PSI(T) launched its brand new talk series on electives, on the 1st of September, with the topic in discussion being Quantum Field Theory presented by Sharang R. Iyer, a fifth year BS-MS Student. Dr. Anil Shaji from School of Physics teaches this course.The essence of this theory is that it combines classical relativity and quantum mechanics. These are steps leading to the unified theory and the standard model. The problem of time in Schrodinger’s equation, negative energy solutions for relativistic wave equations, etc are studied. Other topics that are covered include quantum ideas involving states of various particles, classical field theory( which involves the math of vectors, tensors and spinors), Klein-Gordon Field and Dirac Field, quantizing and Feynman diagrams. Overall it was a fruitful discussion, which gave an insight into one of the electives provided here in IISER Thiruvananthapuram to students looking to major in physics

It is evident that whenever quantum physicists give an object or phenomena the title of “quantum”, chances are that it serves as a window into a mysterious world of unseen possibilities and challenges alike. And so, in line with that thought, the topic of discussion is related to quantum computing, particularly spin qubits. Quantum computers are devices that perform computations based on quantum principles such as superposition,entanglement and interference. The computers that we use everyday perform operations using bits such as 0 and 1. Analogous to this, the quantum computer uses quantum bits or qubits that can be zero and one or a superposition of these two states. A photon,electron or even a nucleus can be used as a qubit. All the fuss about quantum computing makes it seem like it is the next big thing in the tech world, and as we are at the dawn of the era of artificial intelligence, the power of quantum computing might serve as the key to unlocking the gates to a new frontier and who knows what we will be able to achieve with it.