International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ-2025) : Report

Prof. N. Nimai Singh *

International Year of Quantum Science and Technology on 21-23 February, 2025 at Physics Department, Manipur University

A brief history of IYW-2025 and its aims and objectives:

The official declaration of the year 2025 as the “International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ)” by the General Assembly of the United Nations on June 7, 2024, was inspired by the centennial celebration of the initial development of quantum mechanics. This milestone marks 100 years since the groundbreaking advancements in quantum mechanics, which have profoundly influenced science and technology.

There are five important primary goals of IYQ 2025:

1. To increase public awareness about the importance and impact of quantum science and technology.
2. To inspire the next generation of scientists and innovators by highlighting the potential of quantum science to address critical societal challenges. This is a part of capacity building in STEM project of the United Nations.
3. To promote global collaboration among scientists, educators, and policymakers to advance quantum research and applications.
4. To support education and workforce development for preparing the next quantum revolution.
5. To highlight the role of quantum science and innovations in achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as affordable clean energy, quality education, communication, human health, and gender equality.

It is an exciting time for quantum science and technology. The year-long world-wide initiative aims to bring the importance of quantum science and technology and its applications to the forefront of public consciousness. It emphasizes activities at all levels starting from high school, any individual, group, college, higher institution, or government office to use IYQ. Sponsorship opportunity can also be available from [email protected].

In May 2023, UNESCO endorsed a resolution which was co-sponsored by nearly 60 countries, to UN for this event. In May 2024, the nation of Ghana formally submitted a memorandum to UN General Assembly with co-sponsorship from six countries before its approval on June 7, 2024.

Official launch of IYQ-2025:

The International Year of Quantum Science and Technology got underway at UNESCO headquarters in PARIS on February 4, 2025. More than 800 researchers, policy makers and government officials from around the world gathered in Paris to attend the official launch of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ). Cephas Adjej Mensah, Research director in Ghanain government remarked, “Let us commit to making quantum science accessible to all, to make an equitable and prosperous future for all”. Chinese quantum physicist Jian-Wei Pan remarked, “The second quantum revolution will likely provide another human leap in human civilization”.

The first quantum revolution led to lasers, semiconductors, transistors etc. The second quantum revolution promised more by exploring effects such as quantum entanglement and superposition – even if its potential can be hard to grasp.

William Philips, Nobel Prize wining physicist remarked, “…It is not that there is something deeply wrong with quantum mechanics – it is that there is something deeply wrong with our ability to understand it”.

Some quantum technologies which may influence industries:

1. Drug discovery and development using quantum computers.
2. Medical imaging techniques and diagnosis of diseases using quantum sensors.
3. Genomics datasets analysis using quantum algorithms for understanding of genetic disorders.
4. Quantum computers with emergence from the underlying quibits, for enabling advancements in various fields, including cryptography, optimization, material science, artificial intelligence.
5. Quantum information processing and quantum communications by developing Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), Quantum cryptography, quantum networks, enhanced bandwidth and speed, quantum teleportation.

In summary, quantum technology is set to revolutionalize industries by providing unprecedented computational power, ultra-secure communication methods, and highly sensitive diagnostic tools. The impact of these advancements will likely lead to significant improvements in healthcare, technology, and our everyday lives. Such advancing quantum technologies also present several significant challenges that researchers are actively working to overcome.

International Year of Quantum Science and Technology on 21-23 February, 2025 at Physics Department, Manipur University

History of Quantum Science:

Old quantum mechanics (1900 – 1924):

o In 1900, German Physicisist Max Planck derived the formula for black body radiation using quantization concept of Harmonic oscillator, giving the first hint of quantum behavior in nature.
o In 1905, Albert Einstein showed that light exhibited waves as bundles of particles called photons, and each photon has energy proportional to its frequency. That was the only way to explain why even a high intensity of low-frequency light cannot liberate electrons from a metal in photoelectric effect.
o In 1913, Niels Bohr proposed the quantization of angular momentum in atomic orbit to have allowed stable orbit.
o In 1923 Louis de-Broglie in three papers postulated that particles of matter like electrons, can also act like waves, leading to hypothesis of wave-particle duality. Louis de-Broglie hypothesis can be applied to Bohr’s atomic model of angular momentum quantization for allowed orbit because electrons orbiting the nucleus of an atom behaves like standing or stationary waves, then they can occupy only certain energy levels. This prevents the electrons from continuously losing energy and collapsing into nucleus, explaining the stability of matter.

New quantum mechanics (from 1925 till now):

o In 1925, it was the German physicist Werner Heisenberg who first put forward a comprehensive version of quantum mechanics. Later that year, Max Born and Pascual Jordan followed up on that with Heisenberg in developing the so-called ‘Heisenberg’s equation of motion” with commutation relation of operators representing dynamical variables like position, momentum, energy, Hamiltonian etc. while keeping time as parameter.

o In 1926, Erwin Schrodinger soon produced an independent formulation of the theory with the used so-called wave function, known as “Schrodinger equation of motion”.

o Max Born’s interpretation of wave function in Schrodinger equation: According to Born’s interpretation, we can never precisely predict the outcome of a quantum measurement. Instead, we can determine the probability of getting any particular outcome for an electron’s position, say, by calculating the square of the wave function at that position. This is completely against the idea of “deterministic universe of classical mechanics” as in Newton’s mechanics and Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity.

o Einstein’s worries: The concept of “indeterminism in quantum picture” leads to violation of “locality” – the idea that the world consisting of things existing at specific location in space-time, interacting with nearby things. Not only that, it contradicts the concept of “realism” – the idea that the concepts in physics map onto truly existing features of the world, rather than mere calculation convenience. In this context Albert Einstein remarked his memorable phrase, “God does not play dice with the Universe”. In fact, Albert Einstein believed that quantum theory should be “local” and the physical properties of a quantum system should be “real”. This is known as “local realism” prediction. In later development of quantum mechanics, non-locality issue in quantum mechanics leads to sharp contrast between classical and quantum world.

o In 1927, Heisenberg proposed his “uncertainty principle” which states that a particle’s position and momentum, which we generally call a pair of canonically conjugate operator variables, cannot be measured simultaneously with precision.

o In 1948, Richard P. Feynman developed a third approach to quantum mechanics based on path Integral formalism. This approach is based on Lagrangian formalism whereas Heisenberg’s equation and Schrodinger’s equation are based on Hamiltonian formalism.

o Provocative concept of measurement in quantum paradigm: Whereas in classical physics, a particle such as electron has a real, objective position and momentum at any given moment, but in quantum mechanics those quantities do not in general exist in any objective way before that measurement. In other words, quantum mechanics says that position and momentum are two things that can be observed, but they are not pre-existing facts. They only have physical existence when they are observed. When there is a measurement, the wave function collapses.

o Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics: Propounded by Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Max Born and Pascual Jordan in 1920s, the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, holds that physical systems have only probabilities, rather than specific properties, until they are measured.

o 1927 Solvay conference in Brussels: Bohr - Einstein debate: In 1927 on the 5th Solvay Conference in Brussels, where 29 brilliant scientists gather to discuss the fledgling quantum theory. Here, the disagreements between Bohr on one side and Einstein on the other side with others, including Erwin Schrodinger and Louis de Broglie, came to a head. Whereas Bohr proposed that entities such as electrons, had only probabilities if they were not observed, Einstein argued that they had independent reality, prompting his famous claim that “God does not play dice with the universe”. He further emphasized “what we call science, has the sole purpose of determining what is”.

“Scientific realism” is the idea that confirmed scientific theories. The Solvay conference can be seen as a stand-off between two mathematically equivalent but fundamentally different paradigms: Bohr’s instrumentalist view of quantum physics and Einstein’s realist one. It was indeed heated clashes between Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr on the very nature of science – the relationship between theory and nature of reality.

o Hidden variable theory: Einstein persistently argued that the Copenhagen interpretation was incomplete. He conjectured that there might be “hidden variables” or processes underlying quantum phenomena; or perhaps “pilot waves” proposed by Louis de Broglie, which govern the behavior of particles. In 1932, mathematician John von Neumann produced a proof that there could be no “hidden variables” in quantum mechanics. Although mathematically correct, it was revealed to be flawed decades later. The Copenhagen interpretation had taken hold by the 1930s, and textbooks today state that Bohr’s view ‘won’.

Some attempts to bridge the two theories (Non-local versus local):

David Bohm argued that particles in quantum systems existed whether observed or not, and that they have predictable positions and motions determined by pilot waves. The scientific community greeted Bohm’s idea coolly.

Bohm’s contemporary, physicist Hugh Everett, delivered another challenge to the Copenhagen interpretation. In 1957, Everett set out to resolve the measurement problem in quantum theory – the contradiction between the probabilistic nature of particles at the quantum level and their collapse, when measured, into one state at the macroscopic level. Everett’s many-worlds interpretation posited no collapse.

Instead, probabilities bifurcate at the moment of measurement into parallel universes – such as one in which Schrodinger’s cat is alive and another in which it is dead. An infinite number of untestable universes seems unscientific to some. However, many physicists today view the theory as important.

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) Paradox - Birth of Entanglement:

In 1935, Albert Einstein along with Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen published a milestone paper concerning “local realism” predictions that go against quantum mechanics (Can quantum-mechanical description of physical reality be considered compete? – Phys.Rev.47,777 (1935)). They pointed out that the principles of quantum mechanics allow for entangled particles, showing its roots to “entanglement”. But this violates the idea of locality – that a particle can be influenced only by its nearby surroundings.

Einstein argued that, to have such strong correlations at a distance, the particles had to have properties that quantum theory could not account for. Einstein used to remark the situation as “Spooky action at a distance”. Therefore, quantum theory could not provide the ultimate description of the world.

Bell’s Theorem on EPR:

In 1964, despite Einstein’s claim, Irish physicist John Bell in 1964 showed that non-locality is an inherent feature of quantum world that could not be explained by any theory that preserved “locality”. He proved the contradiction between quantum mechanics and local realism, thus giving birth to the notion of “non-locality”. (J. S. Bell, On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen paradox, Phys.1, 195-290 (1964)).

In EPR paper John Bell discovered something new. He found that, if entangled particles truly had hidden properties that quantum theory could not explain, the correlations between the particles could not exceed a certain level (a mathematical inequality). If the correlation exceeded this upper limit, then entanglement was real. If it is below, then Einstein was right.

Bell’s correlation gives a possibility to resolve such a fantastic philosophical debate on the nature of the world and the notion of physical reality. – How can it be that the two things are in conflict which are both impeccable? The importance of Bell’s theorem is that it is now possible to settle the debate by experiments.

Experimental verification on Bell’s Theorem:

Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger were awarded Physics Nobel Prize in 2022 for their experiments with entanglement, which were performed independently at different time.

The next Quantum Revolution:

Entanglement leading to Quantum Computer and quantum communication:

Entanglement is the extraordinary idea that, according to the rules of quantum theory, two particles can be so correlated that a measurement of the property of one immediately determine the property of the other – even if they are far apart. Entanglement is both fundamental to quantum theory and has wide-reaching applications in Quantum Computer, Quantum Cryptography, Quantum Teleportation and other aspects of quantum Communications, Quantum sensing, Information and metrology.

Entanglement from Quantum non-locality:

Quantum non-locality is a consequence of the ability of quantum system to exist in “entangled” states, in which individual particles – no matter how far apart – are seemingly connected as if by magic. If a measurement is performed on one of the “entangled” particles, the state of the other in instantaneously modified. Thus the behavior of the entangled particles and their measurement may have applications in quantum communications and teleportation.

International Year of Quantum Science and Technology on 21-23 February, 2025 at Physics Department, Manipur University

Workshop on IYQ-2025 at Imphal:

It is a great news that the Research Institute of Science and Technology (RIST) based in Manipur University Complex, and Manipur Science and Technology Council (MASTEC), Govt. of Manipur, jointly organized a “Three-day Workshop on International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ 2025)” as a part of National Science Day 2025, during 21-23 February, 2025 at Physics Department, Manipur University.

About 20 experts delivered invited talks on this important field of quantum science and technology. It was a great success with almost 70 participants. A poster competition on the same topic was also included with sixteen competitors.

List of speakers who presented their valuable one-hour presentations during the Workshop on International Year of Quantum Science and Technology (IYQ):

1. Prof. Murli Manohar Verma (Dean, Research & Development Cell, Lucknow University)- Key-note Speech on IYQ-2025
2. Prof. C. Amuba Singh (RIST) – Pedagogical introduction to formulation of quantum mechanics
3. Shri S. Subhaschandra Singh (Imphal College) – An overview of optical scattering phenomena with emphases on the historical backgrounds of Compton effect and Raman effect
4. Dr. Anirban Roy (Assam Univ, Diphu Campus) – Properties of entanglement under Local Operation and Classical Communication
5. Prof. Th. Jekendra Singh (MU) – On Quantum Entanglement
6. Prof. Sh. Dorendrajit Singh (MU) – Emerging quantum technologies
7. Prof. N. Rajmuhon Singh (RIST) – Quantum Revolution – A Scientific World of Tomorrow
8. Shri Maibam Somananda Singh (DMU) – A brief Review on Old Quantum Theory
9. Prof. A. Dilipkumar Singh (MU): Quantum phase transition
10. Prof. R. K. Brojen Singh (JNU): Bohr-Einstein Debate and Bell’s Theorem
11. Dr. Th. Gomti Devi (MU): Spin in Quantum Mechanics and its implications
12. Dr. Lenin Sagolsem (NIT, Imphal) – Quantum statistical mechanics
13. Dr. A. Keshwarjit Singh (DMU) – Path Integral approach to Quantum Mechanics
14. Dr. Soram Robertson Singh (RIST) – Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and QFT
15. Dr. Sapam Ranjita Chanu (IITK) – Quantum Technology: Progress using trapped atomic ion
16. Dr. Augustine Kshetrimayum (France) – Quantum Computing: Where are we going?
17. Dr. Nilakah Sorokhaibam (Tezpur Univ) – Quantum chaos
18. Dr. Vishal Ngairangbam (IPPP, Durham,UK) – Quantum Machine learning
19. Dr. Oinam Romesh Meitei (MIT, USA) – Challenges and Opportunities in Quantum Molecular Simulation: Fast Quantum State Preparation and Optimized Measurements

It is quite encouraging to note that State Bank of India, Babupara, Imphal, sponsored with Rs.30,000/- , MASTEC, Government of Manipur sponsored with Rs. 20,000/- and Rs.15,000/- was also donated for poster presenters by Prof. C. Amuba Singh, Former Vice-chancellor of Manipur University.

There were participants from outside the state. Some speakers presented their talks on online mode. This is the second workshop/conference organized by Research Institute of Science and Technology (RIST), Imphal.