Theory

Jason Youm, a high school student who performed summer research with JQI Fellow Alexey Gorshkov, placed in the top dozen competitors in the physics and astronomy category at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). He presented research completed under the mentorship of Gorshkov and JQI graduate student Joseph Iosue where he performed calculations to help investigate how quantum computers can perform certain tasks significantly faster than their traditional counterparts.

A team of JQI researchers and their colleagues have won in the quantum category of the UMD Invention of the Year Award. They are honored for developing a new method for counting particles of light—photons—without destroying them.

The world is a cluttered, noisy place, and the ability to effectively focus is a valuable skill. Researchers at JQI have identified a new way to focus their attention and obtain useful insights into the way information associated with a configuration of interacting particles gets dispersed and effectively lost over time. Their technique focuses on a single feature that describes how various amounts of energy can be held by different configurations a quantum system. The approach provides insight into how a collection of quantum particles can evolve without the researchers having to grapple with the intricacies of the interactions that make the system change over time.