Purdue Quantum Theory Seminar

Logistics (click for details)
  • Email list: We maintain an email list through Purdue's Listserv. To request to be added, please email quantum-theory-request at lists.purdue.edu.
  • Schedule: for the spring 2026 semester, the regular meeting time is Mondays, 2-3pm Eastern. Alternative times are Wednesdays 2-3pm, or Fridays 2-3pm.
  • Location: Hall of Data Science and AI (DSAI) 1069 for Monday events. Most seminars will be in-person but some will be virtual. Please consult the calendar below. When we have virtual talks, we will arrange watch parties in this room (although you are of course welcome to watch over Zoom as well). Wednesday and Friday events will have variable location that will be communicated via the email list.
  • Zoom link: For security reasons, the Zoom link is only available to individuals who are on the email list.
  • Affiliated faculty: Claudio Chamon, Shawn Cui, Colleen Delaney, Tyler Ellison, Birgit Kaufmann, Ralph Kaufmann, Laimei Nie, Yuxiang Peng, Eric Samperton, Jukka Vayrynen, Wei Zhan, Ruizhe Zhang

Scope (click for details)

More-or-less anything related to the theory of quantum mechanics is fair game, but we are especially interested in mathematically rigorous research related to quantum computation, quantum information and quantum error correction, and adjacent matters in condensed matter theory. Some specific buzzwords and phrases that we expect to get kicked around a lot (based on our local idiosyncrasies) include: TQFT, topological order, spin systems, state preparation, categorical symmetry, fault tolerance, complexity, etc. Our usual group of attendees involves roughly equal representation from Purdue's physics, math and CS departments.

Click here for past semester schedules


Spring 2026 Calendar

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Date & Format Speaker Title (click for abstract)
Monday
12 January
2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Jinkang Guo
ZSZ Codes: Low-Overhead Quantum LDPC Codes for Neutral-Atom Quantum Memories

Discovering low-overhead quantum error-correcting codes is of significant interest for fault-tolerant quantum computation. For hardware capable of long-range connectivity, the bivariate bicycle codes offer significant overhead reduction compared to surface codes with similar performance. In this talk, I will present "ZSZ codes", a simple non-abelian generalization of the bivariate bicycle codes based on the semidirect product of cyclic groups. Numerically, ZSZ codes not only achieve competitive performance with the bivariate bicycle codes under active decoding, but also have the highest observed sustainable threshold for passive decoding of any known quantum LDPC code. Moreover, ZSZ codes admit concrete implementation on neutral-atom arrays, making them promising candidates for experimentally realizable quantum memories.

Wednesday
14 January

2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Arnab Adhikary
Measurement based computational phases of quantum matter

Quantum mechanics features two distinct forms of evolution-unitary dynamics and projective measurements. However, from the point of view of quantum computation, they play equivalent roles. While the standard circuit model relies on unitary evolution, quantum computational power can also emerge from quantum many-body systems through local adaptive measurements.

In this talk, I will present recent progress in understanding quantum computation as a property of entire quantum phases of matter with symmetry, rather than of individual quantum states. I will show that in one-dimensional spin chains, string order associated with symmetry-protected topological (SPT) order ensures nontrivial computational capability. I will then explain how this framework gives rise to strongly correlated and counterintuitively efficient computational regimes, and briefly discuss how the resulting optimization problems naturally connect to differential geometry. I will also showcase some recent experiments performed on IBM quantum devices that validate our theoretical predictions. Finally, I will conclude with an outlook on higher-dimensional systems and other forms of physical order.

Friday
16 January

2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Yabo Li
Gauging maps and anyon permutation circuits

In this talk, I study a non-invertible transformation, termed the gauging map, associated with a finite on-site symmetry G in one-dimensional quantum systems. I will characterize the conditions under which the gauging map, when restricted to the algebra of symmetric operators, realizes a quantum cellular automaton (QCA). I will then present a general constant-depth circuit construction for implementing anyon permutations in quantum double models. This construction is naturally understood through a holographic correspondence between one-dimensional QCAs on subalgebras and symmetries of two-dimensional topological orders. From a quantum-information perspective, it provides an explicit mechanism for realizing locality-preserving logical operations in topological codes. Finally, I discuss the potential non-Clifford-ness from anyon permutations in non-Abelian quantum double models, a key ingredient for fault tolerate universal quantum computation.

MLK Day
is 1/19
NO TALK
Monday
26 January
1-2pm
IN-PERSON
Ananda Roy (Rutgers)
TBA
Wednesday
28 January

2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Liyuan Chen
Toward useful quantum computation: from near term to fault tolerance

Two central goals in quantum science are (i) near-term simulation of many-body physics and (ii) scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computation in the long term. I will present two recent advances toward both aims. For (i), we present theoretical and experimental studies of globally controlled analog simulators, positioning them as principled platforms for quantum simulation [1]. For (ii), we develop a non-Abelian topological framework in two dimensions that provides a route to fault-tolerant universality and remains compatible with current devices [2]. Together, these results outline a practical trajectory from near-term simulation to scalable quantum computation.

Wednesday
4 February
2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Keller Blackwell
TBA
Monday
2 March
2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Greta Panova (USC)
Classical versus quantum computation of representation theoretic multiplicities

Understanding the multiplicities of decompositions of tensor products and compositions of irreducible representations of the symmetric and general linear groups is a central problem. While we have been concerned with classical computation and are searching for computational hardness results, recently quantum algorithms were developed which put the problems in QMA (vanishing) and #BQP (counting). Even more recently quantum algorithms that run in polynomial time were developed for certain cases. We will discuss the classical hardness results, the quantum complexity and ultimately show that most of the quantum easy cases are also poly-time computable on a classical computer thereby refuting some hopes for superpolynomial quantum speedups.

Spring Break
is 3/16-3/20
NO TALK
Monday
23 March
2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Jason Alicea (Caltech)
TBA

TBA

Monday
13 April
2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Sung Kim (USC)
TBA

TBA

Monday
20 April
2-3pm
IN-PERSON
Gerardo Ortiz (IU)
TBA

TBA

Fall 2026 Calendar

Date & Format Speaker Title (click for abstract)
Labor Day
is 9/7
NO TALK