Steven Thomson
@physicssteve.bsky.social
EPSRC Open Fellow in quantum condensed matter theory at the University of Edinburgh. Former Research Scientist at IBM Research, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at FU Berlin, and postdocs at Collège de France, the Ecole Polytechnique and CEA Saclay. He/him.
Pinned
Another platform means another intro!
I'm a quantum condensed master theorist (and occasional quantum computing/information pretender) currently setting up a new research group at the beautiful University of Edinburgh. 🏴
Recruiting postdocs and PhD students soon!
www.steventhomson.co.uk
I'm a quantum condensed master theorist (and occasional quantum computing/information pretender) currently setting up a new research group at the beautiful University of Edinburgh. 🏴
Recruiting postdocs and PhD students soon!
www.steventhomson.co.uk
There are lots of ways to find ground states of many-body quantum systems, but what do you do if you want to prepare an excited state? 🤔
That's the question we've addressed in a new preprint, out today: arxiv.org/abs/2508.00065
That's the question we've addressed in a new preprint, out today: arxiv.org/abs/2508.00065
August 4, 2025 at 10:44 AM
There are lots of ways to find ground states of many-body quantum systems, but what do you do if you want to prepare an excited state? 🤔
That's the question we've addressed in a new preprint, out today: arxiv.org/abs/2508.00065
That's the question we've addressed in a new preprint, out today: arxiv.org/abs/2508.00065
This appeared on a wall at work recently and it makes me laugh every time I see it. Well played, anonymous art critic. 😄
April 23, 2025 at 1:51 PM
This appeared on a wall at work recently and it makes me laugh every time I see it. Well played, anonymous art critic. 😄
I'm currently reviewing candidates who applied to my postdoc position, which has required looking back at the job ad that I wrote.
I think I may have to dock myself a few points for my own "ability to communication". 😅
I think I may have to dock myself a few points for my own "ability to communication". 😅
March 27, 2025 at 3:36 PM
I'm currently reviewing candidates who applied to my postdoc position, which has required looking back at the job ad that I wrote.
I think I may have to dock myself a few points for my own "ability to communication". 😅
I think I may have to dock myself a few points for my own "ability to communication". 😅
Since coming back to the UK I've been slowly getting reunited with various things I left behind when I moved to France. Today I found the hard drive with all my old recordings and songs on it. It's like a time capsule - I haven't heard some of this stuff in ten years. 🥹
March 22, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Since coming back to the UK I've been slowly getting reunited with various things I left behind when I moved to France. Today I found the hard drive with all my old recordings and songs on it. It's like a time capsule - I haven't heard some of this stuff in ten years. 🥹
More and more content with my decision not to go to the APS Global Physics Summit this year, and if this is how things are going then I'm disinclined to travel to the US for any other meetings in the near future.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of Trump found
France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched
www.theguardian.com
March 20, 2025 at 8:29 AM
More and more content with my decision not to go to the APS Global Physics Summit this year, and if this is how things are going then I'm disinclined to travel to the US for any other meetings in the near future.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Not much time left to apply for this - the deadline is on Monday, so get those applications in quick if you're interested in joining the University of Edinburgh to work on exciting challenges in open quantum systems!
I'm hiring a postdoc in quantum condensed matter theory! This will be a 3 year position, with a focus on developing and using novel numerical techniques to investigate open quantum systems.
For further info and to apply, see the following: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
For further info and to apply, see the following: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Postdoctoral Research Associate
The Institute for Condensed Matter and Complex Systems is recruiting one Postdoctoral Research Associate to work with Dr Steven Thomson on the EPSRC funded project “Disorder in Open Quantum Systems”. ...
elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
March 15, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Not much time left to apply for this - the deadline is on Monday, so get those applications in quick if you're interested in joining the University of Edinburgh to work on exciting challenges in open quantum systems!
What I'll definitely do is make a serious attempt at writing the "Cond Mat Phys for Quantum Computer Scientists" tutorial paper I've been threatening to write for years. I think it's important that people are equipped to distinguish realistic use cases of quantum computers from straw man arguments.
I've never been tempted to write a "Comment on..." paper before, but today is teaching me that there's a first time for everything. 👀
March 14, 2025 at 6:57 PM
What I'll definitely do is make a serious attempt at writing the "Cond Mat Phys for Quantum Computer Scientists" tutorial paper I've been threatening to write for years. I think it's important that people are equipped to distinguish realistic use cases of quantum computers from straw man arguments.
I've never been tempted to write a "Comment on..." paper before, but today is teaching me that there's a first time for everything. 👀
March 14, 2025 at 11:14 AM
I've never been tempted to write a "Comment on..." paper before, but today is teaching me that there's a first time for everything. 👀
I never posted an update on this, but in the end I declined to participate in this year's APS meeting. I can't in good conscience travel to and contribute to an event in the US while the current administration is causing so much harm to people and communities I care about.
I'm having a moral/ethical quandary about this year's APS meeting. I'm deeply uncomfortable at the idea of contributing to events in the US happening under the new political administration, but a boycott of US conferences seems like a feeble, ineffective and possibly misguided way to protest.
March 9, 2025 at 1:24 PM
I never posted an update on this, but in the end I declined to participate in this year's APS meeting. I can't in good conscience travel to and contribute to an event in the US while the current administration is causing so much harm to people and communities I care about.
Reposted by Steven Thomson
Microsoft's extraordinary claim last month—to have created a bonafide topological qubit—was met with caution by many experts. Now, a physicist is raising specific and substantive concerns about a key test that underlies Microsoft's approach. My reporting: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Microsoft quantum computing 'breakthrough' faces fresh challenge
Analysis pokes holes in protocol that underpins Microsoft’s claim to have created the first topological qubits.
www.nature.com
March 7, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Microsoft's extraordinary claim last month—to have created a bonafide topological qubit—was met with caution by many experts. Now, a physicist is raising specific and substantive concerns about a key test that underlies Microsoft's approach. My reporting: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I have synaesthesia, but I can't say it helped my language skills any! It took me a long time to pick up French, and my German never really got past elementary level. 😬
Maths though, that's another story - I do think it really helps me navigate complex equations. 🤔
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
Maths though, that's another story - I do think it really helps me navigate complex equations. 🤔
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
The people who 'see' foreign languages: How synaesthesia can help language learning
Synaesthesia is a neurological condition found to enhance memory and learning. Now, scientists say seeing in colour could help when it comes to learning a second language.
www.bbc.com
March 1, 2025 at 12:40 AM
I have synaesthesia, but I can't say it helped my language skills any! It took me a long time to pick up French, and my German never really got past elementary level. 😬
Maths though, that's another story - I do think it really helps me navigate complex equations. 🤔
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
Maths though, that's another story - I do think it really helps me navigate complex equations. 🤔
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
I've done PhD interviews before, but today was the first time I was ever on a panel alongside someone who once offered me a PhD place...! Such a surreal feeling to now be on the same side of the fence as people who I've admired and respected since I was an undergrad. 😅
February 28, 2025 at 2:43 PM
I've done PhD interviews before, but today was the first time I was ever on a panel alongside someone who once offered me a PhD place...! Such a surreal feeling to now be on the same side of the fence as people who I've admired and respected since I was an undergrad. 😅
Reposted by Steven Thomson
I had made Microsoft Quantum aware of issues before publication of this latest Nature paper (which uses it tune up their devices).
Since they seem to not care, I have make these issues public.
In short: The topological gap protocol and all claims based on it are flawed.
arxiv.org/abs/2502.19560
Since they seem to not care, I have make these issues public.
In short: The topological gap protocol and all claims based on it are flawed.
arxiv.org/abs/2502.19560
Comment on "InAs-Al hybrid devices passing the topological gap protocol", Microsoft Quantum, Phys. Rev. B 107, 245423 (2023)
The topological gap protocol (TGP) is presented as "a series of stringent experimental tests" for the presence of topological superconductivity and associated Majorana bound states. Here, we show that...
arxiv.org
February 28, 2025 at 6:32 AM
I had made Microsoft Quantum aware of issues before publication of this latest Nature paper (which uses it tune up their devices).
Since they seem to not care, I have make these issues public.
In short: The topological gap protocol and all claims based on it are flawed.
arxiv.org/abs/2502.19560
Since they seem to not care, I have make these issues public.
In short: The topological gap protocol and all claims based on it are flawed.
arxiv.org/abs/2502.19560
Reposted by Steven Thomson
In their roadmap, Microsoft described a protocol for demonstrating a topologically protected qubit. There is no publicly available evidence that this test has been conducted successfully. I hope we will hear more soon.
arxiv.org/abs/2502.12252
arxiv.org/abs/2502.12252
Roadmap to fault tolerant quantum computation using topological qubit arrays
We describe a concrete device roadmap towards a fault-tolerant quantum computing architecture based on noise-resilient, topologically protected Majorana-based qubits. Our roadmap encompasses four gene...
arxiv.org
February 19, 2025 at 6:26 PM
In their roadmap, Microsoft described a protocol for demonstrating a topologically protected qubit. There is no publicly available evidence that this test has been conducted successfully. I hope we will hear more soon.
arxiv.org/abs/2502.12252
arxiv.org/abs/2502.12252
Just leaving this here, from the very beginning of the peer review file of the new Microsoft paper (www.nature.com/articles/s41...).
February 19, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Just leaving this here, from the very beginning of the peer review file of the new Microsoft paper (www.nature.com/articles/s41...).
I'm hiring a postdoc in quantum condensed matter theory! This will be a 3 year position, with a focus on developing and using novel numerical techniques to investigate open quantum systems.
For further info and to apply, see the following: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
For further info and to apply, see the following: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Postdoctoral Research Associate
The Institute for Condensed Matter and Complex Systems is recruiting one Postdoctoral Research Associate to work with Dr Steven Thomson on the EPSRC funded project “Disorder in Open Quantum Systems”. ...
elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com
February 17, 2025 at 5:20 PM
I'm hiring a postdoc in quantum condensed matter theory! This will be a 3 year position, with a focus on developing and using novel numerical techniques to investigate open quantum systems.
For further info and to apply, see the following: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
For further info and to apply, see the following: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Last week taught me two main things.
1) I actually can write and deliver two entirely new talks on two entirely different subjects within the same week, while balancing all sorts of other tasks.
2) I should never do this again. 😅
1) I actually can write and deliver two entirely new talks on two entirely different subjects within the same week, while balancing all sorts of other tasks.
2) I should never do this again. 😅
a man wearing glasses says " yeah yeah but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could
Alt: Famous scene from Jurassic Park: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
media.tenor.com
February 10, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Last week taught me two main things.
1) I actually can write and deliver two entirely new talks on two entirely different subjects within the same week, while balancing all sorts of other tasks.
2) I should never do this again. 😅
1) I actually can write and deliver two entirely new talks on two entirely different subjects within the same week, while balancing all sorts of other tasks.
2) I should never do this again. 😅
One of the fun things about being back in Scotland is being reunited with things I stored away when I left for France and haven't seen for years. Things like this...!
February 9, 2025 at 1:45 PM
One of the fun things about being back in Scotland is being reunited with things I stored away when I left for France and haven't seen for years. Things like this...!
Today is a good day. Huge thanks to NVIDIA for supporting my work via their Academic Grant program!
February 3, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Today is a good day. Huge thanks to NVIDIA for supporting my work via their Academic Grant program!
I seem to have turned up to this afternoon's QSL seminar in camouflage. 🥷
January 23, 2025 at 3:16 PM
I seem to have turned up to this afternoon's QSL seminar in camouflage. 🥷
As a good friend of mine said earlier today - to lost futures.
January 20, 2025 at 10:30 PM
As a good friend of mine said earlier today - to lost futures.
Reposted by Steven Thomson
Hello! 👋 Who’s here on Bluesky from the quantum community? Follow recommendations welcome!
January 12, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Hello! 👋 Who’s here on Bluesky from the quantum community? Follow recommendations welcome!
I'm having a moral/ethical quandary about this year's APS meeting. I'm deeply uncomfortable at the idea of contributing to events in the US happening under the new political administration, but a boycott of US conferences seems like a feeble, ineffective and possibly misguided way to protest.
January 3, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I'm having a moral/ethical quandary about this year's APS meeting. I'm deeply uncomfortable at the idea of contributing to events in the US happening under the new political administration, but a boycott of US conferences seems like a feeble, ineffective and possibly misguided way to protest.
Obligatory 'first day back at work, trying to remember what I do for a living' post. 😅
a man in a suit and tie is giving a speech on physics
Alt: David Tennant in Doctor Who repeating the word 'physics' over and over.
media.tenor.com
January 3, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Obligatory 'first day back at work, trying to remember what I do for a living' post. 😅
The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada GPU is, obviously, not the same as the NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPU which you can tell by the fact that almost all of the letters are identical and in the same order.
NVIDIA must be following the Ibanez guitars school of naming things. (I'm looking at you, RGIT27FE-NTF.)
NVIDIA must be following the Ibanez guitars school of naming things. (I'm looking at you, RGIT27FE-NTF.)
Some wonderful news this morning, courtesy of NVIDIA!
December 16, 2024 at 11:43 AM
The NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada GPU is, obviously, not the same as the NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPU which you can tell by the fact that almost all of the letters are identical and in the same order.
NVIDIA must be following the Ibanez guitars school of naming things. (I'm looking at you, RGIT27FE-NTF.)
NVIDIA must be following the Ibanez guitars school of naming things. (I'm looking at you, RGIT27FE-NTF.)