iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Well, I remembered it as a cortado, but I'll trust you :)

Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

and 2nd, Curt Jaimungal's @TOEwithCurt interview with me went live: we talked for 2 hrs about my lab's work on negative time, weak measurements, the arrow of time, quantum computers, the interpretation of quantum mechanics, and more. Link here: youtu.be/cOZ3Kto6NIc

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

An exciting week for our group – first, Daniela's paper on observing negative "excitation times" was published (at long last!) in PRL: journals.aps.org/prl/abstract... ; (1/2)

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

. . . listen to me claim that we've seen effects that only occur for photons whose time *and* frequency you know simultaneously! It's no fun to make such fringe-y sounding claims when there's no one around to tell me they think I'm out of my mind!

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

So, I do have to say it: if you're in Denver at the #APSGlobalSummit, and will still be here (and awake) at 8am on Friday, please come to Mile-High Ballroom 4F, and I'll tell you about "The Private Lives of Photons: asking particles where they spent the night" – come

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

14,000 physicists are visiting Denver this week. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

14,000 physicists are visiting Denver this week. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

14,000 physicists are visiting Denver this week. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

APS's "Division of Quantum Information," which I thought of as the way to smuggle fundamental physics into a condensed-matter physics meeting ;} Instead, I fear we're becoming a division of (mostly condensed-matter) Quantum Engineering, and am very sad there's so little attention to foundations.

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Looking forward to seeing you and to your talk! Indeed, I kept scouring the program for more foundations and was shocked not to find more—despite (or because of?) the growth of DQI. If you show up at 8am on Friday, I'm buying your coffee; a worthwhile investment if it gets someone into that room!

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Happy 2026, and hearty Congratulations to Antoine Browaeys, Misha Lukin, and Mark Saffman on the 9th biennial John Stewart Bell Prize for their ground-breaking work developing quantum computational technologies relying on tweezer arrays of Rydberg atoms! cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/bell-prize/b...

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Holiday throwback... our group around the turn of the Millennium, when we were younger and (even) more playful. CW from upper left, Stefan Myrskog, Jalani Kanem, some kid I don't recognize, Marcelo Martinelli, Ana Jofre, Mirco Siercke, & Samansa Maneshi.

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Find me another school whose fundraiser performances include a dramatic recitation of Catullus (in the original, certe) ! Vivat #TheAbelardSchool !

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

I love quantum computing (& quantum information science, even more), don't get me wrong -- but we have to acknowledge how much of the so-called "ecosystem" this captures:

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Put in mind of the Infinite Improbability Drive, as I listen to Bárbara Amaral explain over @cqiqc-uoft.bsky.social Quantum Tea how contextuality may power anomalous heat flow… see journals.aps.org/prxquantum/a... for more on her actual work... #Contextuality #QuantumThermodynamics

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Happy day of Quantum, and congratulations to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, & John Martinis! There's no stopping it now! #NobelPrize #SuperconductingQubits #QuantumTunneling nobelprize.org/prizes/physics…www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2025...df

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Crazy milestone passed over (I think) in silence – as of last November or so, I have spent over half my life as a professor at the University of Toronto. [Since as people my age understand, I firmly believe I'm in my early 30s, this implies that I became a professor at around 16.]

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Thx, Sylvain -- I do not know and am now thrilled to take a look! Excited, elated, chuffed, stoked, even! [But off to prepare & give a lecture first...]

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Looking forward to more great things from Josiah! You're lucky to have him. On the British theme, I'm torn between "dreary" and "bleak."

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

^* – excuse the Briticism, but I'm running out of synonyms for "excited" in this context, and "thrilled" is too stereotypically LInkedIn/Twitter overhype–ish for my taste. (Our next experiment will be on measuring how long an atom spends in its chuffed state.)

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Hopefully the exp't paper will follow its sibling into print shortly, once we remove all the objectionable stuff about what the results actually mean, and deliver "just the facts, ma'am," to mollify our referees, at the risk of putting our readers to sleep+teaching them nothing

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

Chuffed^* to announce our theory on how long an unabsorbed photon causes atoms to spend in the excited state is out: lnkd.in/gF--eQgV It extends the dichotomy to a confounding "simple to state, but looks wrong; turns out to be right, but this is difficult to prove."

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

and U of T Engineering is seeking an Assistant Professor in #Photonics #QuantumTechnologies (jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...) Send us your best, your brightest, your yearning to do #QuantumInCanada! Please reshare.

jobs.utoronto.ca

Assistant Professor- Photonics Quantum Technologies

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

We are also seeking an Associate/Full Professor in #QuantumComputing, joint in Physics and CS (jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-... –– **closes 18 Sep**!);

jobs.utoronto.ca

Associate Professor/Professor - Quantum Computing

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

In the Department of Physics, we are seeking an Assistant Professor in theoretical #QuantumOptics (including AMO, applications to Quantum Information, et cetera – jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-... );

jobs.utoronto.ca

Assistant Professor - Theoretical Quantum Optics

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

U of T is thrilled to celebrate the Year of Quantum by advertising three new faculty positions! Please spread the word, encourage friends/mentees to apply, or consider applying yourself. (Links in rest of thread) #QuantumOptics #QuantumInformation #AMO @cqiqc-uoft.bsky.social

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Nominations for the 2026 #BellPrize are being accepted through September 30th, 2025 – please consider nominating the work from the past 6 yrs which you believe has done the most to advance #Quantum science. Please RT. (See cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/bell-prize/n... .) @CQIQC_Toronto

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

But after a colossal vacuum failure, this experiment had been down for just over 12 mths, so seeing any cold atoms here at all is just like bringing 3 of my students (& a part of me) back from the dead. Congratulations Kyle, Vida, & Andy on the fruit of a very frustrating year!

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Lazaro Felice! Seeing atoms floating in vacuum and glowing bright in the laser beams that suspend them there (while cooling them millions of times below room temp) should always be inspirational, even if it's now routine for AMO physicists & the MOT is nearing its 40th birthday.

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Nominate the most innovative work on Fundamental Issues in Quantum Mechanics and their Applications for the 2026 John Stewart Bell Prize! (Pls rebleep!) See cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/bell-prize/n... Deadline 30 August 2025. #QuantumInformation #FoundationsOfQM #BellPrize #QuantumPhysics

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Heads-up: we'll be searching this Fall for a tenure-stream faculty member in Theoretical #QuantumOptics (#AMOPhysics #QuantumInformation) at U of T Physics @cqiqc-uoft.bsky.social Official ad out next month – please alert potential strong candidates you may know! www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3-5...

youtube.com

U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by U2VEVO

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Super-fascinating new article out, on the speed of particles in a forbidden region. For me, it raises more questions than it answers, which is of course my favorite kind of experiment. Kudos to the authors for a novel approach and technical tour de force! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Energy–speed relationship of quantum particles challenges Bohmian mechanics - Nature

The study of the relationship between particle speed and negative kinetic energy, arising in regions in which, according to classical mechanics, particles are not allowed to enter, reveals behaviour t...

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Meanwhile, let's all keep trying to learn this lesson about understanding in what way every one is right (even when they're wrong).

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Finally got around to reading this fascinating article by Amanda Gefter -- kudos on an epic investigation and a gripping story! Sad but also inspiring. Thanks for making his writings publicly available - I hope this will lead to new inspirations as well as to restoring his legacy.

nautil.us

Finding Peter Putnam

The forgotten janitor who discovered the logic of the mind

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Disgusting Weaponizing the justice department, and research funding, against what the US has left of intellectual institutions. Against one of the real good guys, at that. His crime? Not dismantling efforts in support of equity vigorously enough. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/u...

nytimes.com

University of Virginia President Resigns Under Pressure From Trump Administration

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Fearing yet more war; hoping for peace. May war-mongering leaders be removed, and innocents everywhere be safe. What else is worth saying?

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

RIP Ray Laflamme, gone too soon. Ray was a stellar scientist, the founding director of ⁦‪the IQC‬⁩ and ⁦‪of CIFAR's‬⁩ Quantum Information program, but more importantly a warm & generous human who built community and helped many (particularly junior researchers). May his memory be a blessing.

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Krister Shalm in the news again, with a new paper on the Colorado Random Number beacon. Well, we always did say that getting a paper into Nature was a roll of the dice... Always exciting to see our group members go on to lead such creative & successful efforts! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Traceable random numbers from a non-local quantum advantage - Nature

A study demonstrates a public generator of random numbers based on device-independent techniques, with the randomness being fully auditable and traceable.

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

I like to hope we're already doing this in Physics (at least in most groups..), but a discussion around a more systematic approach like this would not be out of place.

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

I had a student who often ignored us during mtgs, rdng his own stuff instead; I spied him doing this at a conf Id brought him to & resolved to confront him, but that eve he came to me first: "I realized my bg was weaker than others, so I spent this yr reading CCT cover to cover, & I just finished."

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Just sharing for the yocks. Seriously, YOCTOjoules. How many of you have even *heard* that prefix before? That's 10^-5 visible photons, in case you're keeping count. "Fieldoscopy." arxiv.org/abs/2504.13121

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

I was apprehensive about big airlines moving their routing to #QuantumComputers so early, but here we go... Lufthansa has inaugurated their new double-slit service! (It feels like we landed safely, but that may just be because of that eavesdropping observer in the background.)

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

You know you have achieved peak fringe when someone publishes an April Fool's joke and you're disappointed they didn't cite your earlier work...;) home.cern/news/news/ph...

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Aephraim Steinberg @quantumaephraim.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

Belatedly sharing the great news that my colleague Joseph Thywissen has been named a Fellow of @OpticaWorldwide ! Congratulations to a jolly good one! cqiqc.physics.utoronto.ca/news/recent-... @CQIQC_Toronto @uoftphysics

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