A New Take on the Oldest Physics: What Actually Happened Right After the Big Bang?

Senior investigators Zohreh Davoudi, Nicole Yunger Halpern, and Chris Jarzynski are collaborating to blend three disparate fields of physics—the study of elementary particles and their interactions, the understanding of temperature and heat in quantum mechanics, and quantum simulation—to create a novel approach to understanding and modeling the physics of the early universe and high-energy collisions.

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With the support of the National Science Foundation, the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation uses quantum simulation to gain insight into and take advantage of the rich behavior of complex quantum systems. Work at the Institute is organized into three major research challenges.

RESEARCH CHALLENGES

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News

Mysteriously Mundane Turbulence Revealed in 2D Superfluid
April 21, 2025
RQS Senior Investigator Honored by Washington Academy of Sciences
April 11, 2025
RQS Summer School Prepares Next Generation of Quantum Researchers
March 14, 2025

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Events

April 24, 2025 1:00 pm
RQS Seminar
Efficient Noise and Fidelity Estimation of Fault-Tolerant Quantum Circuits
Xiao XiaoUniversity of Maryland
May 8, 2025 11:00 am
RQS Seminar
The Rayleigh-Taylor instability in a binary quantum fluid
Ian Spielman & Yanda GengUniversity of Maryland
June 4, 2025 9:00 am
RQS Annual Events
RQS Annual Workshop 2025

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Latest Publications

Emergent unitary designs for encoded qubits from coherent errors and syndrome measurements
, , arXiv, (2025)
Polynomial-Time Classical Simulation of Noisy Circuits with Naturally Fault-Tolerant Gates
, , arXiv, (2025)
Clifford-Deformed Compass Codes
, , arXiv, (2025)

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I’m fascinated by entropy because it’s this abstract concept, quantified with a funny-looking function, but it has such important real-life implications.

Nicole Yunger Halpern