Kenyon College Department of Physics 

Benjamin W. Schumacher

Curriculum Vitae

General information

Department of Physics office phone: (740) 427-5832

Rutherford B. Hayes Hall (Math and Physics) fax: (740) 427-5573

Kenyon College e-mail: schumacherb@kenyon.edu

Gambier, OH 43022 USA

Citizenship: US

Education

• The University of Texas at Austin; Ph.D. in physics (theory), 1990. Specialty: Information-theoretic aspects of quantum theory. Advisor: John Archibald Wheeler.
• Hendrix College; Bachelor of Arts with high honors, 1982. Major: Physics.
  
  

Professional history

• Department of Physics, Kenyon College. 1988 to present.
  • Associate Professor of Physics, 1994- present. (On sabbatical leave, 1995-1996.)
  • Assistant Professor of Physics, 1990-1994.
  • Instructor of Physics, 1988-1990.
• Visitor, Center for Quantum Computer Technology, University of Queensland (2001).
• Visiting lecturer, Institut fur Experimentalphysik, University of Innsbruck (1998).
• Visitor, Los Alamos National Laboratory. 1995-1996.
• Visitor, Center for Advanced Studies, University of New Mexico. 1995-1996.
• Collaborator, Los Alamos National Laboratory. Summer, 1991.
• Instructor, Austin Community College. 1987-1988.
• Research Assistant, Center for Theoretical Physics, The University of Texas at Austin. Summer, 1987.
• Teacher, Perry School (Austin, Texas) 1986-87.

Professional publications

• (with M. D. Westmoreland) "Relative entropy in quantum information theory", to appear in Quantum Computation and Quantum Information: A Millenium Volume , S. Lomonaco, editor (American Mathematical Society Contemporary Mathematics series, 2001).
• (with M. D. Westmoreland) "Indeterminate-length quantum coding", Physical Review A 64, 2304-2316 (2001).
• (with M. D. Westmoreland) "Optimal signal ensembles", Physical Review A 63, 2308-2312 (2000).
• (with M. D. Westmoreland) "Characterizations of classical and quantum communication processes", Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 10, 1719-1736 (1999).
• (with J. Krone and M. D. Westmoreland) "Analysis of billiard ball computation using phase space logics", Physica D 120, 236-252 (1998).
• (with M. D. Westmoreland) "Quantum privacy and quantum coherence", Physical Review Letters 80, 5695-5697 (1998).
• (with H. Barnum and M. A. Nielsen) "Information transmission thorugh a noisy quantum channel", Physical Review A 57, 4153-4175 (1998).
• (with C. M. Caves, M. A. Nielsen, and H. Barnum) "Information theoretic approach to quantum error correction and reversible measurement", Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A 454, 277-304 (1998).
• (with R. Blume-Kohout, D. Cowart, T. Greenslade, J. Idoine, C. Roberts, T. Sullivan and P. Turner) "Adding eyes to your computer", The Physics Teacher 35, 22-26 (1997).
• (with M. D. Westmoreland) "Sending classical information via noisy quantum channels", Physical Review A 56, 131-138 (1997).
• "Entropy exchange and coherent quantum information", in Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Physics and Computation, T. Toffoli, M. Biafore and J. Leao, editors (New England Complex Systems Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996), pp. 292-296.
• "Sending entanglement through noisy quantum channels", Physical Review A 54, 2614-2628 (1996).
• (with M. A. Nielsen) "Quantum data processing and error correction", Physical Review A 54, 2629-2629 (1996).
• (with H. Barnum, C. A. Fuchs and R. Jozsa) "General fidelity limit for quantum channels", Physical Review A 54, 4707-4711 (1996).
• (with P. Hausladen, R. Jozsa, M. D. Westmoreland and W. K. Wootters) "Classical information capacity of a quantum channel", Physical Review A 54, 1869-1876 (1996).
• (with M. D. Westmoreland and W. K. Wootters) "Limitation on the amount of accessible information in a quantum channel", Physical Review Letters 76, 3452-3455 (1996).
• (with H. Barnum, C. M. Caves, C. A. Fuchs, and R. Jozsa) "Noncommuting mixed states cannot be broadcast", Physical Review Letters 76, 2818-2821 (1996).
• (with C. H. Bennett, H. Bernstein, and S. Popescu) "Concentrating partial entanglement by local operations", Physical Review A 53, 2046-2052 (1996).
• (with S. C. Bailey and M. D. Westmoreland) "Three-valued derived logics for classical phase spaces", International Journal of Theoretical Physics 35, 31-62 (1996).
• (with C. H. Bennett, G. Brassard, S. Popescu, J. A. Smolin and W. K. Wootters) "Purification of noisy entanglement and faithful teleportation via noisy channels", Physical Review Letters 76, 722-725 (1996).
• (with P. Hausladen, M. D. Westmoreland and W. K. Wootters) "Sending classical bits via quantum its," Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 755, 698-705 (1995).
• "Quantum coding", Physical Review A 51, 2738-2747 (1995).
• (with R. Jozsa) "A new proof of the quantum noiseless coding theorem", Journal of Modern Optics 41, 2343-2349 (1994).
• (with C. H. Bennett, G. Brassard, R. Jozsa, D. A. Mayers, and W. K. Wootters) "Reduction of quantum entropy by reversible extraction of classical information", Journal of Modern Optics 41, 2307-2314 (1994).
• (with M. D. Westmoreland) "Zeno's arrow and classical phase space logics", Foundations of Physics Letters 7, 259-271 (1994).
• (with M. D. Westmoreland) "Non-Boolean derived logics for classical systems", Physical Review A 48, 977-985 (1993).
• "Demonic heat engines", in The Physical Origins of Time Asymmetry, J. Halliwell, editor (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993), pp. 90-97.
• (with W. A. Miller and W. H. Zurek) "Kerr black hole in equilibrium with a rotating heat bath", Physical Review D 46, 1416-1423 (1992).
• "Information and quantum nonseparability", Physical Review A 44, 7047-7052 (1991).
• "Information from quantum measurements", in Entropy, Complexity, and the Physics of Information, W. H. Zurek, editor (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1990), pp. 29-37.
• Communication, Correlation, and Complementarity, Ph.D. thesis, the University of Texas at Austin (August, 1990). Published by University Microfilms.
• "Is Bekenstein's conjecture true for charged black holes?", Physical Review Letters 54, 2643-2645 (1985).
  
  

Lectures and presentations

I. Research talks

• "Classical information in quantum information theory", seminar talk at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (October, 2001).
• "Quantum information: If entropy is the answer, what was the question?", Australian Institute of Physics seminar, University of Queensland, Brisbane (July, 2001).
• "Optimal communication over quantum channels", invited talk the 2^nd Mathematical Physics Winter Workshop, Coolangatta, Australia (July, 2001).
• "Doubting Everett", talk at the conference Quantum Theory: Reconsideration of Foundations at the University of Vaxjo, Sweden (June, 2001).
• "The cost of communication", talk at the International Conference on Quantum Information, University of Rochester (June, 2001). (M. D. Westmoreland, co-author.)
• "Entanglement measures and quantum channels", poster presentation at International Conference on Quantum Information, University of Rochester (June, 2001). (M. D. Westmoreland, co-author).
• "Quantum information: If entropy is the answer, what was the question?", Physics department colloquium at Carnegie-Mellon University (March, 2001). Also gave a class lecture on "Quantum data compression and entanglement concentration" at CMU (March, 2001).
• "Entanglement measures and quantum channels", talk at the Quantum Information Theory workshop in Oiso, Japan (March, 2001).
• "Quantum information and physics", invited talk at the Workshop on Quantum Computation and Information at the Institute for Quantum Information, California Institute of Technology (November, 2000).
• "Doubting Everett", invited talk at the workshop Quantum Foundations in the Light of Quantum Information at the University of Montreal (May, 2000).
• "Multiparticle quantum entanglement", invited talk in the Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information (CEPI) seminar series, Santa Fe Institute (March, 2000).
• "Optimal signal ensembles", talk at the special session on quantum information theory at the Joint AMS/MAA/SIAM Winter meeting (January, 2000). (M. D. Westmoreland, co-author.)
• "Optimal signal ensembles", invited talk at the European Science Foundation workshop on Quantum Information and Quantum Computation, Isaac Newton Institute, University of Cambridge (July, 1999). An expanded version of this talk was also given at the Isaac Newton Institute program on Complexity, Computation and the Physics of Information (June, 1999).
• "Classical versus quantum information", invited lecture in the Center for Theoretical Physics / Committee on the History and Philosophy of Science seminar series on quantum computation and quantum cryptography, University of Maryland (April, 1999).
• "Quantum information theory", course of seven lectures given at the University of Innsbruck (May-June, 1998).
• "Quantum versus classical information", seminar talk at Los Alamos National Laboratory (November, 1997).
• "Quantum versus classical information", invited talk at the Royal Society Discussion Meeting on Quantum Computing, London (November, 1997).
• "Entropy exchange and coherent quantum information", contributed talk at the Fourth Workshop on Physics and Computation (PhysComp96), Boston University (November, 1996). (Published version appears in the proceedings volume of this conference.)
• "Coherent quantum information", lecture at the Institute for Scientific Interchange workshop on Quantum Computation, Turin, Italy (June, 1997).
• "Entropy exchange and coherent information", presentation at the Santa Fe Institute meeting on Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information (April, 1996).
• "Quantum information III: Decoherence and recoherence in quantum error correction", Center for Advanced Studies seminar talk, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico (April, 1996).
• "Quantum information II: The uses of entanglement", Center for Advanced Studies seminar talk, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico (March, 1996).
• "Quantum information I: If entropy is the answer, what's the question?", Center for Advanced Studies seminar talk, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico (March, 1996).
• "Noiseless quantum coding", talk at the special session on Quantum Information and Computation, 1996 national meeting of the American Mathematical Society, Orlando, Florida (January, 1996).
• "Classical information capacity of a quantum channel", Physics department seminar, Oxford University (December, 1995).
• "What is quantum information?", Mathematics department seminar, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, England (November, 1995).
• "Sending bits via qubits", seminar talk at Los Alamos National Laboratory (August, 1995).
• "The quantum Kraft inequality," seminar talk at Los Alamos National Laboratory (March, 1995).
• "Compressing quantum information", invited lecture at the Quantum Computation Day symposium, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (December, 1994).
• "Qubits and quantum coding", invited lecture in the Physics of Computation seminar series, Center for Information Mechanics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (October, 1993).
• "Variable-length quantum source coding", lecture at the Steacie Workshop on Quantum Cryptography, Montreal, Canada (August, 1993).
• "Quantum coding theorems", two lectures at the Institute for Scientific Interchange workshop on Quantum Computation, Turin, Italy (May/June, 1993).
• "The physical requirements for quantum coding", invited talk at the Rank Prize Funds Mini-Symposium on Quantum Communication and Cryptography, Broadway, England (March/April, 1993).
• "Quantum coding", presentation at the IEEE workshop on the Physics of Computation, Dallas, Texas (October, 1992).
• "Demonic heat engines and the Second Law", invited talk at the NATO workshop on the Physical Origin of Time Asymmetry, Huelva, Spain (October, 1991). (Published version appears in the proceedings volume of this conference.)
• "Thermodynamics of rotating black holes", Astrophysics seminar at Los Alamos National Laboratory (July, 1991).
• "How much does information weigh?", presentation at the Santa Fe Institute workshop on "Entropy, Complexity, and the Physics of Information" (April, 1990).
• "Information from quantum measurements", presentation at the Santa Fe Institute workshop on "Entropy, Complexity, and the Physics of Information" (May/June, 1989). (Published version appears in the proceedings volume of this conference.)
  
  

II. General talks

• "What I wish my pastor knew about physics", faculty colloquium talk at Concordia Lutheran Seminary (November, 2001).
• "Entropy, randomness, and the physics of computation", science colloquium at Ohio Wesleyan University (November, 2000).
• "Physics at infinity: Self-similarity in the laws of nature", Natural Science Division Colloquium, Kenyon College (November, 2000).
• "The physics of impossible things", invited lecture at the Arkansas Governor's School, Hendrix College (July, 2000). Also presented a second lecture on "A rainy afternoon in Cambridge: Estimating atomic sizes" (July, 2000).
• "Quantum information and quantum computing", remote guest lecture for the "Science of Information Technology" class, Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute (April, 2000).
• "Qubits and quantum information", Physics department colloquium, Miami University of Ohio (April, 1999).
• "Qubits and quantum information", Physics department colloquium at the University of Toledo (September, 1998).
• "Qubits and quantum information", Physics department colloquium at the University of Dayton (October, 1998).
• "Video analysis of complex motion", contributed talk at the Ohio Section meeting of the American Physical Society, Miami University of Ohio (October, 1997).
• "The physics of impossible things", honors colloquium talk at Denison University (October, 1997).
• "The physics of impossible things", invited lecture at the Arkansas Governor's School, Hendrix College (July, 1997). Also presented a second lecture on "Crossword puzzles, life, and the edge of chaos" (July, 1997).
• "Black holes and cosmic strings", talk at the annual dinner of the Cincinnati Astronomical Society, Cincinnati, Ohio (February, 1997).
• "Quantum information and quantum computers", Natural Science Division Colloquium, Kenyon College (October, 1996).
• "The physics of impossible things", invited lecture at the Arkansas Governor's School, Hendrix College (July, 1996). Also presented a second lecture on "Black holes and warped spacetime" (July, 1996).
• "Tourism in the Solar System", invited talk at the 1995 Apollo Rendezvous astronomy conference sponsored by the Miami Valley Astronomical Society, Museum of Natural History, Dayton, Ohio (May, 1995).
• "From diffraction gratings to quantum computers", talk at Denison University (March, 1995).
• "Black holes and warped spacetime", talk at the monthly meeting of the Columbus Astronomical Society, Perkins Observatory, Delaware, Ohio (January, 1995).
• "Imaging a bruised Jupiter from Central Ohio", invited talk at the 1994 Hidden Hollow Astronomical Convention sponsored by the Richland Astronomical Society, Hidden Hollow, Ohio (October, 1994).
• "A comet hits Jupiter", Physics department seminar, Kenyon College (January, 1994).
• "Quantum information: From unbreakable codes to teleportation", talk at Denison University (October, 1993).
• "The hitchhiker's guide to cellular automata, or LIFE, artificial universes, and everything", Natural Science Division Colloquium, Kenyon College (October, 1992).
• "The paradox of quantum physics, or How I won second prize in an art contest", invited lecture at the Arkansas Governor's School, Hendrix College. Also presented a second lecture on "The smallest number not describable in ten words or less" (July, 1992).
• "The paradox of quantum mechanics, or How I won second prize in an art contest," invited lecture at the Arkansas Governor's School, Hendrix College. Also presented a second lecture on "How to think about black holes" (July, 1990).
• "Quantum and reality", invited lecture sponsored by the Marshall T. Steele Center for the Study of Religion and Philosophy, Hendrix College (November, 1989).
• "Entropy, complexity, and computation", Natural Science Division Colloquium, Kenyon College (September, 1989).
  
  
  

Teaching at Kenyon College (through Fall, 2001)

• Lecture courses I have taught at Kenyon College fall into four main categories:
  1. General education physics courses and others, including: Astronomy and Cosmology, Planetary Astronomy (*), Unifying Ideas in Physics (*), Calculus A.
  2. Scientific computing courses, including: Complex Systems in Scientific Computing (*), Advanced Scientific Computing seminar (*).
  3. Introductory physics courses (freshman and sophomore level), including: Non-calculus based introductory physics, calculus-based fundamentals of physics, Classical Physics (*), Fields and Spacetime (*), Modern Physics.
  4. Intermediate and advanced physics courses (junior and senior level), including: Electromagnetic Theory, Theoretical Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, General Relativity (*).

(Courses marked with an asterisk (*) were new to the physics curriculum.)

• I have also taught laboratories in physics and astronomy through the sophomore level, developing many new experiments.
• I have directed independent studies in scientific computing, relativity, philosophical aspects of quantum mechanics, mathematical methods of physics, orbital mechanics, planetary atmospheres, the physics of time, and the quantum mechanics of open systems.

Undergraduate research projects

Note: This is a list of undergraduate research projects in physics that I have supervised at Kenyon College. At Kenyon these fall into two general categories: three-month long summer research projects, and year-long senior honors projects. Some students elect to do both types of projects.

• 2000 Jada Twedt (summer), "Multiparticle quantum entanglement"
• 1997-98 Robin Blume-Kohout (honors), "Computational models for quantum chaos".
• 1997-98 Lei Yu (honors), "Quantum decoherence".
• 1997 Robin Blume-Kohout (summer), "Quantum chaos via measurement records".
• 1997 Lei Yu (summer), "Quantum error correction for small decoherence".
• 1997 Matt Jadud (summer), "Mapping motion to music".
• 1996-97 Greg Davis (honors), "Approximate cloning and quantum cryptography".
• 1994-95 Natalia Kuznetsova (honors), "Quantum origin of black hole entropy".
• 1994 Beau Bierhaus (summer) and Michael Mattoni (summer), "The horrendous space kablooie: Imaging a major planetary impact".
• 1992 Yu Gu (summer), "Pattern formation in cellular automata".
• 1991-2 Eric Neilsen (honors), "Computational models of Maxwell's demon".
• 1990 Eric Neilsen (summer), "Phase transitions in cellular automata".
• 1989 John Sosnowski (summer), "Information-theoretic Bell inequalities".

Honors and awards

• Rosenbaum Fellowship, Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (1999).
• Robert M. Tomsich Science Award, Kenyon College (1996).
• University Fellowship, the University of Texas at Austin (1982-1984 and 1985-1986).
• National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship (1982-1985).
• President's Medal for the outstanding graduating senior, Hendrix College (1982).