From Nonequilibrium Many-Body Physics to Quantum Information Processing
A focused winter conference on adaptive quantum circuits—where mid-circuit measurements condition subsequent operations—bringing together quantum information science, condensed matter, and AMO physics to explore adaptivity as both a tool for quantum technologies and a platform for new many-body physics.
Adaptive quantum circuits, in which mid-circuit measurements are used to condition subsequent quantum operations, are rapidly becoming available across several experimental platforms. These circuits offer a promising route from noisy intermediate-scale devices toward early fault-tolerant quantum technologies, with potential applications to state preparation, quantum algorithms, and error correction.
At the same time, adaptive circuits provide a versatile setting for exploring nonequilibrium quantum matter. They exhibit measurement-induced phase transitions, novel mixed-state phases with long-range or topological order, and deep connections to classical dynamical systems, statistical mechanics, and field theory. Understanding which features of these phenomena are intrinsically quantum, experimentally observable, and useful for computation is a central challenge for the field.
This conference will bring together researchers from academia and industry working at the intersection of quantum information science, condensed matter physics, and AMO physics. Topics will include adaptive quantum algorithms, near-term experimental implementations, measurement-induced criticality, mixed-state phases and topology, quantum error correction, and the stability of adaptive protocols to noise and imperfections. By placing theoretical developments in direct contact with emerging experimental capabilities, the meeting aims to clarify the role of adaptivity as both a tool for quantum technologies and a platform for new many-body physics.
Talks and discussions will span six interconnected topics at the intersection of quantum information science, condensed matter, and AMO physics.
Algorithms that adapt in the middle of a computation to use measurement and learning in the planning of their next move. We will explore how measurement-conditioned operations can aid state preparation, reshape algorithm design, and open practical routes toward early fault-tolerant computation.
Adaptive circuits are no longer a theorist's dream. This topic focuses on how they can be realized on present-day quantum hardware, what different platforms make possible, and which predicted phenomena can be observed before noise swamps out the signal.
Measurement can be more than a witness; it can be an actor. Measurements compete and cooperate with unitary dynamics to produce entanglement transitions, critical behavior, and new organizing principles in nonequilibrium quantum matter.
Even when quantum states are monitored, noisy, or mixed, they may still arrange themselves with remarkable structure. This topic explores long-range order, topology, and phase structure beyond pure-state equilibrium, with links to statistical mechanics, field theory, and classical dynamics.
Error correction turns measurement outcomes into instructions for protecting quantum information. We will discuss decoding, feedback, logical qubits, and the ways adaptive protocols can help fragile quantum states remember what they were meant to be.
Every adaptive protocol must pass through the looking glass of real hardware: noise, decoherence, finite measurement fidelity, and imperfect control. This topic asks which features survive, which are intrinsically quantum, and which remain robust enough to be useful for computation.
The conference will follow the Aspen Center for Physics winter conference format: a focused, single-session meeting with invited talks, contributed presentations selected from participants, poster sessions, and substantial time for informal discussion and collaboration.
A detailed program will be posted closer to the conference.
Applications and participant selection will be handled through the Aspen Center for Physics. Application details will be posted here when available from ACP.
Prospective participants should check the official Aspen Center for Physics winter conference application page for deadlines and eligibility information.
The conference is organized by researchers across academia and industry working on adaptive quantum dynamics and quantum information.
Penn State University
Duke University
IBM
Louisiana State University
Location
Aspen Center for Physics 700 W. Gillespie Street Aspen, Colorado 81611Dates
March 21–26, 2027
Travel, lodging, and local information will be coordinated through the Aspen Center for Physics and posted here as details become available.
Official ACP site: https://aspenphys.org/