News Release

Quantum Information Theory Experts
To Meet in Lowell

For further information, contact:
Professor Beth Ruskai
Department of Mathematics
University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Office: (978) 934-2714
Fax: (978) 934-3053
Home: (781)646-9377
Email: bruskai@cs.uml.edu

March 24, 2000

LOWELL, MA---Quantum mechanics, the branch of physics that describes the weird world of the subatomic, is poised to revolutionize computing and communications. In recent years, researchers have realized that quantum properties of particles can be used to encode and transmit information securely.

The field of quantum information theory, although still in its infancy, is generating new ideas that will serve as the basis for vastly more powerful and secure means of computing and communicating than are available today. Mathematics plays a crucial role in this research, which depends on interactions among computer scientists, electrical engineers, physicists, and mathematicians.

This weekend, April 1-2, an international group of experts in quantum information theory will meet at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. The event takes place as part of a larger meeting of the American Mathematical Society.

Following are some highlights of this intriguing new area of research to be discussed at the meeting:

* TRANSMITTING INFORMATION SECURELY: The delicate properties of photon polarization can be used not only to create and distribute secure keys for encoding and decoding messages, but also to detect eavesdroppers. One of the speakers at the Lowell meeting is Richard J. Hughes of Los Alamos National Laboratories. Hughes has carried out groundbreaking experiments with Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) that may lead to quantum-based encryption devices for ground-to-satellite communications in just a few years' time.

* EXPERTS DISAGREE ON SECURITY: Are QKD schemes really secure? Some research shows that eavesdroppers can always be detected, while other research shows they sometimes elude detection. This seeming discrepancy arises out of the gulf between theory and practice: some models deal with idealized experiments, while others take into account real-world imperfections that could be exploited by eavesdroppers. Two speakers, Norbert Lütkenhaus of the Helsinki Institute of Physics and Vwani Roychowdhury of UCLA, will discuss this area of contention.

* NOISY QUANTUM CHANNELS: As with ordinary classical communication, dealing with noise or static is important. The variety of schemes for encoding and transmitting quantum information makes dealing with noise more complex and raises challenging new questions. Surprisingly, physics suggests that the model for a noisy quantum channel uses the notion of a "completely positive map", developed and studied by mathematicians more than thirty years ago in an entirely unrelated context. These ideas will be discussed in a plenary lecture by Mary Beth Ruskai of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, as well as by several other speakers at the meeting.

Registration for the meeting will take place in Olsen Hall on the Lowell campus, starting at 7:30AM on April 1. Complete details about the Lowell meeting may be found on the web at http://www.ams.org/amsmtgs/2047_progfull.html.

Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, the 30,000-member American Mathematical Society fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.