Aephraim Steinberg

14 Apr

An exciting week for our group – first, Daniela's paper on observing negative "excitation times" was published (at long last!) in PRL: journals.aps.org/prl/abstract... ; (1/2)

14 Apr

and 2nd, Curt Jaimungal's @TOEwithCurt interview with me went live: we talked for 2 hrs about my lab's work on negative time, weak measurements, the arrow of time, quantum computers, the interpretation of quantum mechanics, and more. Link here: youtu.be/cOZ3Kto6NIc

19 Mar

So, I do have to say it: if you're in Denver at the #APSGlobalSummit, and will still be here (and awake) at 8am on Friday, please come to Mile-High Ballroom 4F, and I'll tell you about "The Private Lives of Photons: asking particles where they spent the night" – come

19 Mar

. . . listen to me claim that we've seen effects that only occur for photons whose time *and* frequency you know simultaneously! It's no fun to make such fringe-y sounding claims when there's no one around to tell me they think I'm out of my mind!

14,000 physicists are visiting Denver this week. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

14,000 physicists are visiting Denver this week. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

14,000 physicists are visiting Denver this week. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

awards.acm.orgCharles H. Bennett and Gilles Brassard are the recipients of the 2025 ACM A.M. Turing Award for their essential role in establishing the foundations of quantum information science and transforming sec...Bennett, an American physicist at IBM Research, and Brassard, a Canadian computer scientist at the Université de Montréal, are widely recognized as founders of quantum information science, a field at ...

Congratulations to two deep thinkers, to whom Physics and Computer Science both owe so much! awards.acm.org/about/2025-t...

3 Jan

Happy 2026, and hearty Congratulations to Antoine Browaeys, Misha Lukin, and Mark Saffman on the 9th biennial John Stewart Bell Prize for their ground-breaking work developing quantum computational technologies relying on tweezer arrays of Rydberg atoms! cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/bell-prize/b...

14 Dec 2025

Holiday throwback... our group around the turn of the Millennium, when we were younger and (even) more playful. CW from upper left, Stefan Myrskog, Jalani Kanem, some kid I don't recognize, Marcelo Martinelli, Ana Jofre, Mirco Siercke, & Samansa Maneshi.

29 Nov 2025

Find me another school whose fundraiser performances include a dramatic recitation of Catullus (in the original, certe) ! Vivat #TheAbelardSchool !

reuters.comTom Stoppard, playwright who dazzled with verbal gymnastics, dies aged 88"What's it about?" was a frequent response from bemused theatre-goers to "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", Tom Stoppard's first stage triumph.

29 Nov 2025

😞 The end of an era. [Extended 20th century, I guess.] Tom Stoppard, playwright who dazzled with verbal gymnastics, dies aged 88 - www.reuters.com/world/uk/bri...

5 Nov 2025

I love quantum computing (& quantum information science, even more), don't get me wrong -- but we have to acknowledge how much of the so-called "ecosystem" this captures:

8 Oct 2025

Put in mind of the Infinite Improbability Drive, as I listen to Bárbara Amaral explain over @cqiqc-uoft.bsky.social Quantum Tea how contextuality may power anomalous heat flow… see journals.aps.org/prxquantum/a... for more on her actual work... #Contextuality #QuantumThermodynamics

7 Oct 2025

Happy day of Quantum, and congratulations to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, & John Martinis! There's no stopping it now! #NobelPrize #SuperconductingQubits #QuantumTunneling nobelprize.org/prizes/physics…www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2025...df

24 Sept 2025

Crazy milestone passed over (I think) in silence – as of last November or so, I have spent over half my life as a professor at the University of Toronto. [Since as people my age understand, I firmly believe I'm in my early 30s, this implies that I became a professor at around 16.]

22 Sept 2025

Chuffed^* to announce our theory on how long an unabsorbed photon causes atoms to spend in the excited state is out: lnkd.in/gF--eQgV It extends the dichotomy to a confounding "simple to state, but looks wrong; turns out to be right, but this is difficult to prove."

22 Sept 2025

Hopefully the exp't paper will follow its sibling into print shortly, once we remove all the objectionable stuff about what the results actually mean, and deliver "just the facts, ma'am," to mollify our referees, at the risk of putting our readers to sleep+teaching them nothing

22 Sept 2025

^* – excuse the Briticism, but I'm running out of synonyms for "excited" in this context, and "thrilled" is too stereotypically LInkedIn/Twitter overhype–ish for my taste. (Our next experiment will be on measuring how long an atom spends in its chuffed state.)

U of T is thrilled to celebrate the Year of Quantum by advertising three new faculty positions! Please spread the word, encourage friends/mentees to apply, or consider applying yourself. (Links in rest of thread) #QuantumOptics #QuantumInformation #AMO @cqiqc-uoft.bsky.social

View full thread

jobs.utoronto.caAssociate Professor/Professor - Quantum ComputingAssociate Professor/Professor - Quantum Computing

We are also seeking an Associate/Full Professor in #QuantumComputing, joint in Physics and CS (jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-... –– **closes 18 Sep**!);

jobs.utoronto.caAssistant Professor- Photonics Quantum TechnologiesAssistant Professor- Photonics Quantum Technologies

and U of T Engineering is seeking an Assistant Professor in #Photonics #QuantumTechnologies (jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...) Send us your best, your brightest, your yearning to do #QuantumInCanada! Please reshare.

jobs.utoronto.caAssistant Professor - Theoretical Quantum OpticsAssistant Professor - Theoretical Quantum Optics

In the Department of Physics, we are seeking an Assistant Professor in theoretical #QuantumOptics (including AMO, applications to Quantum Information, et cetera – jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-... );

6 Sept 2025

Nominations for the 2026 #BellPrize are being accepted through September 30th, 2025 – please consider nominating the work from the past 6 yrs which you believe has done the most to advance #Quantum science. Please RT. (See cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/bell-prize/n... .) @CQIQC_Toronto

28 Aug 2025

Lazaro Felice! Seeing atoms floating in vacuum and glowing bright in the laser beams that suspend them there (while cooling them millions of times below room temp) should always be inspirational, even if it's now routine for AMO physicists & the MOT is nearing its 40th birthday.

28 Aug 2025

But after a colossal vacuum failure, this experiment had been down for just over 12 mths, so seeing any cold atoms here at all is just like bringing 3 of my students (& a part of me) back from the dead. Congratulations Kyle, Vida, & Andy on the fruit of a very frustrating year!

13 Aug 2025

Nominate the most innovative work on Fundamental Issues in Quantum Mechanics and their Applications for the 2026 John Stewart Bell Prize! (Pls rebleep!) See cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/bell-prize/n... Deadline 30 August 2025. #QuantumInformation #FoundationsOfQM #BellPrize #QuantumPhysics

youtube.comU2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Official Music Video)YouTube video by U2VEVO

23 July 2025

Heads-up: we'll be searching this Fall for a tenure-stream faculty member in Theoretical #QuantumOptics (#AMOPhysics #QuantumInformation) at U of T Physics @cqiqc-uoft.bsky.social Official ad out next month – please alert potential strong candidates you may know! www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3-5...

nature.comEnergy–speed relationship of quantum particles challenges Bohmian mechanics - NatureThe study of the relationship between particle speed and negative kinetic energy, arising in regions in which, according to classical mechanics, particles are not allowed to enter, reveals behaviour t...

2 July 2025

Super-fascinating new article out, on the speed of particles in a forbidden region. For me, it raises more questions than it answers, which is of course my favorite kind of experiment. Kudos to the authors for a novel approach and technical tour de force! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comTunnelling photons challenge interpretation of quantum mechanicsMeasurements with confined photons challenge a prediction that particles that ‘quantum tunnel’ into infinitely long barriers will get stuck.

2 July 2025

(See also Alessandro Fedrizzi & Fabio Biancalana's N&V, www.nature.com/articles/d41... )

nautil.usFinding Peter PutnamThe forgotten janitor who discovered the logic of the mind

1 July 2025

Finally got around to reading this fascinating article by Amanda Gefter -- kudos on an epic investigation and a gripping story! Sad but also inspiring. Thanks for making his writings publicly available - I hope this will lead to new inspirations as well as to restoring his legacy.

1 July 2025

Meanwhile, let's all keep trying to learn this lesson about understanding in what way every one is right (even when they're wrong).

nytimes.comUniversity of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration

27 June 2025

Disgusting Weaponizing the justice department, and research funding, against what the US has left of intellectual institutions. Against one of the real good guys, at that. His crime? Not dismantling efforts in support of equity vigorously enough. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/u...

22 June 2025

Fearing yet more war; hoping for peace. May war-mongering leaders be removed, and innocents everywhere be safe. What else is worth saying?

21 June 2025

RIP Ray Laflamme, gone too soon. Ray was a stellar scientist, the founding director of ⁦‪the IQC‬⁩ and ⁦‪of CIFAR's‬⁩ Quantum Information program, but more importantly a warm & generous human who built community and helped many (particularly junior researchers). May his memory be a blessing.

nature.comTraceable random numbers from a non-local quantum advantage - NatureA study demonstrates a public generator of random numbers based on device-independent techniques, with the randomness being fully auditable and traceable.

11 June 2025

Krister Shalm in the news again, with a new paper on the Colorado Random Number beacon. Well, we always did say that getting a paper into Nature was a roll of the dice... Always exciting to see our group members go on to lead such creative & successful efforts! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

optica.orgJoseph Eberly | OpticaOptica is the leading society in optics and photonics. Quality information and inspiring interactions through publications, meetings, and membership.

2 May 2025

Sad news. A great scientist & author, of course, but also a kind man and thoughtful teacher. He will be missed. www.optica.org/about/newsro...

1 May 2025

I like to hope we're already doing this in Physics (at least in most groups..), but a discussion around a more systematic approach like this would not be out of place.

22 Apr 2025

Theory and practice #FIAN 2014

18 Apr 2025

Just sharing for the yocks. Seriously, YOCTOjoules. How many of you have even *heard* that prefix before? That's 10^-5 visible photons, in case you're keeping count. "Fieldoscopy." arxiv.org/abs/2504.13121

nist.govQuantum and Dance: It Takes 2 to EntangleQuantum physics and dancing may seem very different, but they both rely on creativity and precision. Both have shaped one NIST researcher’s outlook on life

17 Apr 2025

Hey! Group alum making waves (or particles) ! www.nist.gov/blogs/taking... #WorldQuantumDay #Quantum #EntangledPhotons

2 Apr 2025

I was apprehensive about big airlines moving their routing to #QuantumComputers so early, but here we go... Lufthansa has inaugurated their new double-slit service! (It feels like we landed safely, but that may just be because of that eavesdropping observer in the background.)

home.cernCERN scientists find evidence of quantum entanglement in sheepThe CERN flock of sheep on site in 2017. (Image: CERN) Quantum entanglement is a fascinating phenomenon where two particles’ states are tied to each other, no matter how far apart the particles are. I...

1 Apr 2025

You know you have achieved peak fringe when someone publishes an April Fool's joke and you're disappointed they didn't cite your earlier work...;) home.cern/news/news/ph...

Aharon Brodutch@brodutch.bsky.social

@quantumaephraim.bsky.social I can't believe they didn't cite us 😛 home.cern/news/news/ph...

30 Mar 2025

Belatedly sharing the great news that my colleague Joseph Thywissen has been named a Fellow of @OpticaWorldwide ! Congratulations to a jolly good one! cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/news/recent-... @CQIQC_Toronto @uoftphysics

28 Mar 2025

Congrats to Melanie Woodin, U of T's next President! (Should say in passing that it seems to me she'll be our 1st female president, and it's especially heartening that this can happen without any one [until me, apologies- maybe one step of meta will excuse me] feeling that needs to be emphasized.)

University of Toronto@utoronto.ca

Melanie Woodin, an internationally recognized neuroscientist who studies the mechanisms underlying learning and memory in the brain, has been named #UofT’s 17th president. ➡️ uoft.me/uoftpres

28 Mar 2025

Correction -- UofT didn't think it worth mentioning; the Globe&Mail made it their headline ;)

28 Mar 2025

Kyle doing a masterful job of motivating and explaining our work on atomic excitation times in his #CQIQC seminar: www.physics.utoronto.ca/research/qua... [to appear on CQIQC youtube channel]

bbc.co.ukThe bizarre quantum paradox of 'negative time'Cause is usually followed by effect, but in the quantum world, time's sequencing is not so straightforward.

8 Mar 2025

Oh, another one! They kept some of my "Holland Tunnel" analogy, and then segué'd into Emily Adlam on retrocausality... Have only skimmed so far... how'd they do? Better than the rest so far, I trust? #NegativeTime #FoundationsOfQM www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

28 Feb 2025

Ok, something to remember the next time we're complaining about our "publish or perish" culture... #AcademicChatter