100 YEARS OF QUANTUM MECHANICS

100 YEARS OF QUANTUM MECHANICS






Join us in 2025 for a workshop on the island of Helgoland on the 100th anniversary of Werner Heisenberg's trip to the island, during which he developed Matrix Mechanics, the first formulation of Quantum Theory.

The workshop will focus on the increasingly fruitful intersection between the foundations of quantum mechanics and the application of these foundations in real-world settings.

This conference is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Office, and the DFG German Research Foundation.

Program

All talks are 30 minutes + 5 minutes for questions, and all panels are 60 minutes
* indicates panel discussion leader.

Hours Session Location
9h - 17h30

Daytime

Travel to Hamburg

On your own
Hamburg, Germany
17h30 - 20h

Evening

Conference Banquet

17h30 - Start of registration
18h - Opening of reception (drinks)
[registration still ongoing]
18h30 - Start of dinner
Hotel Atlantic
An d. Alster 72-79, 20099 Hamburg, Germany
20 - 22h

Evening

Historical Talks

Chair: Jun Ye (University of Colorado Boulder)

Alfred Douglas Stone (Yale University)

Stages in the Conceptual Development of Quantum Science


Elise Crull (City College of New York)

It takes two to entangle: Early debates on quantum nonlocality


Philip Ball (Science Writer)

The way to Helgoland: Quantum theory in 1924-5

Hotel Atlantic
An d. Alster 72-79, 20099 Hamburg, Germany
Hours Session Location
9h - 12h30

Morning

Travel to Helgoland

Ferry “Halunder Jet” Hamburg to Helgoland
Ticket included in registration fee
Bei den St. Pauli Landungsbrücken,
Brücke 3/4 (water-side), 20359 Hamburg
12h30 - 15h

Afternoon

Free time

Lunch on your own
Helgoland Island
15h - 17h

Afternoon

Poster 1

Dinner on your own
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
18h45

Evening

Welcome address

Thorsten Pollmann - The Mayor of Helgoland will address the scientific community to launch the conference on the island
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
19h - 21h

Evening

Session: Foundations 1

Chair: Markus Aspelmeyer (University of Vienna)

Christopher Fuchs (Umass Boston)

The fascinating history of X and Z


Nicolas Gisin (University of Geneva)

From Bell inequalities to Quantum Measurements


Renato Renner (ETH Zürich)

Quantum foundations and gravity as oracles for each other


Break
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
21h - 22h

Evening

Panel: Foundations

Alain Aspect (Institut d'Optique Orsay)
Gilles Brassard (University of Montreal)
Adan Cabello (University of Seville)
*Carlton Caves (University of New Mexico)
Anton Zeilinger (University of Vienna)
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
Hours Session Location
9h - 12h

Morning

Information 1

Chair: Nathalie de Leon (Princeton)

Isaac Chuang (MIT)

From It to Qubit: A Journey of Quantum Information


Aashish Clerk (University of Chicago)

Quantum versus classical dephasing dynamics: surprises in the many-body limit


Coffee

Mikhail Lukin (Harvard University)

Exploring the quantum computing frontier using neutral atoms


Wojciech Zurek (Los Alamos National Laboratory)

Decoherence and quantum darwinism

Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
12h - 15h

Afternoon

Free time

Lunch on your own
Helgoland Island
15h - 17h

Afternoon

Poster 2

Dinner on your own
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
19h - 21h

Evening

Session: Quantum and Spacetime 1

Chair: Markus Arndt (University of Vienna)

Juan Maldacena (Institute for Advanced Study)

A quantum spacetime

Magdalena Zych (The University of Queensland)

Uncertainty Principle for spacetime trajectories


Jun Ye (University of Colorado Boulder)

Scaling clock performance for fundamental physics


Break
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
21h - 22h

Evening

Panel: Quantum and Spacetime

Marios Christodoulou (Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Vienna)
Lucien Hardy (Perimeter Institute)
Igor Pikovski (Stevens Institute of Technology)
*John Preskill (Caltech)
William Unruh (University of British Columbia)
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
Hours Session Location
9h - 12h

Morning

Session: Quantum and Spacetime 2

Chair: Angelo Bassi (University of Trieste)


Markus Aspelmeyer (University of Vienna)

Quantum sources of gravity in the lab: status & challenges


Flaminia Giacomini (ETH Zürich)

What can we learn from testing the gravitational field of a quantum source?


Coffee

Markus Arndt (University of Vienna)

Raising Schrödinger's cat: from carbon kittens to metal cats


Carlo Rovelli (Aix-Marseille University)

From quanta of light to quanta of space: theory and observations in loop quantum gravity.


Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
12h - 15h

Afternoon

Free time

Lunch on your own
Helgoland Island
14h - 15h

Afternoon

Public Lecture (in German): 100 Jahre Quantenphysik – und das ist erst der Anfang

Rainer Blatt (Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck)
[100 Years of Quantum Physics – And that's just the Beginning]
(Click here for the full abstract in German and English)
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
15h - 17h

Afternoon

Poster 3

Dinner on your own
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
19h - 21h

Evening

Session: Quantum Information 2

Chair: Ana Maria Rey (JILA)
Vedika Khemani (Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics)

Topological Quantum Spin Glass Order: A new route to quantum memory


Aram Harrow (MIT)

Quantum information and many-body entanglement


Ignacio Cirac (MPQ)

Quantum Computing and Simulation in the presence of errors


Break
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
21h - 22h

Evening

Panel: Quantum Information

Charles Bennett (IBM)
*Liang Jiang (University of Chicago)
Robert Schoelkopf (Yale University)
Michelle Simmons (UNSW Sydney)
Birgitta Whaley (University of California Berkeley)
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
Hours Session Location
9h - 12h

Morning

Session: Foundation & Quantum Sensing

Chair: Aashish Clerk (University of Chicago)

Robert Spekkens (Perimeter Institute)

On achieving realism in quantum theory


Gemma De les Coves (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)

Interfaces of quantum theory with other disciplines


Coffee
David Moore (Yale University)

Mechanical quantum sensors for the invisible universe


Cindy Regal (JILA)

Quantum mechanical motion at the mesoscale


Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
12h - 15h

Afternoon

Free time

Lunch on your own
Helgoland Island
15h - 17h

Afternoon

Poster 4

Dinner on your own
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
19h - 21h

Evening

Session: Macroscopic quantum
phenomena & decoherence

Chair: Magdalena Zych (The University of Queensland)

Michel Devoret (Google Quantum & UC Santa Barbara)

Synthetic atoms versus natural atoms: Emergence of coherent quantum degrees of freedom in superconducting circuits


Yiwen Chu (ETH Zürich)

Massive mechanical objects in the quantum regime


Angelo Bassi (University of Trieste)

Are there quantum jumps?


Break
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
21h - 22h

Evening

Panel: Macroscopic quantum
phenomena & decoherence

Serge Haroche (ENS Paris)
*Gerard Milburn (University of Queensland)
Ana Maria Rey (JILA)
Christine Silberhorn (University of Paderborn)
David Wineland (University of Oregon)
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
Hours Session Location
9h - 12h

Morning

Session: New platforms

Chair: Cindy Regal (JILA)

Rainer Blatt (Universität Innsbruck)

Quantum computation and quantum simulation with strings of trapped Ca+ ions)


Nathalie de Leon (Princeton)

Low-loss materials for 2D transmons with lifetimes and coherence times exceeding 1 millisecond


Coffee

Jian-Wei Pan (USTC)

Dream or Reality Quantum Information Processing the Past, Present and Beyond


Nergis Mavalvala (MIT)

Quantum opportunities in gravitational wave detection and beyond

Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
12h - 13h

Afternoon

Panel: The next 100 years

Gerd Leuchs (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light)
Lorenzo Maccone (University of Pavia)
*Tracy Northup (University of Innsbruck)
Roman Schnabel (University of Hamburg)
Peter Zoller (University of Innsbruck)
Nordseehalle,
Nord-Ost-Land 1430, 27498 Helgoland, Germany
16h30 - 20h15

Evening

Helgoline GmbH & Co. KG,
Hafenstraße 1005 (lobster stall 37), 27498 HelgolandGermany
Download the at-a-glance program

Public Lecture (in German)
100 Jahre Quantenphysik – und das ist erst der Anfang

Rainer Blatt

Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck
Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck
Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH, Innsbruck



Headshot of Blatt

Vor 100 Jahren revolutionierte die Quantenphysik unser Verständnis der Welt auf fundamentaler Ebene. Was einst als bizarre Theorie galt, ist heute die Grundlage für Technologien, die unseren Alltag prägen. In diesem Vortrag nehmen wir Sie mit auf eine spannende Reise durch die Geschichte und in die Zukunft der Quantenphysik. Wir erklären, wie es gelang, in die Welt der Atome einzudringen und ihre geheimnisvollen Eigenschaften zu entschlüsseln. Wie diese Erkenntnisse zu bahnbrechenden Entwicklungen wie dem Transistor, dem Laser und dem GPS geführt haben.

Doch das ist erst der Anfang: Im 21. Jahrhundert erleben wir die nächste Quantenrevolution. Wir werfen einen Blick auf die aufregenden Fortschritte in der Quantentechnologie und zeigen, wie Quantencomputer die Welt verändern könnten. Von der Entwicklung neuer Materialien bis hin zur Lösung komplexer Probleme – die Möglichkeiten scheinen endlos.

Tauchen Sie ein in eine faszinierende Reise von den Anfängen der Quantenmechanik bis hin zu ihren neuesten Anwendungen und erfahren Sie, warum das 21. Jahrhundert als das Zeitalter der Quantentechnologien gilt.

Lesen Sie die Zusammenfassung

Registration


Applications are open as of April 25, 2024, and we encourage everyone interested to apply as soon as possible, preferably before the end of May 2024!

We welcome contributions by registered participants in the form of posters.

Due to the limited number of spots, all applications are screened by the organization team on a rolling basis and we expect to have a competitive selection. You will therefore first be added to a waiting list. Once your application is approved, we will let you know and you will be able to book your accommodation (we expect you to team up with roommates for shared double rooms) and transfer the registration fee of €700 . Your poster abstract (which may include references) can give us a good indication of how your work connects to the topics of this conference.

The scientific program starts with a conference banquet and first talks in a hotel in Hamburg on Monday, June 9. After staying overnight, participants will jointly take the ferry to the island of Helgoland on Tuesday morning. Scientific sessions including talks, panels and poster sessions will run until Saturday morning (June 14). Saturday afternoon will see the departure by ferry back to Hamburg. We recommend international participants to fly into Hamburg.

APPLY HERE Registration is closed

Accommodation

Note: Hotels have already been booked for invited speakers/panelists



Helgoland: Aerial View

Photo by Carsten Steger - Wikimedia Commons

Owing to the small size of the island and the limited hotel capacity, please note that we expect you to team up with roommates for shared double rooms. We will review applications on a rolling basis, starting May 1, to allow ample time for provisionally accepted participants to book accommodation.

On acceptance, we will provide you with a booking code to book a pre-reserved room in the following hotels, and can help you find a roommate. Once you have secured accommodation, your acceptance is finalized. The total amount of participants will be limited not by the lecture venue but by the accommodation on the island.








If all the above hotels are fully booked, or for larger groups, it is possible to find appartment houses.
And for the adventurous among you, we point out that Helgoland has a camping ground. Please be aware, both options need to be reserved in advance, and we are not able to reserve a contingent for participants for these alternative accommodations.

Ferry to Helgoland



Ferry to Helgoland

HSC "Halunder Jet" - Photo by FRS Helgoline



The registration fee will include a ferry transfer on the HSC "Halunder Jet" to and from the island of Helgoland, from Hamburg.

Departure from Hamburg on Tuesday, June 10th, 9h - Arrival at Helgoland at 12h45
Departure from Helgoland on Saturday June 14th, 16h30 (4:30 pm) - Arrival at Hamburg at 20h15 (8:15 pm)

On Helgoland



The organizers have prepared information about the amenities on the island, sent to all attendees in April.



Amenities on the island

Get in Touch

Contact

helgoland2025@mpl.mpg.de

Program Committee

Časlav Brukner - IQOQI Vienna
Steve Girvin - Yale Quantum Institute
Jack Harris - Yale Quantum Institute
Florian Marquardt – Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light

Organization Committee

Patrick Hoyer - Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light
Katharina Kißner - Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light
Gesine Murphy – Max Planck Institute for the Science of Lighte
Florian Carle – Yale Quantum Institute
Theophilus Human - Yale Quantum Institute