Jesse Berezovsky
@jesseberezovsky.bsky.social
Physics professor @ CWRU. Experimental quantum materials, magnetism, and applications of stat mech to music theory and composition.
Trying a more plant-based diet, so it felt like I was making some kind of witches brew tonight. Had to sub fermented beans for the eye of newt. (Soup came out incredible, btw)
November 1, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Trying a more plant-based diet, so it felt like I was making some kind of witches brew tonight. Had to sub fermented beans for the eye of newt. (Soup came out incredible, btw)
A unitary interaction between the systems where information about the amplitudes of a set of orthogonal states |sₙ〉of a system is transferred to a set of orthogonal states |Aₙ〉of a second system like so:
October 5, 2025 at 8:20 PM
A unitary interaction between the systems where information about the amplitudes of a set of orthogonal states |sₙ〉of a system is transferred to a set of orthogonal states |Aₙ〉of a second system like so:
Another eland today, along with a personal best Saturday time. Not sure if I’ve ever actually seen “oribi” with its less common vowels.
October 4, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Another eland today, along with a personal best Saturday time. Not sure if I’ve ever actually seen “oribi” with its less common vowels.
I remember as a kid having a book of NYT crosswords and it suggested if the clue is “African antelope,” 5 letters, you might pencil in “eland” or “oribi”. Finally got to use it on the final word today.
September 26, 2025 at 12:09 AM
I remember as a kid having a book of NYT crosswords and it suggested if the clue is “African antelope,” 5 letters, you might pencil in “eland” or “oribi”. Finally got to use it on the final word today.
Pretty much nailed it! Didn’t run into any screws, and even got the mirror image part right. This will be a drip tray for a drying rack for my bar glassware.
August 23, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Pretty much nailed it! Didn’t run into any screws, and even got the mirror image part right. This will be a drip tray for a drying rack for my bar glassware.
This compound angle has required the most thought of any cut I’ve done. Wish me luck.
August 23, 2025 at 4:44 PM
This compound angle has required the most thought of any cut I’ve done. Wish me luck.
On a more positive note, I also say:
August 15, 2025 at 4:47 PM
On a more positive note, I also say:
Can we understand consciousness with AI and quantum? I think this quote from me in Popular Mechanics accurately sums up my skepticism. ⚛️🧪
August 15, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Can we understand consciousness with AI and quantum? I think this quote from me in Popular Mechanics accurately sums up my skepticism. ⚛️🧪
Last night’s insomnia rabbit hole: Do mirrors flip images left-right? Why not up-down? Our brains seem to have a bias towards certain rotations, probably due to the symmetry and typical motion of the human body. And this can help explain why special relativity is so counterintuitive. (1/7) 🧵🧪⚛️
August 14, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Last night’s insomnia rabbit hole: Do mirrors flip images left-right? Why not up-down? Our brains seem to have a bias towards certain rotations, probably due to the symmetry and typical motion of the human body. And this can help explain why special relativity is so counterintuitive. (1/7) 🧵🧪⚛️
After years of teaching quantum, I just realized that I have gotten this equation, at the heart of QM, backwards. It’s not saying that the frequency f of a particle’s wave function is given by its energy E. It’s saying that energy is *defined* as the frequency of the wave function. ⚛️🧪 (1/4)
July 28, 2025 at 1:48 PM
After years of teaching quantum, I just realized that I have gotten this equation, at the heart of QM, backwards. It’s not saying that the frequency f of a particle’s wave function is given by its energy E. It’s saying that energy is *defined* as the frequency of the wave function. ⚛️🧪 (1/4)
Replacing the seats on some Adirondack chairs I built about 15 years ago. Yeah, those were probably not good to sit on anymore.
July 15, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Replacing the seats on some Adirondack chairs I built about 15 years ago. Yeah, those were probably not good to sit on anymore.
Whenever I get a new undergrad advisee, I expect the email to be like “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a student to pick their field of study…”
July 6, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Whenever I get a new undergrad advisee, I expect the email to be like “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a student to pick their field of study…”
Thanks, AI overview, for giving my 11 yr old an inferiority complex.
June 29, 2025 at 1:23 AM
Thanks, AI overview, for giving my 11 yr old an inferiority complex.
I didn't know who he was either, but here's a picture of him in my lab. Also gave us tickets and backstage passes to his show that evening.
June 13, 2025 at 10:05 PM
I didn't know who he was either, but here's a picture of him in my lab. Also gave us tickets and backstage passes to his show that evening.
The tool to do this is just the Hadamard gate again. This uses interference at a beamsplitter to turn two packets into one whose direction depends on whether the packets are in-phase or out-of-phase. (12/15)
June 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
The tool to do this is just the Hadamard gate again. This uses interference at a beamsplitter to turn two packets into one whose direction depends on whether the packets are in-phase or out-of-phase. (12/15)
Here is the same thing, but now simulated as a quantum wave function for all four possible sets of outputs. The initial state – a superposition of two wave packets could be obtained using the Hadamard gate (a beamsplitter) shown above. (7/15)
June 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Here is the same thing, but now simulated as a quantum wave function for all four possible sets of outputs. The initial state – a superposition of two wave packets could be obtained using the Hadamard gate (a beamsplitter) shown above. (7/15)
Here’s one way the black box might work. A ball can be input on either side: the left side is a “0”, the right side a “1”. The ball rolls in and either reflects off a red barrier, or not. If it hits the barrier and comes right back out, that is a “1” output, or a “0” output otherwise. (5/15)
June 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Here’s one way the black box might work. A ball can be input on either side: the left side is a “0”, the right side a “1”. The ball rolls in and either reflects off a red barrier, or not. If it hits the barrier and comes right back out, that is a “1” output, or a “0” output otherwise. (5/15)
Classically, we have to plug in both inputs separately to find out, using the box twice. But if the box operates with qubits, perhaps we can somehow put our input qubit in as a superposition of 0 and 1 (generated using a Hadamard gate as shown here), and get the answer in one shot. (4/15)
June 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Classically, we have to plug in both inputs separately to find out, using the box twice. But if the box operates with qubits, perhaps we can somehow put our input qubit in as a superposition of 0 and 1 (generated using a Hadamard gate as shown here), and get the answer in one shot. (4/15)
By stringing together the operations shown above, we can perform arbitrary quantum computations. As we add more qubits, we just have to imagine the blobs in more and more dimensions. Here’s a 4D, 4-qubit state. 1- or 2-qubit gates cause the blobs to move along 1 or 2 of those dimensions. (12/14)
June 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
By stringing together the operations shown above, we can perform arbitrary quantum computations. As we add more qubits, we just have to imagine the blobs in more and more dimensions. Here’s a 4D, 4-qubit state. 1- or 2-qubit gates cause the blobs to move along 1 or 2 of those dimensions. (12/14)
Here’s the evolution of the wave function for the CNOT operation. Two particles collide when their positions are equal – when a blob hits the dashed diagonal line. At the end, the two lower blobs are swapped. We just need to reposition the blobs and apply a phase gate to fix the phases. (11/14)
June 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Here’s the evolution of the wave function for the CNOT operation. Two particles collide when their positions are equal – when a blob hits the dashed diagonal line. At the end, the two lower blobs are swapped. We just need to reposition the blobs and apply a phase gate to fix the phases. (11/14)
If we position the packets as shown in this cartoon, the “1” packet of B will first collide with the “1” packet of A, then the “0” packet of A. When they recoil, the two packets of A will be swapped. We then stop the particles before the “0” packet of B collides. (10/14)
June 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
If we position the packets as shown in this cartoon, the “1” packet of B will first collide with the “1” packet of A, then the “0” packet of A. When they recoil, the two packets of A will be swapped. We then stop the particles before the “0” packet of B collides. (10/14)
Finally, the 2-qubit CNOT gate. The wave function of two particles moving in 1D must be drawn as a 2D plot – each particle gets its own x-axis. The two possible 1D locations of each particle thus show up as 4 possible 2D blobs (dashed ellipses). Two examples are shown here. (8/14)
June 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Finally, the 2-qubit CNOT gate. The wave function of two particles moving in 1D must be drawn as a 2D plot – each particle gets its own x-axis. The two possible 1D locations of each particle thus show up as 4 possible 2D blobs (dashed ellipses). Two examples are shown here. (8/14)
By placing the barrier just off from the midpoint between the packets, a particle incoming from the left results in two in-phase packets, and from the right, in two out-of-phase packets. The reverse is also true: the Hadamard gate translates phase information into position of the particle. (7/14)
June 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
By placing the barrier just off from the midpoint between the packets, a particle incoming from the left results in two in-phase packets, and from the right, in two out-of-phase packets. The reverse is also true: the Hadamard gate translates phase information into position of the particle. (7/14)
Now the Hadamard gate, which turns a single packet into a superposition of two packets. This is just a 50/50 beamsplitter – a narrow barrier with 50% reflection and 50% transmission. (6/14)
June 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Now the Hadamard gate, which turns a single packet into a superposition of two packets. This is just a 50/50 beamsplitter – a narrow barrier with 50% reflection and 50% transmission. (6/14)
Next a phase gate. Here one of the packets passes through a region of attractive potential (dashed red line), shifting its phase, as shown by the color scale. The phase shift could be anything, but here it’s 180 deg., making this a Z gate. (5/14)
June 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Next a phase gate. Here one of the packets passes through a region of attractive potential (dashed red line), shifting its phase, as shown by the color scale. The phase shift could be anything, but here it’s 180 deg., making this a Z gate. (5/14)