COURSE OUTLINE Tutor Ma Jiajun | Coordinator Prof. Mile Gu

INTRODUCTION

In the first year, you have studied both computer course, and physics courses. In computer science, you learn about basic programming, Turing Machines, Computational Complexity, and Shannon . In physics, you learnt mechanics, and maybe some relativity.

What does the two course have to do with each other?

It turns out that there is a lot. Turing machines are physical objects and obey physical laws, while all physics is can be described by a computer. New physics gives birth new methods of computing, while everything in physics is just processing. The link between the two fields is remarkable, leading to advanced ideas like emergence, , and the unravelling of Maxwell’s demons.

Unfortunately, these ideas are generally so new that they’re generally not taught at undergraduate level – here at IIIS, we hope to rectify this. Thus ‘Physics of Information’ will introduce you to these contemporary ideas.

As we will be covering a number of graduate level topics at undergraduate level – this course is designed to be based on concepts. We will learn by examples, and the key idea here is for you to gain an intuition of the big picture. As you advanced to junior, senior and postgraduate, you’ll have a chance to learn to full technicalities.

COURSE INFORMATION: Lecturer and Course Administrator – Prof. Mile Gu ([email protected]) Tutorials – Ma Jiajjun ([email protected]) Course Website – http://www.milegu.net/physics_info Assumed Knowledge – First year mathematics, physics and computer science.

ASSESSMENT 50% Exam – 2 Hour Exam on 16th September 30% Assignments – 2 Assignments (15% each): 20% Participation – Discussions in Classroom and feedback are highly encouraged.

TUTORIALS

Ma Jiajun is the tutor for this course. He will be available for 2 hours per week (5-6 pm), Tuesday, Thursdays). Please contact him regarding questions about course content, and help on solving assignment questions. Note: Jiajun will not provide assignment answers directly!

TEXTBOOKS

There is no prescribed textbooks for the courses. Require reading material will be provided at each lecture. There are however, a few references that will be especially helpful for understanding this course.

Technical Reading: These books will cover some of the technical background in the ideas we are discussing:  On Emergence: Anderson, P. W. (1972). More is different. Science, 177(4047), 393-396.  On Quantum Computing: Nielsen, Michael A and Isaac L. Chuang. Quantum computation and . Cambridge university press, 2010, Chapter 1-3,  On Information Thermodynamics: Leff, Harvey, and Andrew F. Rex, eds. Maxwell's Demon 2 Entropy, Classical and Quantum Information, Computing. CRC Press, 2010, Chapter 1.

Light Reading: These books will give a big picture of why the interface of physics and computer science is so exciting. They are popular science books, and thus easy to read. I highly recommend picking one up  Vedral, Vlatko. Decoding reality: the universe as quantum information. Oxford University Press,  Deutsch, David. The fabric of reality. Penguin UK, 2011.

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ABOUT COURSE ADMIN Name: Mile Gu Contact: [email protected]

Academic Background: Bachelors in Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science (Auckland University). Masters in Physics (Auckland University). PhD in Quantum Information (University of Queensland).

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