About quanTA
The Centre for Quantum Topology and Its Applications (quanTA) is all about Quantum 2.0. We are a Canadian response to new developments in quantum science and technology development. The Centre is an interdisciplinary institute devoted to:
- the mathematics, physics, chemistry of novel quantum materials, inspired by the discovery of topological materials that have revolutionized condensed matter physics;
- achieving a new understanding of quantum information and quantum algorithms;
- realizing novel models of quantum computing architecture;
- discovering pathways to disruptive quantum technologies, such as quantum MRI.
Milestones
- December 2023: The "Hyperbolic Band Theory" musical suite, its composition process, and the resulting September 2023 Sounds from a Quantum Future concert were featured in a Scientific American article. This is the second feature of quanTA and its personnel in Scientific American in as many years.
- November 2023: The Quantum Innovation Signaure Area and the quanTA Centre organized, jointly with the Health and Wellness Signature Area at USask, a Symposium on Quantum Computing for Human Health Research. Attendees from quantum science, medicine, and from provincial health agencies participated in the development and mapping of use cases for quantum computing in medical and health data contexts.
- October 2023: quanTA: The Exhibition, a collection of visual art pieces inspired by, or related to, the work of the quanTA Centre, has a two-week showing at Saskatoon's Snelgrove Gallery. The exhibition was programmed by Anna Elliott, Community Outreach and Engagement Officer of the quanTA Centre and jake moore, co-lead of the Quantum Arts Theme in the Quantum Innovation Signature Area at USask.
- September 2023: "Hyperbolic Band Theory", a set of 5 musical compositions, was performed by the Hyperbolic Band in a show titled Sounds from a Quantum Future at Convocation Hall at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. The musicians were convened by the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra and its director Dean McNeill, and the compositions were the result of 2 years of work by quanTA director Steven Rayan and Montréal-based composer Jeff Presslaff in translating the mathematics and physics of hyperbolic band theory and hyperbolic quantum materials into jazz.
- September 2023: quanTA director Steven Rayan represents quanTA and the University of Saskatchewan at the grand opening of PINQ2's IBM Quantum System One in Bromont, Quebec. USask is mentioned as a partner in the national press release and at the press conference.
- September 2023: quanTA's Projection Project, a quantum light show, debuts at Nuit Blanche Eve in Saskatoon.
- July 2023: quanTA PhD candidate Christopher Mahadeo is featured in the Young Innovator Series of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix for his work in new topological and geometric approaches to quantum theory.
- June 2023: quanTA's first Junior Symposium takes place with emerging quantum scholars from the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Alberta, the University of Toronto, and the University of Waterloo.
- October 2022: quanTA NSERC USRA student Tarah Teixeira is featured in the Young Innovator Series of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix for her work in new geometric approaches to quantum information.
- October 2022: quanTA Director Steven Rayan delivered an invited talk about the quantum research and development ecosystem in the province of Saskatchewan at the Quantum Alberta Summit.
- September 2022: Dedicated high-performance computing resources for quantum simulation have come online for the quanTA Centre and its members. We are grateful to the Canada Foundation for Innovation for their generous support.
- April 2022: Mehdi Bozzo-Rey of Multiverse Computing joins the Board of Directors of quanTA, which ushers in an exciting new dimension of academic-industry collaboration for quanTA.
- March 2022: Steven Rayan and PIMS quanTA Postdoctoral Fellow Kazuki Ikeda are featured in Scientific American in an article about the geometric Langlands program that advertises emerging connections between pure mathematics and condensed matter theory.
- February 2022: The University of Saskatchewan announces Quantum Innovation as one of its new Signature Areas of Research. Saskatchewan's quantum future is on the horizon.
- February 2022: quanTA director Steven Rayan is an invited co-organizer of the Quantum Computation session at QuantumDays, Canada's largest quantum conference.
- November 2021: The second lecture in quanTA's named lecture series, the Peter Scherk Lecture in Geometry, took place this month. Our distinguished guest speaker was Edward Witten, Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He gave an exciting overview of knots, gauge theory, and quantum field theory.
- September 2021: quanTA director Steven Rayan presented a pitch for a new Signature Area of Research at the University of Saskatchewan, titled "Quantum Innovation: Being the University that Infinitely-Many Worlds Need".
- June 2021: The quanTA Centre hosted a scientific session on Quantum Mathematics at the Canadian Mathematical Society Summer Meeting. The session featured engaging talks on quantum theory, quantum computing and inforamtion, and quantum materials by estabished and emerging researchers. Of the 14 talks, 3 were given by quanTA members.
- May 2021: quanTA director Steven Rayan has been named a recipient of the University of Saskatchewan New Researcher Award.
- April 2021: The quanTA Seminar has been a tremendous success with six distinguished speakers since September 2020. The online seminar has attracted audiences not only from Canada but also from the US, Europe, Japan, India, and elsewhere.
- November 2020: An invited article by quanTA director Steven Rayan has appeared in the Canadian Science Policy Centre Magazine, which also features an invited article by Canadian scientist David Suzuki. Dr. Rayan's article, "A Quantum Canada For All", focuses on on quantum grand challenges for Canada in the third decade of the 21st Century.
- November 2020: quanTA member Michael Bradley has been announced as a recipient of a Canada-UK Quantum Technologies Grant that will fund an international academic-industry collaboration with Dias Geophysical Ltd. in Canada and M-Squared Lasers Ltd. and Nottingham University in the UK.
- October 2020: quanTA member Robert Green has been announced as the recipient of the Canadian Light Source's 2019 Young Investigator Excellence Award.
- August 2020: quanTA director Steven Rayan has been announced as the recipient of a Canada Foundation for Innovation John R. Evans Leaders Fund award. The funding will directly support quanTA's activities and, in particular, will secure dedicated high-performance computing resources for the Centre.
- April 2020: The first quanTA MSc candidate, Madeline Berezowski, successfully defended her thesis, titled PeV Scale Dark Skyrmions. The thesis was supervised by quanTA member Rainer Dick.
- April 2020: The quanTA PIMS Collaborative Research Group (CRG) is now fully initialized. Our three years of generous funding from PIMS will connect quantum projects at the universities of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba.
- December 2019: The first quanTA PhD candidate, Adam Zulkoskey, successfully defended his thesis, titled Interdimensional Effects in Systems of Electrons. He was supervised by Rainer Dick and Kaori Tanaka of the University of Saskatchewan Department of Physics & Engineering Physics. quanTA member Jacek Szmigielski (Mathematics) served as an Internal Examiner. Congratulations to Adam!
- December 2019: It was announced that quanTA will be the latest PIMS Collaborative Research Group (CRG), with quanTA Director Steven Rayan as the Principal Investigator.
- September 2019: quanTA's named lecture series, the Peter Scherk Lecture in Geometry, was initiated as a kick-off event for the Centre. Our distinguished guest speaker was Daniel Freed, Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He spoke on novel applications of homotopy theory to condensed matter physics.
- August 2019: quanTA hosted a cutting-edge Summer Symposium connecting quantum engineering with harmonic analysis, with special topics ranging from topological materials to quantum computing to machine learning.
- June 2019: The PIMS-Fields Summer School on Algebraic Geometry in High-Energy Physics attracted 60 young researchers from 6 countries to the University of Saskatchewan for five days of mini-courses and special lectures, including a set of special lectures by Nima Arkani-Hamed (Professor of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study and winner of the inaugural Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics).
- June 2019: Members of quanTA represented the Centre at the National Quantum Strategy Summit at the NRC in Ottawa.
- June 2019: quanTA members, internal and external, participated in a scientific session on mathematical analysis of quantum structures at the Canadian Mathematical Society Meeting.
- May 2019: quanTA was formally ratified as a formal research centre by University Council of the University of Saskatchewan.
- March 2019: Founding director Steven Rayan and External Advisory Board members Lindsay LeBlanc and Joseph Maciejko were awarded a Tri-Agency New Frontiers in Research Fund (Exploration Stream) grant on the theme of Topology and the Next Generation of Quantum Materials.
- October 2018: Prior to quanTA's ratification as a research centre within the University of Saskatchewan, quanTA is invited to join Geometry Labs United, a network of experimental geometry labs, centres, and institutes in the United States.
Funding
quanTA is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada through its Discovery Grant program (held by individual faculty associated with the Centre) and through the Canadian Tri-Agency's New Frontiers in Research Fund (Exploration Stream), as well as by the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. We also gratefully acknowledge the University of Saskatchewan's College of Arts & Science for investing in the Centre.We are grateful to the University of Saskatchewan, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Tri-Agency New Frontiers in Research Fund, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences for supporting quanTA. We are a proud member of Geometry Labs United.
