Category Archives: Science

What it is that we do

Posted on November 22, 2020 by Thomas

This post is a follow-up on some somewhat off-hand comments that I made earlier regarding the notion of truth in a “proof-based” discipline such as pure mathematics or theoretical computer science. Since the former is easier to circumscribe and also … Continue reading →

Posted in meta, Science, Uncategorized | Tagged | 6 Comments

Lecture notes on the Mahadev verification protocol

Posted on November 11, 2020 by Thomas

As announced earlier I am currently teaching a course on “interactive proofs with quantum devices” in Paris. The course is proceeding apace, even though the recent lockdown order in France means that we had to abandon our beautiful auditorium at … Continue reading →

Posted in Quantum, Science, teaching, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 3 Comments

It happens to everyone…but it’s not fun

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Thomas

A recent post on this blog concerned the posting of our paper MIP*=RE on the arXiv and gave a personal history of the the sequence of works that led to the result. Quite unfortunately (dramatically?) a few weeks after initial … Continue reading →

Posted in meta, Quantum, Science, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

A Masters project

Posted on January 14, 2020 by Thomas

In a previous post I reported on the beautiful recent result by Natarajan and Wright showing the astounding power of multi-prover interactive proofs with quantum provers sharing entanglement: in letters, . In this post I want to report on follow-up … Continue reading →

Posted in meta, QPCP, Quantum, Science | Tagged , , , | 28 Comments

Unitary Correlation Matrices

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Thomas

Today I’d like to sketch a question that’s been pushing me in a lot of different directions over the past few years — some sane, others less so; few fruitful, but all instructive. The question is motivated by the problem … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, Quantum, Science, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Quid qPCP?

Posted on January 16, 2017 by Thomas

This blog has already seen three posts on the quantum PCP conjecture: in February 2013 to highlight several talks at the Simons Institute in Berkeley, in October 2013 to promote a survey on the topic I wrote with Dorit Aharonov … Continue reading →

Posted in QPCP, Quantum, Science, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Nonlocal games and operator spaces: a survey

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Thomas

Over the past few months, together with Carlos Palazuelos I wrote a survey article on “Nonlocal Games and Operator Space Theory”, and we just uploaded it to the arXiv. The survey is an invited contribution to a special issue of … Continue reading →

Posted in Publications, Quantum, Science | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Foundations of randomness, remainder of Day 1

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Thomas

Today I will cover the remaining talks from the first day of the workshop. Valerio’s opening talk was followed by a stimulating blackboard talk by Renato Renner, who asked the question “Is the existence of randomness an axiom of quantum … Continue reading →

Posted in Conferences, device independence, Quantum, Science, Talks | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Science funding

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Thomas

Barely back from a workshop organized in Puerto Rico by Ryan O’Donnell, Krzysztof Oleszkiewicz and Elchanan Mossel, and lavishly funded by the Simons foundation, I am greeted on my BART ride home (thanks wifirail) by a NYTimes piece Billionaires With Big Ideas … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Simons | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments