Thursday 6 Oct 1pm AEST

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Abstract:  A strong coupling between light and matter can be achieved by embedding two-dimensional layers of semiconductor in an optical microcavity. This results in the formation of exciton-polaritons, which are hybrid part-light, part-matter particles that are capable of realising a range of quantum many-body phenomena. However, the interactions between such polaritons are still not well understood despite their fundamental role. In this talk, I will discuss recent theoretical progress in understanding the microscopic properties of polaritons. In particular, I will show how the two-dimensional geometry plays an important role and leads to highly counterintuitive results, such as light-enhanced polariton-polariton interactions.

Thursday 15 Sept 1pm AEST

Abstract:  Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR) presented an argument that quantum mechanics is an incomplete theory. However, the argument assumes local realism which is falsifiable by Bell’s theorem. Here, we re-examine the argument, by presenting a mapping between microscopic and macroscopic Bell tests.  The macroscopic tests involve qubits based on two macroscopically-distinct coherent states and suitable unitary interactions. This compels us to address how the macro-Bell tests can be compatible with the important concept of macroscopic realism. We show that deterministic macroscopic realism is falsified by the macro-Bell tests, and therefore define the weaker assumption that we call “weak macroscopic realism”, which takes into account the dynamics associated with the choice of measurement setting. We show consistency of weak macroscopic realism with the Bell violations, as well as macroscopic versions of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger, Wigner’s friend and delayed-choice experiments. This brings us to deduce a macroscopic version of the EPR paradox based on weak macroscopic realism, thereby re-opening the question of the incompleteness of quantum mechanics. We then examine the measurement problem by proposing a model for measurement using simultaneous forward- and backward-propagating equations in time, derived from Q function dynamics. We demonstrate a causal consistency, and distinguish measurable from unobservable variables, which leads to models of realism and causal relations involving loops. We show that the new model supports weak macroscopic realism and explain how consistency with EPR-Bell correlations can be achieved. 

Thursday 30 June 1pm AEST

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Abstract: The quest to identify the cosmological dark matter is one of the foremost goals of science today. Yet the very nature of dark matter makes this a formidable task. l outline the status of dark matter direct detection searches, and describe new strategies to probe dark matter scattering using existing detectors, such as the Migdal effect, with particular application to light or inelastic dark matter. Complementary information about dark matter scattering can be obtained by considering the capture of dark matter in stars. For a wide range of parameters, collisions between ambient dark matter and the constituents of a star would result in sufficient energy loss for the dark matter to become gravitationally bound to the star, with important observational consequences. I describe applications of dark matter capture in the Sun, white dwarfs, and neutron stars. 

Thursday 9 June 1pm AEST

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Abstract:  Turbulence is the last great unsolved problem of classical physics. But there is no consensus on what it would mean to actually solve this problem. In this colloquium, I propose that turbulence is most fruitfully regarded as a problem in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, and will show that this perspective explains turbulent drag behavior measured over 80 years, and makes predictions that have been experimentally tested in 2D turbulent soap films. I will also explain how this perspective is useful in understanding the laminar-turbulence transition, establishing it as a non-equilibrium phase transition whose critical behavior has been predicted and tested experimentally.  This work connects transitional turbulence with statistical mechanics and renormalization group theory, high energy hadron scattering, the statistics of extreme events, and even population biology.

Thursday 19 May 1pm AEST

Thursday 24 March 1pm AEDT

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Abstract: Experimental metaphysics is the study of how empirical results can reveal indisputable facts about the fundamental nature of the world, independent of any theory. It is a field born from Bell’s 1964 theorem, and the experiments it inspired, proving the world cannot be both local and deterministic. However, there is an implicit assumption in Bell’s theorem, that the observed result of any measurement is absolutely real (it has some value that is not real only to the observer who made it, or only in the ‘branch’ in which it appears). This assumption is called into question when one thinks of the observer as a quantum system (the “Wigner’s Friend” scenario), which has recently been the subject of renewed interest. In [1], I and co-workers derived a theorem, in experimental metaphysics, for this scenario. It is similar to Bell’s 1964 theorem but dispenses with the assumption of determinism. We show that the remaining assumptions, which we collectively call "local friendliness", are still predicted, by most approaches to quantum mechanics, to be violable. We illustrate this in an experiment in which the “friend” system is a single photonic qubit. In [2], I and other co-workers argue that a truly convincing experiment could be realised if that system were a sufficiently advanced artificial intelligence software running on a very large quantum computer, so that it could be regarded genuinely as a friend. We formulate a new version of the theorem for that situation, using six assumptions, each of which is violated in at least one approach to quantum theory. The popular attitude that “quantum theory needs no interpretation” is untenable because it does not indicate that any of the assumptions are invalid.

[1] Bong et al., “A strong no-go theorem on the Wigner’s friend paradox”, Nature Physics 16, 1199 (2020).

[2] Wiseman, Cavalcanti, and Rieffel, “A ‘thoughtful’ Local Friendliness no-go theorem”, in preparation.

photo credit: ANDY AARON/IBM RESEARCH/FLICKR (CC BY-ND 2.0)