Nicolai Friis
@improbabilitydrive.bsky.social
he/him, dad, quantum physicist @ TU Wien & editor @ Quantum journal, eye-roll and die-roll enthusiast 📎
This text has moved me deeply. I think we, as a species, have opened a door that we cannot close anymore. It will bring many advances, and some good will hopefully come from that, but we pay a price, the price of losing something profound. kirwinhampshire.substack.com/p/the-dark-n...
The Dark Night of Mathematics
What are we really doing?
kirwinhampshire.substack.com
Two years running, our Master's program in Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST) at @tuwien.at has its first graduate: congratulations to Constantin Nistor and his advisor Daniel Platz! Looking forward to meeting the new/third student cohort this fall! www.tuwien.at/en/tu-wien/n...
Don’t be afraid to try new things!
Constantin Nistor is the first graduate of the Master programme Quantum Information Science and Technology.
tuwien.at
One thing that I really have a hard time understanding is why it seems to be so difficult for researchers (at least in my field/experience) to get one of the most basic things in scientific writing correctly: references. So here is my (unsolicited) advice on how to sort out your references: (1/16)
Yesterday someone called me out for only having joined Instagram to drop the occasional Pratchett quote without explanation. I mean, it isn't not true. But: It's not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren't doing it.
Bear with me, this will end on a high note. At times I feel that the workload and responsibility that comes along with supervision can be a lot, often because besides the actual work, academia as well as life outside of academia can be challenging emotionally, both for mentors and mentees. (1/8)
Wait a second ... ISTA's lecture hall is called the "Raiffeisen Lecture Hall"? Since when is it good practice to name lecture halls at universities after sponsors? In particular, sponsors still in business w. countries starting wars of aggression, committing war crimes & political assassinations?
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)@istaresearch.bsky.social · 2mo agoRegister now for the ISTA Lecture by Ignacio Cirac to learn how quantum devices are pushing the boundaries of what’s computationally possible, and how near-term quantum computers can already serve as powerful tools for scientific discovery even in the presence of errors. 🔗 https://bit.ly/3RPhzXn
What a brilliant day, three consecutive defenses: It was an honor to serve on the PhD committee of Philipp Sohr (middle), and then very proud to see my student Nicky Kai Hong Li (second from right) defend valiantly, before leaning back as Marcus' (left) student Iraj (second from left) took the stage
QuOI Theory@quoi-theory.at · 2mo agoWhat's better than celebrating a PhD defence? How about THREE? Congrats to Drs (L-R) Umesh, Sohr, and Li for finishing their doctorates (and organising a three-in-a-row defence day!)
Me, when someone shows me a plot without axes labels
a man in a suit and tie is standing in a field with the words whats in the box behind him
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is standing in a field with the words whats in the box behind him
media.tenor.com
I am receiving invitations to predatory/fake conferences every day, but this one feels like a personal burn 😅🔥
10 years after its founding, driven by the energy, enthusiasm, & dedication of the community @quantum-journal.bsky.social quietly published paper #2000 some days ago. At least I think this is a big deal, big shout out to the founders & all authors, reviewers, editors, board members & contributors!
Some quantum info researchers are reluctant to learn about non-CPTP maps, but are ultimately left with no Chois.
QuOI is happening?
QuOI Theory@quoi-theory.at · 6mo agoHey quantum Bluesky! Allow us to reintroduce ourselves! You may know us as QuIT: Marcus Huber's Quantum Information and Thermodynamics group at TU Wien. But we're so much more than that, and it's time our name reflected it. So say hello to... 𝗤𝘂𝗢𝗜? quoi-theory.at
Over on LinkedIn the spirit of the season is spreading with a joyous round of pre-holiday bragging about publication metrics 🎄
Was an honor and pleasure to serve as handling editor for this paper, not just because it was a very nice piece of work, but also bc I enjoy good puns and pop- (or in that case, rock-)culture references (admittedly, also the bad ones), not sure if the authors noticed mine in the decision letter
Quantum Journal@quantum-journal.bsky.social · 8mo agoPublished in Quantum: LUCI in the Surface Code with Dropouts by Dripto M. Debroy, Matt McEwen, Craig Gidney, Noah Shutty, and Adam Zalcman doi.org/10.22331/q-2...
Social(-media) experiment: I posted the same blurb on our new research paper on Bluesky and on LinkedIn. Apparently many more people from the quantum bubble on LinkedIn (~5 times as many reactions), but actual responses there mostly nonsense and people trying to plug their business
Quantum networks might one day enable more secure options for communication and distributed computation and are therefore currently a hot research topic, one which presents many challenges: One is the on-demand distribution of quantum systems that feature genuine multipartite entanglement (GME). 1/8
Is it just me that finds it weird how ingrained it is in science that research groups identify as "The PI's-last-name group" as if their research & research interests were entirely determined by the PI? To me this feels unnecessarily adhering to authority and fostering cults centered around PIs.
Hier übrigens eine sehr gute Einordnung, was die "Antifa" ist - und was nicht Von @nhoraczek.bsky.social
Blauland: Die „Antifa" verbieten – wer hat’s erfunden?
In den USA gilt „Antifa" seit kurzem als terroristische Organisation. Die FPÖ fordert seit Jahren, was US-Präsident Donald Trump nun umsetzt
falter.at
Promo video for the recent HSBC and IBM Quantum breakthrough in finance, if it was directed by Scott Aaronson. scottaaronson.blog?p=9170
You want to submit/have submitted your paper to Quantum and would like to speed the editorial process along? Suggest reviewers! You know the field and who has the expertise. But keep in mind who is likely to have time. Famous senior profs are not likely to reply to review requests.
Serious conclusion of yesterday's 1-hour research meeting: we might need anti-banana masks
Glad someone took the time to debunk the (obviously nonsensical) claim that Bell inequalities could be violated w/o entanglement. It is astonishing (to say the least) that this claim was made by experienced authors & that it passed peer review in the first place, does not reflect well on the journal
Bell Inequality Violations Without Entanglement? It's Just Postselection
Recently Wang et al. have reported a violation of a Bell inequality without entanglement [arXiv:2507.07756]. We show that their result is an artifact of postselection. It is well known that postselect...
arxiv.org
"our results indicate that academia pays a price by focusing attention and resources on superstars" Nice to see this supported by data analysis, now. H/T: @cxdig.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The innovation trade-off: how following superstars shapes academic novelty - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - The innovation trade-off: how following superstars shapes academic novelty
nature.com
Given that I recently saw an advert like that, I wonder, are students really interested in starting a PhD under the premise that they work in one country while the supervisor quite obviously works in another? Is the supervisor going back&forth? At least my students want to meet at least once a week
Dass die neue deutsche Bundesministerin für Wirtschaft "Reiche" heißt, ist mindestens so lustig, wie der Umstand, dass der ehemalige österreichische Bundesminister für Gesundheit "Rauch" heißt.
