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Profile
| Academic position | Associate Professor, Senior Lecturer, Reader |
|---|---|
| Research fields | Theoretical Physics,Atomic Physics, Molecular Physics, Laser Physics,Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics |
| Keywords | Decoherence, quantum chaos, Bose-Einstein condensates, information theory |
Current contact address
| Country | United States of America |
|---|---|
| City | Los Alamos |
| Institution | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
| Institute | Theory Division, T-DOT |
Host during sponsorship
| Prof. Dr. Christof Wetterich | Institut für Theoretische Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg |
|---|---|
| Start of initial sponsorship | 01/03/2006 |
Program(s)
| 2005 | Humboldt Research Award Programme |
|---|
Nominator's project description
| Professor Zurek has shaped our modern understanding of the connection and transition between quantum physics and classical physics. The meaning of quantum states and measurements in quantum physics has for a long time remained a philosophical and conceptual discussion. The issue is full of paradoxes, like Schrödinger's question, why a cat cannot be half alive and half dead, or more precisely, cannot be a superposition of these two states. Professor Zurek has promoted the understanding of decoherence, describing quantitatively why and how quantum states become classical. More simply, this tells us why a cat is either alive or dead. Professor Zurek has also made central contributions to quantum information theory. In particular, his "no cloning theorem" is very important for quantum cryptography. In Germany he continues to work on decoherence theory and its applications to ultracold and nonlinear systems |