ESP Biography

In 1960s, the Star Trek scene of Captain Kirk buckling up for teleportation was a beautiful fantasy for a generation of young Americans dreaming of superpowers. Half a century has passed, and we are witnessing this year the first successful interspace quantum teleportation, performed by the Micius Satellite of China. With the rapid development of quantum information, dreams are turning into realities. In this class, we will explore fundamental aspects of quantum information that underlie a variety of quantum technologies. To start out, we will work through the braket formalism of quantum mechanics and in particular, quantum logic. This formalism will allow us to demystify the concept of quantum entanglement and anticipate its usefulness. Armed with our mini toolbox, we will take a vote from the class to decide which specific toy problems of quantum information we will try to solve. The list of topics includes (but is not limited to): Quantum teleportation, Quantum computers, Quantum Algorithms, Quantum Error Correction. By solving these problems, we will see how extremely concise principles of quantum mechanics lead to profound and surprising consequences.

Einstein formulated the theory of special relativity(SR) around 1905. The theory captures the relationship between space and time. SR itself produces many well-known interesting results (eg. The Twin Paradox, The snake and the axe). However, it fails to explain some paradoxes involving gravity. Later between 1907 and 1915, Einstein proposed the theory of General Relativity(GR) in an attempt to connect space-time, the main subject of SR, with gravity. The course will explore some interesting results from SR and provide a motivation for GR. Most importantly, it will provide you with a perfect reason to stay a couch potato.