Brian Skinner
The Ohio State University
Entanglement phase transitions
Location: 1080 Physics Research Building
Abstract: Quantum mechanics is our most accurate theory of matter, but it is also a theory of information. Quantum descriptions of matter predict the existence of phase transitions, in which matter abruptly transforms from one form to another, so one can naturally ask whether there can be phase transitions in the behavior of information as well. Here I discuss a recently discovered phase transition in the behavior of quantum information, known as the measurement-induced entanglement phase transition. I will discuss the various manifestations of this transition and how we anticipated it to exist by using a mapping to a problem in classical statistical mechanics. I will also overview more recent efforts to realize the transition experimentally and to find exact theoretical solutions for its properties.