Dr. Hank Lamm, associate scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Lab will present a physics colloquium titled "Look What You Made Me Do: How Particle Physics Demans Quantum Computers."  Dr. Lamm received his BS in Physics and Mechanical Engineering from K-State in 2011 and went on to  earn his PhD in theoretical high energy physics from Arizona State University in 2015.

Abstract: From colliding particles at the LHC to detecting the ripples of gravitational waves with LIGO, current experiments in high energy physics are probing new regimes of the standard model and beyond. Alas, similar progress in ab-initio predictions from theoretical physics have been stymied by the limitations of computational power -- despite the recent commissioning of the first exascale computers. The advent of quantum computers offers the potential to revolutionize the field of theoretical physics by allowing predictions otherwise inaccessible to physicists. In this talk, I will discuss the fundamental computational obstacles that quantum computers avoid, how future large-scale quantum computers are necessary to push the limits of theoretical high energy physics, and how the interim period is forcing us to reconsider previous notions of how quantum field theory is formulated.

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 pm in CW 119.