John D. MacArthur Professor of Theoretical Physics
Division of Physics, Mathematics, and
Astronomy
California Institute of
Technology
Curriculum
Vitae and publication
list.
I am a theoretical
physicist. Topics I have worked on in the past include the connections between
particle physics and cosmology, properties of topological defects,
nonperturbative phenomena in quantum field theory, and quantum aspects of the
early universe and of black
holes . For several years, my central interest has been in the theory of
quantum
information, quantum computing, and quantum coding.
Broadly speaking, quantum
information science addresses how the principles of quantum physics can be
harnessed to improve the acquisition, transmission, and processing of
information. A quantum computer would be a new type of machine that, by
exploiting the unusual quantum properties of information, could perform certain
types of calculations far more efficiently than any foreseeable classical
computer. I'm particularly interested in developing new schemes for protecting
intricate quantum systems from decoherence and other sources of error.
For further information
about quantum computation, and other useful links, see the Physics 219 home
page.
I am Director of the Institute for Quantum
Information (IQI),
which is part of the initiative in Information Technology
Research launched by the National
Science Foundation. I also direct the Center for the Physics of Information
(CPI), part of Caltech’s initiative in Information Science and Technology
(IST). For more about the mission of the CPI, see this
poem.
Contact Information:
Caltech 452-48
Pasadena, CA 91125
email: preskill@theory.caltech.edu
Office:
626-395-6691
Fax: 626-568-8473
Papers:
Some of my
publications can be found at the electronic
ArXiv or the SPIRES
high-energy physics database . Here is a complete
publication list , with links to articles written after 1991.
With some colleagues, I
prepared a report on quantum
information science for the National Science Foundation. A pdf version is also
available.
Below are a few papers that
are not readily available elsewhere on the Internet. Some are transcripts (in
PostScript) of informal talks I have given. If your computer is not configured
to view PostScript, you can try this
site .
- A colloquium on black
holes and the information paradox. -- 21
November 1994 (ps format)
- A colloquium on the
non-abelian Aharonov-Bohm effect. -- 15
April 1993
(ps format)
- Foreword to
The Feynman Lectures on Gravitation (with Kip Thorne) -- May 1995, 27
pages (ps format)
- A colloquium on quantum
computation . --
18 May 1996 (ps format)
- A talk on quantum
error correction and fault-tolerant quantum computation. --
13 November
1996 (ps
format)
- A public lecture about quantum
information and quantum computation. -- 15
January 1997 (ps format)
- And a similar talk from Proceedings
of the IEEE Aerospace Conference. -- 23
March 1998
(pdf format)
- A paper on topological
quantum computation (with Walt Ogburn), based on a talk at the 1st
Nasa International Conference on Quantum Computing and Quantum Communications
-- 18 February 1998 (ps format), and published in Lecture
Notes in Computer Science 1509: 341-356 (1999) (pdf
format)
- A talk on the
future of quantum information theory. -- 18
December 1998 (ps format)
- A talk on the
future of quantum information science. -- 28
October 1999, from the NSF Worshop on Quantum
Information Science (ps format)
- A "News and Views" piece about robust
solutions to hard problems, published in Nature 391, 631-632 (1998)
(pdf format)
- A "News and Views" piece about
quantum
software , published in Nature 402, 357-358 (1999) (pdf
format)
- A talk on topological
quantum memory , delivered at the ITP Conference on Quantum
Information. -- 3 December
2001 (html
and audio)
- A talk on quantum
computation and the future of physics, delivered at the Berkeley
Workshop on Theory of Computation and the Sciences. – 10 May 2002 (pdf)
- A talk on security
of quantum key distribution , delivered at QIP 2003. –
16 December
2002 (pdf
and audio)
- A talk on how more is
different, delivered at the KITP conference on glassy states. –
23 May 2003 (html and
audio)
- Lectures on quantum
error correction and quantum cryptography, delivered at the PIMS-MITACS Summer School on Quantum
Information Science. —26 June
2003
(pdf)
- A talk on superselection
rules and quantum protocols, delivered at the Gordon Research
Conference on Quantum Information Science. – 23
February 2004 (pdf)
- A talk on topological
quantum computing, delivered at the KITP conference on exotic order. –
7 June 2004 (html and
audio)
- My commentary on
the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics – 5 October
2004
(pdf)
- A talk on the
cost of quantum fault tolerance, deliverd at QIP 2005. – 14 January
2005
(pdf)
Teaching:
·
Information about Physics
219 , a course about quantum information and computation.
·
Information about Physics
230 , a course about elementary particle theory.
·
Information about Physics 106 , a
course about classical mechanics.
Betting:
I was once
briefly almost famous for winning
a bet . Alas, this only encouraged me to make more
bets. Details are on the black hole bets
page .
Update (24 July
2004): My comments about Stephen Hawking’s
recent concession.
Other Stuff:
- Ten
Physics Problems for the Next Millennium (selected at Strings
2000)
- Millennium Prize Problems in
Mathematics (from the Clay Mathematics Institute)
- Physics Colloquium Poems: Erik
Winfree , Craig
Hogan , Hirosi
Ooguri , John
Schwarz, Quantum
Cryptography, Spin
is In,
arXiv.org,
Lene
Hau , Let’s
Play CA! , On
Quantum Compression, Leon
Balents
- Baseball: ESPN Sportszone
- A-hats Team
Song (Caltech
quantum optics softball team)
- My Dog
(photo and poem)
preskill@theory.caltech.edu