Steven Thomson

So, with this morning's @NobelPrize awarded in part to Giorgio Parisi for his work on complex and disordered systems, now might be a good time for a Twitter thread to explain just what exactly a spin glass is, since I've spent a lot of my career working on quantum glasses. 🤔

Please do take a look at our preprint if any of the above interests you, and let us know what you think. We'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions!

We demonstrate the results classically using tensor network simulations of the disordered Heisenberg model. The core elements of the algorithm were designed with quantum hardware in mind, and we propose a hybrid implementation suitable for near-term quantum devices.

There are lots of ways to find ground states of many-body quantum systems, but what do you do if you want to prepare an excited state? 🤔 That's the question we've addressed in a new preprint, out today: arxiv.org/abs/2508.00065 #quantumcomputing #quantumsimulation

I had made Microsoft Quantum aware of issues before publication of their latest Nature paper (which uses the TGP to tune up their devices). Now I have made all issues public. In short: The topological gap protocol and all claims based on it are flawed. arxiv.org/abs/2502.19560

(I don't use this app much any more, so it's best to reach out to me by email or find me someplace else where the sky is blue. 😉)

I'm hiring a postdoc in quantum condensed matter theory at @PhysAstroEd! This will be a 3 year position, with a focus on developing and using novel numerical techniques to investigate open quantum systems. For further info and to apply, see the following: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candidat…

As a good friend of mine said earlier today - to lost futures.

@lucifive Congratulations Lucía, this is very cool to see!

The work from my internship and later collaboration with Phasecraft is finally out! Check out our latest work on 'Extracting the spin excitation spectrum of a fermionic system using a quantum processor' now on arXiv 🎉 arxiv.org/abs/2501.04649

Time is running out to apply for a Bell Burnell PhD scholarship at the University of Edinburgh. If you're eligible, get in touch with us before December 10th! I'd be delighted to support anyone interested in applying for one of these scholarships. iop.org/about/support-…

Fellowship alert! 🚨 @PhysAstroEd is open for applications to the Elizabeth Gardner Fellowship until 15/01/25. This scheme supports researchers from under-represented backgrounds - see link for details. It would be great to see some quantum applicants! ph.ed.ac.uk/research/resea…

We are hiring more quantum theory faculty! Come join the VT CS department at the new quantum center in Washington, DC that Steve is leading!

I will also be advertising a 3-year postdoc position on similar themes in the near future. Keep an eye out for that if you'd be interested...!

🚨 I'm advertising two PhD positions in my @PhysAstroEd team! One is about developing new ways to simulate open quantum systems: ph.ed.ac.uk/phd-projects/n… The other is about disorder and many-body localisation: ph.ed.ac.uk/phd-projects/u… Feel free to contact me for more info!

I'm not posting much on here any more except the odd work-related announcement, so if you'd like to see more from me, please seek me out elsewhere...! 👀

After a couple of weeks at @EdinburghUni, I think I've spotted at least 3 other graduates of the @cm_cdt who now have lecturer/faculty-level roles here. Nice to be bumping into old cohort-mates all these years later!

@dangaristo I'm probably also going to keep a foot in both camps for now, but I'm increasingly looking to other platforms and would like to wind down my use of this one. It's just a shame that the communities that exist(ed) here have become so fragmented across various alternative networks.

Not sure I'll fully migrate, but same: bsky.app/profile/dangar…

Been meaning to do this for a while, but I've finally created an account elsewhere. If you're active over there, let me know! I'd love to find interesting people to follow! bsky.app/profile/physic…

So we're back in the dystopian timeline, I guess.