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QUANTUM2CLASSICAL

Workshop on the Quantum to Classical transition
18-19 June 2018
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Scope

To what extent, and how, is objective information about the physical world established? What is the actual role of the observer in quantum physics? How do we explain how and at which scale our everyday world, where macroscopic objects appear to be “here or there”, arises from the quantum mechanical world of super-positions between “here and there”? How do processes like the interaction of a quantum system with its environment lead to a transition from quantum behaviour to classical behaviour, with the selection of just one out of many possible outcomes for a measurement, and the agreement of several observers on the outcome itself?

These are questions that are not only fundamental, but, nowadays, link directly with the on-going international effort, both publicly and privately funded, aimed to exploiting quantum effects through the development of disruptive quantum technologies. Such technologies range from quantum computation, to quantum communication, to quantum metrology and sensing. Their implementation necessitates exquisite control of quantum systems, so that such systems exhibit properties like quantum superposition and quantum entanglement; one could say that what is required is, in a sense, that we control and, particularly, impede a quantum-to-classical transition.

The workshop aims at bringing together some of the top international experts on the topic of the quantum-to-classical transition, in particular of how it comes about and how it can be controlled. The workshop will highlight how the work in the fields of quantum information science and quantum technologies links naturally the study of quantum foundations and the taming of quantum effects. In particular, the workshop will showcase how the modern and sophisticated theoretical and experimental tools developed in the field of quantum information processing allow us to analyze and test the quantum-to-classical transition in novel and exciting ways.

The workshop is being organized as activity of the project Sentient observers in the quantum regime and the emergence of an objective reality of the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi).

Organizers

Gerardo Adesso, University of Nottingham
Paul Knott, University of Nottingham
Marco Piani, University of Strathclyde
Tommaso Tufarelli, University of Nottingham

Local support

Tristan Kraft, University of Strathclyde

 

Background art by Joseph Hollis.
Q2C Logo by Tristan Kraft and Marco Piani.