Scientific organizers:  Tommaso Calarco and Jacob Friis Sherson

This seminar is funded by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation.

Scientific background

Despite the prominent role that time-dependent, non-equilibrium quantum dynamics plays in contemporary physics, a series of open questions still exist concerning its limits in various aspects. One property recently emerged as best summarizing in a unified way the answer to most of these questions is the "Quantum Speed Limit", defined as the minimum time scale that it would take for a given system under the influence of a given set of external controls to perform a given evolution in its quantum state. 

Pushing quantum evolution to its limits was originally a question of mainly fundamental interest, but it quickly acquired a relevant applied dimension, as quantum technological applications increasingly seek to achieve high-fidelity operation of qubit processing over the shortest possible time scale in order to prevent the interaction with the environment from deteriorating the coherence process.

It is the goal of the 619. Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Seminar to advance the state-of-art of the "Quantum Speed Limit" and to build a community around this topic by bringing together experienced researchers of various fields working on related topics. In addition, we want to give PhD students and young postdoctoral researchers an introduction to this new and rapidly developing field.

In particular, we will cover the topics of

For each of these topics we have been able to attract lecturers whose pioneering work has formed these fields.

Structure of the seminar

On the first evening there will be an informal poster session with beer and wine. Here, the young researchers will be given the chance to present their own research to their peers and to the experienced, senior researchers. From these poster contributions a small jury will select three posters, which will be presented in short talks on the second evening (Thursday) following the dinner.
In addition, on Thursday afternoon there will be a short excursion in which the participants will walk to Burg Drachenfels. This will allow the participants to socialize as well as giving them the opportunity to discuss the scientific issues in a relaxed unconventional setting.

Program structure of the days of the seminar

The themes are covered and further developed by overview talks, poster session, and discussions. The seminar includes:

• 23 overview lectures: 30 minute lecture + 15 minute discussion
• Poster session: 2 hours with beer and wine (Wednesday evening)
• Poster prize: 3 presentations of 15 plus 5 minutes (Thursday evening)
• Excursion: Thursday afternoon.

Please register at the website: http://www.uni-ulm.de/nawi/nawiheraeus.html