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Quantum World 3 Seminar

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Venue: BME, F building, new seminar room above the Theoretical Physics Department, 1st floor, opposite the stairs, enter and then to the right [map]
The seminar is held in a hybrid format. You can follow the events at this link.
We start at Mondays, 4.15pm Budapest time, you can check the time zone here.
We also have an email list: quantumworld@googlegroups.com .
All participants familiarize themselves with the weekly paper in advance, so the presentations sometimes turn into discussions.

Upcoming sessions:


1 December 2025
Paper: J. Riedel: Wavefunction branches demand a definition link
By Jess Riedel (online)


8 December 2025
Title: Resurgence theory: from perturbation theory to non-perturbative phenomena I
Paper 1: R. C. Helling: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love QFT link, section 1 and 2
Paper 2: M. Serone: Lectures on Resurgence in Integrable Field Theories link, section 1 and 2
Abstract It is well known that quantum mechanical and quantum field theoretical perturbation theory leads to an asymptotic expansion, which is generally divergent and used in practice only as an approximation based on its first few terms. Resurgence theory tells us how the large-order behaviour of this series encodes information about the physics far beyond the perturbative regime, and how this knowledge can be extracted to extrapolate towards the non-perturbative value of the expanded quantity, at least in principle. Although at present this program can be realized and tested only on certain toy models of QFT, it is speculated that it might eventually help to provide a continuum definition of quantum field theories, or to improve the calculated values of quantities governed by non-perturbative effects in low-energy quantum chromodynamics.
By István Vona


15 December 2025
Title: Resurgence theory: from perturbation theory to non-perturbative phenomena II
Paper 1: R. C. Helling: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love QFT link (section 1 and 2)
Paper 2: M. Serone: Lectures on Resurgence in Integrable Field Theories link (section 1 and 2)
By István Vona

Previous sessions:

8 September 2025
Paper: C. Emary, N. Lambert, F. Nori: Leggett–Garg inequalities link
By Márton Kormos


15 September 2025
Paper: F. Pastawski, B. Yoshida, D. Harlow, J. Preskill: Holographic quantum error-correcting codes: toy models for the bulk/boundary correspondence link
By Péter Lévay

29 September 2025
Paper: A. Bassi, K. Lochan, S. Satin, T. P. Singh, H. Ulbricht: Models of wave-function collapse, underlying theories, and experimental tests link part II
By Máté Lencsés


6 October 2025
Paper: A. Tilloy: General quantum-classical dynamics as measurement based feedback link
By Antoine Tilloy (online)


13 October 2025
Paper: J. Taylor, P. McCulloh: Wavefunction branching: when you can’t tell pure states from mixed states link
By Tibor Rakovszky


20 October 2025
Paper: A. Bassi, K. Lochan, S. Satin, T. P. Singh, H. Ulbricht: Models of wave-function collapse, underlying theories, and experimental tests link part III/B
By Máté Lencsés


27 October 2025
Paper: JM. A. Allen, J. Barrett, D. C. Horsman, C. M. Lee, R. W. Spekkens: Quantum Common Causes and Quantum Causal Models link
By Szilárd Szalay


3 November 2025
Paper: N. Ormrod, J. Barrett: Quantum influences and event relativity link
By Nicholas Ormrod (online)


10 November 2025
Paper: J. Taylor, P. McCulloh: Wavefunction branching: when you can’t tell pure states from mixed states, continued from section VI link
Title: Finding Non-Interfering Decompositions in Matrix Product States
Abstract: We present practical algorithms for finding non-interfering "branch" decompositions in Matrix Product States (MPS). It establishes conditions, such as block-diagonality in tensor structure, sufficient for non-interference. Novel iterative and gradient-based algorithms are developed and tested to find these decompositions. Finally, a time evolution protocol is introduced that leverages these decompositions and samples over the branches, demonstrating advantages over standard MPS truncation methods for simulating quantum dynamics.
By Jordan Taylor (online)


17 November 2025
Paper: D. Schmid, K. Ried, R. W. Spekkens: Why initial system-environment correlations do not imply the failure of complete positivity: A causal perspective link
By David Schmid (online)


24 November 2025
Title: Approximately decoherent histories
Abstract: The decoherent histories condition is in one-to-one correspondence with records about past events in an isolated quantum system and as such is essential to study the many worlds (and related) interpretations. Alas, this is only true for exactly decoherent histories, but in reality interesting non-trivial histories are only approximately decoherent. In this talk we delve deeper into the topic of approximate decoherence assuming a Hilbert space of finite dimension D. We reveal that there are >> D many approximately decoherent histories, whereas observers inside the Multiverse can only reliably distinguish << D many records. To investigate the latter we define the "selflocation problem" as a coherent version of quantum state discrimination. Eventually, this conundrum leads to a "branch selection problem". If time permits we will also discuss the structure of decoherence between different branches of the Multiverse based on a numerical example.
By Philipp Strasberg (online)


List of interesting papers:


Add new papers here


B. Ferté, D. Farci, X. Cao: Decoherent histories with(out) objectivity in a (broken) apparatus link


W. Zurek: Consensus About Classical Reality in a Quantum Universe link


D. Carney, M. Karydas, T. Scharnhorst, R. Singh, J. Taylor: On the quantum mechanics of entropic forces link


R. Blume-Kohout, W. Zurek: A Simple Example of “Quantum Darwinism”: Redundant Information Storage in Many-Spin Environments link


E. Doucet, S. Deffner: Compatibility of quantum measurements and the emergence of classical objectivity link


B. Ferté, X. Cao: Solvable model of quantum Darwinism-encoding transitions link


G. Lindblad: Decoherence properties of finite quantum systems link


G. Higgens, A. Di Biagio, M. Christodoulou: A truly relativistic gravity mediated entanglement protocol using superpositions of rotational energies link


L. Diósi: A healthier stochastic semiclassical gravity: world without Schrödinger cats link


F. Giacomini, E. Castro-Ruiz, C. Brukner: Quantum mechanics and the covariance of physical laws in quantum reference frames link


A. Touil, F. Anza, S. Deffner, JP Crutchfield: Branching States as The Emergent Structure of a Quantum Universe link


P. Figueroa-Romero, K. Modi, and FA. Pollock: Almost Markovian processes from closed dynamics link