{"599211":{"#nid":"599211","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Black Holes, Firewalls, and the Limits of Quantum Computers","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EQuantum computers are proposed devices that would exploit quantum mechanics to solve certain specific problems dramatically faster than we know how to solve them with today\u0026#39;s computers.\u0026nbsp;In the popular press, quantum computers are often presented\u0026nbsp;not just as an exciting frontier of science and technology (which they are), but also as magic devices that would work by simply trying every possible solution in parallel.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHowever, research over the past 25 years has revealed that the truth is much more subtle and problem-dependent. For some types of problems, quantum computers would offer only modest speedups or none\u0026nbsp;at all.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese limitations are entirely separate from the practical difficulties of building quantum computers (such as \u0026quot;decoherence\u0026quot;)\u0026nbsp;and apply even to the fully error-corrected quantum computers we hope will be built in the future.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn this talk, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.scottaaronson.com\/\u0022\u003EScott Aaronson\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;will\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;give a crash course on what computer science has learned about the capabilities and limitations of quantum computers.\u0026nbsp;Then he will\u0026nbsp;describe a remarkable and unexpected connection,\u0026nbsp;made just within the past five years,\u0026nbsp;where the conjectured limitations of quantum computers have been applied to problems\u0026nbsp;in fundamental physics.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese include Hawking\u0026#39;s black-hole information puzzle (in its modern incarnation as the \u0026quot;firewall paradox\u0026quot;), as well as the growth of wormholes in the so-called gauge\/gravity duality that emerged from string theory.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the Speaker\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.scottaaronson.com\/\u0022\u003EScott Aaronson\u003C\/a\u003E is the David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas (UT), Austin.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe received his bachelor\u0026#39;s degree from Cornell University and his Ph.D.\u0026nbsp;from the University of California, Berkeley. He did postdoctoral fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Waterloo.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBefore joining UT Austin, Aaronson spent nine years as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAaronson\u0026#39;s research in theoretical computer science has focused on the capabilities and limits of quantum computers.\u0026nbsp;His first book, \u0026quot;Quantum Computing Since Democritus,\u0026quot; was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe is the recipient of the National Science Foundation\u0026rsquo;s Alan T. Waterman Award, the United States PECASE Award, the Vannevar Bush Fellowship, and MIT\u0026#39;s Junior Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEditor\u0026#39;s Note: This event was first announced by the Georgia Tech Algorithms and Randomness Center (ARC). For updates, check the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.arc.gatech.edu\/hg\/item\/597635\u0022\u003Eoriginal posting\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"An ARC Colloquium by Scott Aaronson, University of Texas, Austin"}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2017-11-28 17:55:28","changed_gmt":"2017-11-28 18:03:29","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2017-12-04T11:00:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2017-12-04T12:00:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2017-12-04T12:00:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2017-12-04 16:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2017-12-04 17:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2017-12-04 17:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"599212":{"id":"599212","type":"image","title":"Scott Aaronson","body":null,"created":"1511891998","gmt_created":"2017-11-28 17:59:58","changed":"1511891998","gmt_changed":"2017-11-28 17:59:58","alt":"","file":{"fid":"228434","name":"Scott-Aaronson.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Scott-Aaronson.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Scott-Aaronson.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":9609,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Scott-Aaronson.jpg?itok=GDSClXKX"}}},"media_ids":["599212"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"},{"id":"1279","name":"School of Mathematics"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"4359","name":"quantum computing"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}