Theoretical physicist (quantum information + quantum thermodynamics) at QuICS, author of Quantum Steampunk: The Physics of Yesterday's Tomorrowhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mllncw7bq222A student in my course crocheted a cat for me! (We read Ursula K. LeGuin's 1974 short story "Schrödinger's cat.") It’s making friends with the owl another student gave me a few years ago.11 May 2026 15:58 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mllncw7bq222https://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mle44txuqk2wOk, own up. Who are you?08 May 2026 16:02 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mle44txuqk2whttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3ml73jl2tp22sHow do you collaborate between departments as disparate as physics and English? Thanks to the audience at this panel for the thought-provoking questions and to the U. of Maryland library for hosting quantum steampunk at its “Speculative Futures” event!06 May 2026 16:08 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml73jl2tp22shttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3ml4kqionwc2sDon't know who wrote this, but somebody was excited about workshopping quantum-steampunk short stories in class last week... @umdbiochemphys.bsky.social05 May 2026 16:02 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml4kqionwc2shttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mksfpokkts2jMaryland is so quantum, even the buses contain quantum technologies.01 May 2026 15:06 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mksfpokkts2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mkniiyeeak24Astute observation by Chinmay Nirkhe: English has the perfect word for when a quantum oracle suffices for verifying a proof but no classical oracle does---when you can confirm but not describe/explain something: ineffable. Thanks for the QuICS Seminar (and adorable pictures)!29 Apr 2026 16:12 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkniiyeeak24https://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mkavphnmxk2nThanks to Billy Braasch for guest-lecturing about quantum thermodynamics in the quantum-steampunk-creative-writing course! I wouldn’t have drawn Maxwell’s demon nearly as well…24 Apr 2026 16:04 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkavphnmxk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mk6f5xouik2jExtra motivation for students and postdocs to come to this week's group meeting: my husband baked us ginger–molasses cookies!23 Apr 2026 16:02 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk6f5xouik2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mk3qy3xmbs2hCongratulations to quantum steampunker Hubert Pugzlys on signing up for a PhD at Caltech! Chip off the old block. Take good care of him, IQIM!22 Apr 2026 14:56 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mk3qy3xmbs2hhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mjzebcdahc2zThe conversation at this group dinner was remarkably philosophical—about whether math is invented or discovered, what makes for taste in physics research, whom AI can and can't replace, etc. Maybe there was something in the horchatas...21 Apr 2026 16:03 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjzebcdahc2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mjwu2jndmc2bGoldilocks quantum cellular automata generate a great deal of complexity. Some are integrable and so may help with benchmarking quantum computers. Thanks to Logan Hillberry, Lorenzo Piroli, Eric Vernier, Tomaž Prosen, & Lincoln Carr for the collaboration! https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2058-9565/ae57d520 Apr 2026 16:08 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjwu2jndmc2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mjmrxqxs6c2dTrust a faculty member from Trinity College Dublin @tcddublin.bsky.social to depict a medieval philosopher and show Latin during a quantum-physics talk. Thanks to Felix Binder for the excellent QuICS Seminar about memory!16 Apr 2026 16:04 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjmrxqxs6c2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mjkbrvdjes2mtfw philosophy and physics actually imprint themselves deeply on your everyday life https://quantumfrontiers.com/2026/04/12/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-andno-ive-always-adored-entropy/15 Apr 2026 16:09 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjkbrvdjes2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mjhpfiicwk2yThe University of Maryland libraries are featuring the quantum-steampunk-creative-writing class in their event on science fiction in the classroom. Come listen to a sci-fi writer and a quantum physicist in dialogue! umd.libcal.com/event/1668582414 Apr 2026 15:34 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjhpfiicwk2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mjfamwhjkc2dWe’re just beginning to understand the implications of non-Abelian symmetry for the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. SU(2) symmetry turns out to have the potential to disrupt a prediction of linear-response theory. @umdscience.bsky.social https://doi.org/10.1063/5.030818113 Apr 2026 16:05 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjfamwhjkc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mj5mtwe7522bClarice Aiello @claricedaiello.bsky.social of the Quantum Biology Institute proposes 5 tiers of quantum phenomena in biology at the Quantum-Biotech Conference at the University of Maryland. @umdscience.bsky.social10 Apr 2026 15:22 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj5mtwe7522bhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mj34ttv3sk2tCongratulations to Dr. Greeshma Shivali Oruganti, who’s heading to Cornell to postdoc with Mark Wilde @markwilde.bsky.social soon! @umdscience.bsky.social09 Apr 2026 15:30 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mj34ttv3sk2thttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mieis25kcc2mThe quantum-steampunk creative-writing class tours trapped-ion labs. Thanks to Alaina Green and Connor Goham for showing us around! Later this week, students begin reading and critiquing each other’s quantum-steampunk short stories… @umdscience.bsky.social @umdbiochemphys.bsky.social31 Mar 2026 15:33 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mieis25kcc2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mhsuzbk4dc2pContinuous-variable systems offer many opportunities in quantum error correction and beyond. Victor Albert @vva.bsky.social lifts the JQI's gaze beyond qubits and even qudits at this week's seminar24 Mar 2026 15:24 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhsuzbk4dc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mhqgybh2f227The last time I took a photo with this fellow, I was a college sophomore who'd just declared a Physics Modified major. Little did I suspect that I'd end up a physicist in the DC area... @nasonline.org23 Mar 2026 16:07 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhqgybh2f227https://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mh6qc2s7q222If you receive an offer of a faculty position, congratulations! And good luck---more work and consideration lie ahead of you. In this blog post, I offer my advice about navigating the post-offer process. https://quantumfrontiers.com/2026/03/11/nicoles-guide-to-navigating-faculty-position-offers/16 Mar 2026 15:06 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mh6qc2s7q222https://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mgsbieemls27Science-fiction novelist Mark Alpert will present the keynote at the symposium “Quantum Thermodynamics and Decoherence” on Mar. 3! The keynote is open to the public, not only symposium registrants, so come join us! https://qtd-hub.umd.edu/event/symposium-2026/11 Mar 2026 16:09 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgsbieemls27https://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mgpn4p3qi224Pedram Roushan demonstrates the optimal way to hook a quantum thermodynamicist on midcircuit measurements: characterize them as "in the spirit of Maxwell's demon"10 Mar 2026 14:59 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgpn4p3qi224https://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mgfsa4vu722bPhantom codes: not “a free lunch, but it’s a lunch that was sitting there and that we weren’t fully eating.” Shayan Majidy @majidy.bsky.social at the QuICS Seminar---after which we took him to an all-you-can-eat buffet.06 Mar 2026 17:04 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgfsa4vu722bhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mgd6gl2gas22NIST has a theme song! https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/new-music-captures-nists-essence-measure-measure05 Mar 2026 16:04 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgd6gl2gas22https://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mgao5msiyc2aA reader's recall ability is limited by their working memory's capacity (4 ideas). Remember this limitation as you draft each sentence, paragraph, and section of a paper! Weishun Zhong @weishunzhong.bsky.social from the IAS applies statistical mechanics to memory—and offers useful applications.04 Mar 2026 16:08 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgao5msiyc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mg6ai5dojs2gThe quantum-steampunk creative-writing course had a treat when Shayan Majidy @majidy.bsky.social came to guest-lecture about quantum computers...and he was joined by the Power Rangers of quantum computing.03 Mar 2026 16:58 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mg6ai5dojs2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mfcihrhk6s2qLiang Jiang: Concerned that noise is spoiling your quantum advantage? Use entanglement to learn the noise channel efficiently! #SIPQNP @rleatmit.bsky.social20 Feb 2026 16:06 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfcihrhk6s2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/nicoleyh11.bsky.social/post/3mfcf2r7ank2zOne reason why I'm a theorist #SIPQNP @rleatmit.bsky.social20 Feb 2026 15:05 +0000at://did:plc:3i2wsslfvbfakqoihhjvbvkj/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfcf2r7ank2z