and optical quantum computation, and his work has been featured in Science and Nature suite journals five separate occasions. Gu is also active in the dissemination of science to the public, and has made guest contributions to New Scientist, Physics Today and the Foundational Questions Institute.