Sydney Uni launches the Topological Order on the Pacific Ocean Workshop

At the beginning of November, Dr. Dominic Williamson hosted the Topological Order on the Pacific Ocean (TOPO) 2023 workshop. Dominic is a DECRA fellow in the Quantum Theory Group at the University of Sydney.

TOPO 2023 is a new workshop that focuses on theoretical developments at the interface between topological phases of matter and quantum error-correcting codes. The workshop brought together 48 international and Australian researchers in a relaxed environment that encouraged discussion and collaboration. The conference was held at the aptly named Q station in Manly, at the southern tip of Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

All the talks at the workshop were presented via whiteboard, to encourage audience participation. The list of international invited speakers includes Dr. Nicolas Breuckmann (University of Bristol), Margarita Davydova (MIT), Dr. Henrik Dreyer (Quantinuum), Dr. Tyler Ellison (Yale), Dr. Wenjie Ji (Caltech), Prof. Andrew Landahl (UNM & Sandia), Dr. Yaodong Li (Stanford), Julio Magdalena (FU Berlin), Arthur Pesah (UCL), Dr. Tibor Rakovszky (Stanford), Annie Ray (IQC), Charles Stahl (CU Boulder), and Dr. Guanyu Zhu (IBM).

The workshop was great fun, scientifically and socially, with countless discussions and activities throughout the week. We are looking forward to future iterations!

Credits: Photos and text by Dr Dominic Williamson