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Research
Below you will find all information on my research interests and activities, including a list of my publications, talks, and posters.
CV
Research Statement
My research lies at the intersection of quantum foundations, relativistic quantum information, and interpretable artificial intelligence. A central theme running through this work is the role of physical structure in constraining what can be learned, processed, and operationally accessed by an agent embedded in the world. On one side, I study how nonclassical resources such as contextuality behave in relativistic and quantum-field-theoretic settings, with the broader aim of understanding what these resources can tell us about spacetime, causality, and the limits of physical knowledge. This includes work on contextuality harvesting from quantum fields and on relativistic models of quantum computation in which motion and field-mediated interactions become computational resources in their own right.
In parallel, I work on interpretable learning models, especially projective simulation and its extensions, where physically motivated structure can be used both to improve performance and to preserve conceptual transparency. Here I am interested in the extent to which ideas from physics, such as locality, few-body structure, and dynamical constraints, can serve as useful inductive biases for learning agents without sacrificing interpretability. Taken together, these research directions reflect a common concern: how the formal structure of a theory shapes what systems can represent, infer, and do. I am particularly interested in problems where foundational questions and constructive models inform one another, so that advances in quantum theory, relativity, and machine learning can each sharpen the others.
Research Themes
- Contextuality in relativistic settings and QFT
- Relativistic quantum computing and machine learning
- Projective simulation & explainable AI
- AI for scientific discovery
- Knowledge in quantum theory
Trajectory
Research Timeline
A compact view of how the themes on the site connect over time.
2019
Gravity and Compact Objects
Early work centered on general relativity, thin shells, and compact-object intuition.
2022-2023
Polymer Self-Consistent Field Theory
Attention shifted toward quantum chemistry, orbital-free approaches, and shell structure in atoms.
2024
Projective Simulation and Interpretable AI
A new thread emerged around explainable agents, hypergraph structure, and physically inspired inductive biases.
2024-2026
Relativistic Quantum Information
Current work focuses on relativistic quantum computing, contextuality harvesting, and the interface between spacetime and quantum resources.
Map
Research Graph
The main projects on the site are not isolated: they feed each other conceptually.
Quantum Foundations
Contextuality, harvesting, and the structure of nonclassical resources.
Interpretable AI
Projective simulation, agency, and physically motivated model structure.
Spacetime and Information
The central thread tying together relativity, knowledge, and computation.
Scientific Discovery
Using interpretable models and simulations to generate understanding instead of black-box predictions alone.
Relativistic Quantum Computing
Motion and field-mediated interactions used as computational primitives.
Computational Physics
Simulation, numerics, and polymer-inspired field-theory methods.
Publications
Below is a list of my publications, with the arXiv versions here.
Abstract
Quantum contextuality is the notion that certain measurement scenarios do not admit a global description of their statistics and has been implicated as the source of quantum advantage in a number of quantum information protocols. It has been shown that contextuality generalizes the concepts of nonlocal entanglement and magic and is an equivalent notion of nonclassicality to Wigner negativity. In this paper, the protocol of contextuality harvesting is introduced, and it is shown that Unruh-DeWitt models are capable of harvesting quantum contextuality from the vacuum of a massless scalar quantum field. In particular, it is shown that gapless systems can be made to harvest contextuality given a suitable choice of measurements. The harvested contextuality is also seen to behave similarly to harvested magic and can be larger in magnitude for specific parameter regimes. An Unruh-DeWitt qubit-qutrit system is also investigated, where it is shown that certain tradeoffs exist between the harvested contextuality of the qutrit and the harvested entanglement between the systems and that there are regimes where the two resources can both be present. Some of the tools of contextuality, namely the contextual fraction, are also imported and used as general measures for any form of harvested contextuality, including nonlocal entanglement and magic. Additionally, new criteria for genuine harvesting are put forward that also apply to individual systems, revealing new permissible harvesting parameter regimes.
Abstract
We present an explicit construction of a relativistic quantum computing architecture using a variational quantum circuit approach that is shown to allow for universal quantum computing. The variational quantum circuit consists of tunable single-qubit rotations and entangling gates that are implemented successively. The single-qubit rotations are parameterized by the proper time intervals of the qubits’ trajectories and can be tuned by varying their relativistic motion in spacetime. The entangling layer is mediated by a relativistic quantum field instead of through direct coupling between the qubits. Within this setting, we give a prescription for how to use quantum field-mediated entanglement and manipulation of the relativistic motion of qubits to obtain a universal gate set, for which compact nonperturbative expressions that are valid for general spacetimes are also obtained. We also derive a lower bound on the channel fidelity that shows the existence of parameter regimes in which all entangling operations are effectively unitary, despite the noise generated from the presence of a mediating quantum field. Finally, we consider an explicit implementation of the quantum Fourier transform with relativistic qubits.
Abstract
A mapping is made between fermion exchange and excluded volume in the quantum-classical isomorphism using polymer self-consistent field theory. Apart from exchange, quantum particles are known to be exactly representable in classical statistical mechanics as ring polymers, with contours that are parametrized by the inverse thermal energy, often called the imaginary time. Evidence in support of a previously used approximation for fermion exchange in ring polymer self-consistent field theory is given, specifically, that the use of all-contour interactions in the mean field picture instead of equal imaginary time interactions is justified based on the symmetry of ring polymers. It is also shown that the removal of forbidden thermal trajectories, both those that violate excluded volume directly and those that represent topologically inaccessible microstates, is equivalent to antisymmetric exchange. The electron density of the beryllium atom is calculated with ring polymer self-consistent field theory ignoring classical correlations, and very good agreement is found with Hartree-Fock theory which also neglects Coulomb correlations. The total binding energies agree to within less than 6%, which, while still far from chemical accuracy, is remarkable given that the field theory equations are derived from first principles with zero free parameters. The discrepancy between self-consistent field theory and Hartree-Fock theory is attributed to classical Coulomb self-interactions which are included in Hartree-Fock theory but not in self-consistent field theory. A potential method to improve the agreement by more accurately representing electron-electron self-interactions in self-consistent field theory is discussed, as are the implications for quantum foundations of the quantum-classical mapping between fermion exchange and thermal trajectory excluded volume.
Abstract
With the impressive progress of deep learning, applications relying on machine learning are increasingly being integrated into daily life. However, most deep learning models have an opaque, oracle-like nature that makes it difficult to interpret and understand their decisions. This problem led to the development of the field known as eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI). One method in this field known as Projective Simulation (PS) models a chain-of-thought as a random walk of a particle on a graph with vertices that have concepts attached to them. While this description has various benefits, including the possibility of quantization, it cannot be naturally used to model thoughts that combine several concepts simultaneously. To overcome this limitation, we introduce Multi-Excitation Projective Simulation (MEPS), a generalization that considers a chain-of-thought to be a random walk of several particles on a hypergraph. A definition for a dynamic hypergraph is put forward to describe the agent’s training history along with applications to AI and hypergraph visualization. An inductive bias inspired by the remarkably successful few-body interaction models used in quantum many-body physics is formalized for our classical MEPS framework and employed to tackle the exponential complexity associated with naive implementations of hypergraphs. We prove that our inductive bias reduces the complexity from exponential to polynomial, with the exponent representing the cutoff on the number of particles that can interact. We numerically apply our method to two toy model environments and a more complex scenario that models the diagnosis of a broken computer. These environments demonstrate the resource savings provided by an appropriate choice of the inductive bias, as well as showcasing aspects of interpretability. A quantum model for MEPS is also briefly outlined and some future directions for it are discussed.
Abstract
A representation of polymer self-consistent field theory equivalent to quantum density functional theory is given in terms of non-orthogonal basis sets. Molecular integrals and self-consistent equations for spherically symmetric systems using Gaussian basis functions are given, and the binding energies and radial electron densities of neutral atoms hydrogen through krypton are calculated. An exact electron self-interaction correction is adopted and the Pauli-exclusion principle is enforced through ideas of polymer excluded-volume. The atoms hydrogen through neon are examined without some approximations which permit cancellation of errors and spontaneous shell structure is observed. Correlations are neglected in the interest of simplicity and comparisons are made with Hartree–Fock theory. The implications of the Pauli-exclusion potential and its approximate form are discussed, and the Pauli model is analyzed using scaling theory for the uniform electron density case where the correct form of the Thomas–Fermi quantum kinetic energy and the Dirac exchange correction are recovered.
Abstract
An alternative approach to density functional theory based on self-consistent field theory for ring polymers is applied to neutral atoms hydrogen to neon in their ground-states. The spontaneous emergence of an atomic shell structure and spherical symmetry-breaking of the total electron density are predicted by the model using the ideas of polymer excluded-volume between pairs of electrons to enforce the Pauli-exclusion principle and an exact electron self-interaction correction. The Pauli potential is approximated by neglecting inter-atomic correlations along with other types of correlations, and comparisons to Hartree–Fock theory are made, which also ignores correlations. The model shows excellent agreement with Hartree–Fock theory to within the standards of orbital-free density functional theory for the atomic binding energies and density profiles of the first six elements, providing exact matches for the elements hydrogen and helium. The predicted shell structure starts to deviate significantly past the element neon, and spherical symmetry-breaking is first predicted to occur at carbon instead of boron. The self-consistent field theory energy functional that describes the model is decomposed into thermodynamic components to trace the origin of spherical symmetry-breaking. It is found to arise from the electron density approaching closer to the nucleus in non-spherical distributions, which lowers the energy despite resulting in frustration between the quantum kinetic energy, electron–electron interaction, and the Pauli exclusion interaction. The symmetry-breaking effect is found to have a minimal impact on the binding energies, which suggests that the spherical-averaging approximation used in previous work is physically reasonable when investigating atomic systems. The pair density contour plots display behavior similar to polymer macro-phase separation, where individual electron pairs occupy single lobe structures that together form a dumbbell shape analogous to the 2p orbital shape. It is further shown that the predicted densities satisfy known constraints and produce the same total electronic density profile that is predicted by other formulations of quantum mechanics.
Abstract
We consider thin spherical shells of matter in both Newtonian gravity and general relativity and examine their equilibrium configurations and dynamical stability. Thin-shell models are admittedly a poor substitute for realistic stellar models. But the simplicity of the equations that govern their dynamics, compared to the much more complicated mechanics of a self-gravitating fluid, allows us to deliver, in a very direct and easy manner, powerful insights into their equilibria and stability. We explore, in particular, the link between the existence of a maximum mass along a sequence of equilibrium configurations and the onset of dynamical instability. Such a link is well-established in the case of fluid bodies in both Newtonian gravity and general relativity, but the demonstration of this link is both subtle and difficult. The proof is very simple, however, in the case of thin shells, and it is constructed with nothing more than straightforward algebra and a little calculus.
My publication list is also available to download as a BibTeX file.
Publication Codes
The following publications have an associated GitHub repository that contains the code used to obtain some or all of the results and to generate the plots:
- A Universal Quantum Computer from Relativistic Motion / repo
- Harvesting Contextuality from the Vacuum / repo
- Gaussian Basis Functions for a Polymer Self-Consistent Field Theory of Atoms / repo
- On the Origins of Spontaneous Spherical Symmetry-Breaking in Open-Shell Atoms Through Polymer Self-Consistent Field Theory / repo
- Multi-Excitation Projective Simulation with a Many-Body Physics Inspired Inductive Bias / repo
Current Projects
I have a number of interesting projects currently occupying my time, with many centred around extensions to my three most recent papers. Here is a quick list:
- Moving away from the gapless setting and loosening the parameter restrictions placed on the relativistic variational quantum computer that I developed with my colleagues T. R. Perche, M. Krumm, and H. J. Briegel
- Equipping projective simulation to handle larger percept and action spaces in an interpretable way
- Some more exotic setups for the contextuality harvesting protocol that I developed
Less Technical Summaries
What this work is about in plain language
For non-specialists
Harvesting Contextuality from the Vacuum
This paper asks whether some of the strangest nonclassical features of quantum theory can be pulled out of empty space itself. The main result is that the vacuum is not just a passive background: with the right detectors and measurements, it can supply a resource called contextuality.
For non-specialists
A Universal Quantum Computer from Relativistic Motion
Instead of treating relativity as a nuisance for quantum computing, this work turns motion through spacetime into a computational tool. It shows how changing the paths of qubits and letting them interact through a field can implement a universal quantum computer.
For non-specialists
Multi-Excitation Projective Simulation
This project extends an interpretable AI model so it can reason about several active concepts at once instead of one at a time. The payoff is a more expressive agent design that still aims to keep its decision process understandable.
For non-specialists
Polymer Self-Consistent Field Theory of Atoms
These papers explore an unusual way of modeling atoms by translating quantum many-electron structure into a polymer-inspired field theory. The goal is to understand atomic shell structure and electron behavior from a fresh conceptual angle.
Conference Talks
- IJCAI 2026, Bremen, Germany (August 2026): A Multi-Excitation Projective Simulation Agent / slides
- RQI Circuit 2026, Wien (June 2026): Harvesting Contextuality from the Vacuum (7:02:09) / slides
- Quantum Information Group Seminar, Leibniz University Hannover (May 2026) (invited talk): Harvesting Contextuality from the Vacuum / slides
- Quantum Foundations Group Seminar, NORDITA, Stockholm (March 2026) (invited talk): A Universal Quantum Computer From Relativistic Motion / slides
- 15th Relativistic Quantum Information North Conference: A Universal Quantum Computer From Relativistic Motion (3:26:54) / slides
- 14th Relativistic Quantum Information North Conference: A Universal Quantum Computer From Relativistic Motion (32:48) / slides
- Innsbruck-Konstanz-Hannover Meeting on Physics and Philosophy (2025): Relativistic Quantum Computing and Machine Learning / slides
- DPG Spring Meeting 2024: A Multi-Excitation Projective Simulation Agent / slides
- 36th Symposium on Chemical Physics: Spontaneous Spherical Symmetry-Breaking in Open-Shell Atoms Through Polymer Self-Consistent Field Theory / slides
- 2022 Canadian Association of Physicists Congress: Atomic Shell Structure in a Polymer-Based Approach to Orbital-Free Density-Functional Theory / slides
- Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference 2019: Thin-Shells as Neutron Stars: A Simple Stellar Model With Great Insight / slides
Conference Posters
- Observers and Causality in Quantum Gravity Conference: Harvesting Contextuality from the Vacuum / poster
- QISS 2025 Conference: A Universal Quantum Computer from Relativistic Motion / poster
- 6th Seefeld Quantum Information Workshop: Quantum Multi-Excitation Projective Simulation / poster
Media Appearances
My colleague and I were interviewed by the science journalist Karmela Padavic-Callaghan from the magazine New Scientist about our paper “A Universal Quantum Computer from Relativistic Motion.” They wrote a piece about it here. Unfortunately it is behind a paywall but I have a copy of it that I am happy to send to those interested upon request.
Where to go next
If you want a different angle on the same work, these are the quickest routes through the rest of the site.