INSIDE THE PERIMETER WINTER 2011 www.perimeterinstitute.ca 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, ON, Canada N2L 2Y5 I 519.569.7600 WHAt’s inside UPCOMING SCIENTIFIC EVENTS ............................... 2 Guifre Vidal Joins PI p.4 PI and CITA Join LIGO p.9 NEIL’S NOTES ...................... 3 PI NEWS .............................. 4 CONFERENCE RECAPS ............................. 13 PI PUBLICATIONS ................ 16 GLOBAL OUTLOOK .............. 18 OUTREACH UPDATE ............ 20 CULTURE @ PI .................... 24 PI COMMUNITY ................... 26 THE LIFE OF PI IN PHOTOS ........................ 28 Black Strings p.10 $4 Million Gift from BMO Creates New Chair p.5 INSIDE THE PERIMETER UPCOMING SCIENTIFIC EVENTS COLLOQUIA SEMINARS UPCOMING For up-to-date information on colloquia, For up-to-date information and locations, CONFERENCES AT PI please visit: www.perimeterinstitute.ca/ please visit: www.perimeterinstitute.ca For more details on PI conferences, Scientifi c/Seminars/Colloquium /Scientifi c/Seminars/Series please visit: www.perimeterinstitute.ca/ Scientifi c/Conferences/Conferences Adrian Kent, University of Cambridge/ Gil Holder, McGill University Perimeter Institute Particle Physics Back to the Bootstrap TBA MARCH 25 AT 1 PM APRIL 12 – 14, 2011 MARCH 23 AT 2 PM, Theatre Abhay Ashtekar, Pennsylvania State University 4-Corner Southwest Ontario Simon White, Max Planck Institute ILQG Condensed Matter Symposium for Astrophysics MARCH 29 AT 10 AM 2011 “The structure of the dark matter Thomas Vidick, University of APRIL 26, 2011 distribution on laboratory scales” California, Berkeley MARCH 30 AT 2 PM, Theatre PI Quantum Discussions Conceptual Foundations and MARCH 30 AT 4 PM Foils for Quantum Information Roger Penrose, University of Oxford Andreas Ross, Carnegie Mellon Processing “Conformal Cyclic Cosmology: University MAY 9 – 13, 2011 Equations of Evolution, Observational Strong Gravity Consequences” MARCH 31 AT 1 PM APRIL 6 AT 2 PM, Theatre Tarun Grover, University of Conceptual Foundations California, Berkeley and Foils for Quantum Christopher Stubbs, Condensed Matter Information Processing May 9 - 13, 2011 Harvard University April 1 at 11 AM Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada TBA Tadashi Takayanagi, Institute The interplay between information-processing protocols and basic physical principles has attracted increasing interest in the past few years and has been the subject of many new and exciting results. Such investigations offer a new perspective on the APRIL 20 AT 2 PM, Theatre for the Physics and Mathematics of foundations of quantum theory, a deeper understanding of the origin of quantum advantages for information-processing, and a framework for exploring the nature of the Universe information-processing within alternatives to quantum theory (foil theories). Invited Speakers Scientific Organizers Eduardo Fradkin, University of Illinois Strings Scott Aaronson, MIT Giulio Chiribella, Perimeter Institute (main organizer) Antonio Acín, ICFO Barcelona Anne Broadbent, Institute for Quantum Computing Howard Barnum, University of New Mexico Robert Spekkens, Perimeter Institute TBA APRIL 5 AT 11 AM Jon Barrett, Royal Holloway* Gilles Brassard, Université de Montréal Nicolas Brunner, University of Bristol Deadline for registration is May 3, 2011 APRIL 27 AT 2 PM, Theatre Lawrence Price, California Institute Dan Browne, University College London* Caslav Brukner, University of Vienna www.perimeterinstitute.ca/Conceptual_ Bob Coecke, University of Oxford Foundations_and_Foils_for_QIP of Technology Roger Colbeck, Perimeter Institute Mauro D’Ariano, University of Pavia Chris Fuchs, Perimeter Institute Sandu Popescu, University of Bristol Cosmology & Gravitation Lucien Hardy, Perimeter Institute Marc Kaplan, Université de Montréal Gen Kimura, Shibaura Institute of Technology* TBA APRIL 5 AT 2 PM Tsuyoshi Ito, Institute for Quantum Computing Lluis Masanes, ICFO Markus Mueller, Perimeter Institute Jonathan Oppenheim, University of Cambridge MAY 11 AT 2 PM, Theatre Brien Nolan, Dublin City University Paolo Perinotti, University of Pavia Sandu Popescu, University of Bristol Renato Renner, ETH Zurich Strong Gravity Valerio Scarani, National University of Singapore Ben Schumacher, Kenyon College Anthony Short, University of Cambridge APRIL 7 AT 1 PM Stephanie Wehner, National University of Singapore Alex Wilce, Susquehanna University Andreas Winter, University of Bristol Kristan Jensen, *to be confirmed University of Victoria Strings APRIL 11 AT 11 AM PIRSA Pick of the Issue new “Best hope” for Quantum Gravity? (http://pirsa.org/11020085/) Renate Loll, Utrecht University Series: Colloquium 02 WINTER 2011 INSIDE THE PERIMETER NEIL’S NOTES ON ALCHEMY AND PHYSICS ome view winter here as an for him worldwide. And who was Newton? He came out of ordeal: for me it’s a wonder, nowhere (the backwoods of Lincolnshire in England to be Sto look out on the deep, precise) to solve thousand-year-old riddles. He invented bright snow and see the land- entirely new mathematics — calculus — and used it to create scape transformed. It’s also a the new sciences of mechanics, gravitation, optics, fluids. reminder of how quickly things His equations were far more powerful than even he knew. can change. Like Perimeter, now For example, they describe the expansion of the universe in the throes of a major renewal. and the formation of galaxies and stars. As the Russian Laying the seeds, we hope, for a astrophysicist Zel’dovich said: “There is nothing wrong with springtime bringing transforma- Newtonian cosmology — all it takes is courage.” Today, giant tive insights to our research. supercomputers solve Newton’s equations to describe the As you have often read in these pages, we are building a clustering of galaxies and stars, although even Newton him- research community here of exceptional depth, around the self never attempted to describe the universe in this way. central themes of quantum theory and spacetime: the basic The economist John Maynard Keynes, who collected many laws and the arena for physics. A major emphasis naturally of Newton’s original manuscripts, stated that Newton was falls on enlarging our research faculty, and I am delighted to “not the first of the age of report that Guifre Vidal, a pioneer working at the interface reason, but rather the last of of quantum information and condensed matter physics, will the magicians.” In his rooms shortly be joining PI from the University of Queensland. at Trinity College, Cambridge, No other institute in our field, worldwide, has such ambitious he famously spent more time growth plans. To support them and secure Perimeter’s long- on alchemy than he did on term future, we have launched Expanding the Perimeter, a physics. Some find this surpris- major campaign to build our endowment and widen our circle ing, but perhaps there is really of supporters. We have been thrilled at the intensity of no puzzle. One definition of interest and commitment so far garnered across Canada. theoretical physics is simply Innovators and leaders from many arenas have joined our that it is “magic which works.” Leadership Council and are generously lending their time and Newton was looking for magic, talents to the campaign. and he found it in physics, In late November, Expanding the Perimeter celebrated a discovering that the world major success. The BMO Financial Group contributed $4 mil- works according to mathematical lion to create the BMO Financial Group Isaac Newton Chair in rules. With persistence, we can Theoretical Physics at Perimeter Institute. This is the largest reveal them and use them to single gift BMO has ever made to an academic institution. create phenomena which are Coming from a major financial institution this is an extraor- truly magical. So in a sense, Newton marked the transition dinary endorsement of our conviction that investment in from magic based on traditional beliefs and superstition to fundamental research is an essential element of ensuring scientific magic which transcends us all and which is our our shared future prosperity as a society. greatest hope for the future. The Newton Chair is only the first of five Research Chairs One of the most moving experiences of my career was to we plan to create at Perimeter, each named after a scientist examine Newton’s own private library, a small collection held whose insights helped define modern physics: Isaac Newton, in the Wren Library in Trinity College at Cambridge. It includes James Clerk Maxwell, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and Paul Galileo’s manuscripts, with Newton’s comments scribbled Dirac. The holders of the Perimeter Research Chairs will be in the margins. Newton and his peers were the beginning of chosen from among the world’s leading physicists, building the modern scientific community — like us, they worked in the strength of our research community and helping us to special institutions which gave them the space and the fulfill our mission of fostering major breakthroughs in our support they needed. understanding of the universe. And just who will occupy the Newton Chair? Stay tuned... Surprisingly, in view of Newton’s pre-eminence in modern science, this Chair is, as far as I know, the first to be named — Neil Turok WINTER 2011 03 INSIDE THE PERIMETER PI NEWS GUIFRE VIDAL TO JOIN PI FACULTY his May, Perimeter Institute will welcome a new member what finally made me decide to to its research faculty, as current Distinguished Research join the Institute was the recent T