Quantum Group

We study structural and foundational aspects of computer science and physics, and the  connections  between them, with applications in quantum information and computation, as well as in computational linguistics, computational logic and semantics. Here are listed some of our current major activities, along with some of the main people involved:

• Categorical quantum mechanics and diagrammatic reasoning (Professor Bob Coecke , Dr Jamie Vicary)
• Generalised probabilistic models for quantum computation and quantum foundations (Professor Jonathan Barrett, Dr Niel de Beaudrap)
• Contextual semantics, with applications to quantum information and foundations, to databases, and natural language (Professor Samson Abramsky, Dr Rui Soares Barbosa)
• Compositional models of natural language meaning (Professor Bob Coecke , Dr Dan Marsden)
• Compositional models of cognition (Professor Bob Coecke , Dr Dan Marsden)
• Categorical perspectives on quantum logic (Professor Bob Coecke)
• Topological foundations of quantum and classical computation, and topological quantum field theories (Dr Jamie Vicary )
• Relativistic quantum information and causality in quantum theory (Professor Jonathan Barrett,  Professor Bob Coecke)
• Automated reasoning for graphical theories and quantum computation (Dr Jamie Vicary)
• Semantics of computation, including game semantics for dependent type theories, and semantics of intensional computation (Professor Samson Abramsky)
• Higher category theory (Dr Jamie Vicary)
• Quantum computational architectures and complexity (Dr Niel de Beaudrap)
• Quantum cryptography (Professor Jonathan Barrett)

Click here to access the extensive Oxford Quantum Talk Archive, our video archive of research talks; enquiries can be sent to Destiny Chen. You can also view our group calendar.

Joining the group

If you'd like more information about joining the group, as a postdoctoral researcher or as a DPhil student, please contact a faculty member listed below. We have supported postdoctoral fellowship applications for strong applicants. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Royal Society have annual postdoctoral fellowship competitions, some of which are open to non-British nationals. The department also awards DPhil scholarships each year to the strongest EU (DTA) and overseas (Clarendon) applicants.

If you're already doing a Masters degree in Oxford and might be interested in doing your project with a member of our group, please get in touch as soon as possible with one of the group members listed above.

If you're an undergraduate and would like to learn more about the sorts of things we work on, have a look at the MSc in Mathematics and the Foundations of Computer Science.

Mailing lists

We run an international quantum foundations mailing list. To subscribe, send a blank email to quantum-foundations-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk. We also have a separate list to announce local events related to our group's activities; to subscribe, send a blank email to quantum-announcements-join@cs.ox.ac.uk.

Funding

Members of the group are pleased to receive funding from the following sources:

Sources	Projects
	A Unified Model of Compositional and Distributional Semantics: Theory and Application (Oct 2012-Sept 2015) Quantum Mathematics and Computation (Oct 2012 – Dec 2015) National Network of Quantum Technologies Hubs (Oct 2014-Sept 2019)
	Categorical unification: where foundational physics, natural language and rational processes meet (Oct 2012-Jun 2015)
	Topological Game Semantics for Cyber Security (Apr 2013-Mar 2017) Algorithmic and Logical Aspects when Composing Meanings (Jun 2014-May 2017)
	Quantum Technologies (Oct 2012-Dec 2016)

Selected Publications

View All

• Contextuality and noncommutative geometry in quantum mechanics

  Nadish de Silva and Rui Soares Barbosa

  In Communications in Mathematical Physics. Vol. 365. No. 2. Pages 375–429. 2019.

  Earlier partial version (“Partial and total ideals of von Neumann algebras”) available as arXiv:1408.1172 [math.OA]

  Details about Contextuality and noncommutative geometry in quantum mechanics | BibTeX data for Contextuality and noncommutative geometry in quantum mechanics | DOI (10.1007/s00220-018-3222-9)

• Minimum quantum resources for strong non−locality

  Samson Abramsky‚ Rui Soares Barbosa‚ Giovanni Carù‚ Nadish de Silva‚ Kohei Kishida and Shane Mansfield

  In Mark M. Wilde, editor, Proceedings of 12th Conference on the Theory of Quantum Computation‚ Communication and Cryptography (TQC 2017). Vol. 73 of Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs). Pages 9:1–9:20. Dagstuhl‚ Germany. 2018. Schloss Dagstuhl–Leibniz−Zentrum fuer Informatik.

  Accepted for communication at 14th International Conference on Quantum Physics and Logic (QPL 2017); E−print: arXiv:1705.09312 [quant−ph]

  Details about Minimum quantum resources for strong non−locality | BibTeX data for Minimum quantum resources for strong non−locality | DOI (10.4230/LIPIcs.TQC.2017.9) | Link to Minimum quantum resources for strong non−locality

• The quantum monad on relational structures

  Samson Abramsky‚ Rui Soares Barbosa‚ Nadish de Silva and Octavio Zapata

  In Kim G. Larsen‚ Hans L. Bodlaender and Jean−François Raskin, editors, Proceedings of 42nd International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (MFCS 2017). Vol. 83 of Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs). Pages 35:1–35:19. Dagstuhl‚ Germany. 2017. Schloss Dagstuhl–Leibniz−Zentrum für Informatik.

  E−print: arXiv:1705.07310 [cs.LO]

  Details about The quantum monad on relational structures | BibTeX data for The quantum monad on relational structures | DOI (10.4230/LIPIcs.MFCS.2017.35) | Link to The quantum monad on relational structures