Red de Tecnologías Cuánticas RedTC
Dr. Charles Adams
Durham University
“Quantum semiotics”
There is considerable excitement about how quantum technologies (computing, communication and sensing) could advance human well being.
But, are we held back because as Richard Feynman said [1]“I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics”? One of our difficulties is that we cannot see quantum. We lack standard visualisation tools. Semiotics – the doctrine of signs – refers to our use of symbols to represent the real world. In physics, our symbols are mostly mathematical but also diagrammatic.
In this talk, I will review the visualisation tools we use in quantum optics and quantum computating, and where they fail. Finally, I will discuss ideas about how we might advance our toolkit in order to gain new insight.
[1] Richard Feynman, The Messenger Lectures, Cornell, 1964.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Jc75tQcB0&t=37s