Winter Project
Dr Fabio Costa

Suitable for:  Requires good familiarity with linear algebra and theoretical quantum mechancis.  A rudimentary knowledge of basic notions in quantum information, such as entanglement, is recommended.

Project description:  Quantum information has developed in the last decades into a broad field, with several promising applicaitons for future technology.  Very recently, first steps have been made in the direction of theoretically characterising and experimentally manipulating causal relations between quantum systems from an information-theoretical perspective.  As this is a very new field, it still needs a development of basic protocols and instructive examples.

One of the exemplary protocols in quantum information is quantum teleportation:  with an appropriate measurement and communicating only limited classical information, it is possible to reconstruct an unknown quantum state in a distant location.  The key resource for teleportation is entanglement:  genuinely quantum correlations between quantum particles.  The recent developments in the field of quantum causal structure have uncovered a deep connection with the formalism of ordinary quantum information.  In particular, the mathematical representation of quantum causal structures is formally very close to the representation of quantum states, enabling the easy transfer of several tools and protocols.  Additionally, examples have been found that can be understood as "entangled causal relations":  the causal order between two events is correlated, in a genuinely quantum way, with the causal order between two different, distant events.

The aim of this project is to develop protocols that, using "entangled causal relations" as a resource, enable the effective teleportation of causal structure.  The project will aim to give a theoretical description of the protocol, evaluate its communication cost, and analyse its possible experimental realisability.

Expected outcomes:  The applicant will gain a hands-on knowledge of basic quantum-information primitives, as well as an introductory expertise in the fast-developing field of quantum causal structure.  The applicant is expected to produce peer-reviewed publications as a result of the project.

Project duration:  6 weeks

Primary Supervisor:  Dr Fabio Costa     Further information:  Email f.costa@uq.edu.au about the project and to express interest.