A New Interdisciplinary Research Hub

We are establishing a world-class research hub at the University of Oxford, based at Wolfson College. Its aim is to investigate how quantum physics can be extended beyond the microscopic domain into the domain of macroscopic systems, ultimately leading to a new, more fundamental description of physical reality. The hub will act as a beacon throughout the scientific world by welcoming the best minds to work together in a spirit of independence and freedom, to explore the deepest questions on the nature of reality. 
 

Scientific Advisory Board: Prof. Sir Keith Burnett FRS, Prof. David Deutsch FRS, Prof. Artur Ekert FRS, Prof. Sir Anthony Leggett FRS (Nobel Prize in Physics 2003), Prof. Anton Zeilinger (President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wolf Prize in Physics 2010).

Big Questions

Our mission is to investigate the fundamental structure of physical reality, both theoretically and experimentally.

What is quantum reality?

We aim to probe the characteristic traits of quantum mechanics, quantum entanglement and quantum superpositions, and study what implications this effect has for physical reality, including whether these effects hold universally, everywhere in the universe, or not.

Beyond quantum theory?

We intend to develop theoretical frameworks that go beyond quantum theory, encompassing the study of exotic physical regimes, such as the interaction between a quantum mass and the gravitational field, hyper-entanglement, post-quantum correlations.

Where do macroscopic quantum
effects exist?

We use techniques from information theory, thermodynamics, quantum optics and many-body physics to bridge the microscopic and macroscopic worlds, in order to design theoretical schemes and experimental tests that can probe the extent to which quantum effects can manifest themselves in the macroscopic world.

How quantum are living systems? 

Is life inevitable or accidental? Has natural selection stumbled upon approximate quantum computers, developing them by chance in biological organisms? We investigate whether and how quantum coherence enhances biological energy and information flows; and whether there could be fundamental non- equilibrium laws for life, and how they related to information theory and thermodynamics.