Tom Rivlin
@tomrivlin.com
Vienna-based former Londoner. Quantum postdoc in TU Wien's @quitphysics.info group. (Running their bsky account!) Previously Weizmann, UCL, Imperial. Science writer for SciShow, bylines with PBS Space Time, New Scientist. H/h
Next, we all have that one friend who's just a small collection of qubits, right? Well here we numerically studied what happens to the WF effects as the friend increases in size, finding a form of 'emegence of classicality' as the WF effects faded away.
July 30, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Next, we all have that one friend who's just a small collection of qubits, right? Well here we numerically studied what happens to the WF effects as the friend increases in size, finding a form of 'emegence of classicality' as the WF effects faded away.
We also applied our model to the fancy Extended Wigner's Friend Scenarios that everyone's talking about, likewise finding that the model obfuscates genuine effects like the famous Local Friendliness violations.
July 30, 2025 at 8:47 AM
We also applied our model to the fancy Extended Wigner's Friend Scenarios that everyone's talking about, likewise finding that the model obfuscates genuine effects like the famous Local Friendliness violations.
We found our model produces a new type of Wigner's Friend disagreement (or 'paradox') using coherence between the friend and the environment. But this new effect is hard to tell apart from some more mundane sources of error that arise when complicating the WF setup.
July 30, 2025 at 8:47 AM
We found our model produces a new type of Wigner's Friend disagreement (or 'paradox') using coherence between the friend and the environment. But this new effect is hard to tell apart from some more mundane sources of error that arise when complicating the WF setup.
Philosophy of science by the thermal bath swimming pool. Not a bad weekend in Bad Blumau 😎
April 21, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Philosophy of science by the thermal bath swimming pool. Not a bad weekend in Bad Blumau 😎
A proud older brother making an embarrassed younger brother take credit for his hard work ❤️
April 15, 2025 at 9:16 PM
A proud older brother making an embarrassed younger brother take credit for his hard work ❤️
My brother came to Vienna this weekend for, well...
March 8, 2025 at 6:39 PM
My brother came to Vienna this weekend for, well...
Finally figured out how to fiddle with the DNS settings in my tomrivlin.com domain, so... new Bluesky handle! I'm now just @tomrivlin.com
January 27, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Finally figured out how to fiddle with the DNS settings in my tomrivlin.com domain, so... new Bluesky handle! I'm now just @tomrivlin.com
I feel quite proud of this: I'm officially qualified to speak German at the B2 level. Just one year ago I passed a B1 part 1 exam, so pretty quick progress!
December 18, 2024 at 3:43 PM
I feel quite proud of this: I'm officially qualified to speak German at the B2 level. Just one year ago I passed a B1 part 1 exam, so pretty quick progress!
A good reminder for everyone to watch the very good Pokémon Concierge miniseries on Netflix
December 11, 2024 at 2:20 PM
A good reminder for everyone to watch the very good Pokémon Concierge miniseries on Netflix
Next week, 23/11/24, marks the 100th anniversary of this NYT article announcing Edwin Hubble's discovery of "island universes" -- distant galaxies outside our own. Pretty big moment in the history of science! www.nytimes.com/1924/11/23/a...
November 17, 2024 at 3:12 PM
Next week, 23/11/24, marks the 100th anniversary of this NYT article announcing Edwin Hubble's discovery of "island universes" -- distant galaxies outside our own. Pretty big moment in the history of science! www.nytimes.com/1924/11/23/a...
I've been playing Marvel Snap for about two years now and I'd like to think I've got pretty good at it. Today I managed to reach the top 10,000 players worldwide for the first time!
October 16, 2024 at 7:45 PM
I've been playing Marvel Snap for about two years now and I'd like to think I've got pretty good at it. Today I managed to reach the top 10,000 players worldwide for the first time!
This was fun www.arealme.com/vocabulary-s...
September 18, 2024 at 12:55 PM
This was fun www.arealme.com/vocabulary-s...
Bell's Theorem Crescent, Belfast, 2018/Hamilton's Quaternion Bridge (Broombridge), Dublin, 2024
July 14, 2024 at 11:32 AM
Bell's Theorem Crescent, Belfast, 2018/Hamilton's Quaternion Bridge (Broombridge), Dublin, 2024
From Boltzmann's Vienna to Maxwell's Edinburgh! Had loads of fun giving this talk at Heriot-Watt about in-progress work of ours on quantum versions of the 2nd law. Many thanks to the group of Mehul Malik for being wonderful hosts! 🤩
May 1, 2024 at 3:17 PM
From Boltzmann's Vienna to Maxwell's Edinburgh! Had loads of fun giving this talk at Heriot-Watt about in-progress work of ours on quantum versions of the 2nd law. Many thanks to the group of Mehul Malik for being wonderful hosts! 🤩
The so-called "World Quantum Day" is this weekend. It is on the 14th of April, for a very, very, very, VERY silly set of reasons. (I know that 1st of May has other meanings, but I'm just saying... ℏ~1.05 in SI units 🤔)
April 12, 2024 at 12:09 PM
The so-called "World Quantum Day" is this weekend. It is on the 14th of April, for a very, very, very, VERY silly set of reasons. (I know that 1st of May has other meanings, but I'm just saying... ℏ~1.05 in SI units 🤔)
New SciShow I worked on is out: "The Solar System is Beige"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdUo...
Ever noticed how two "true colour" images of the same planet (e.g. Mars) can look, err... wildly different? This new video tells you the various reasons why that could happen!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdUo...
Ever noticed how two "true colour" images of the same planet (e.g. Mars) can look, err... wildly different? This new video tells you the various reasons why that could happen!
April 5, 2024 at 3:48 PM
New SciShow I worked on is out: "The Solar System is Beige"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdUo...
Ever noticed how two "true colour" images of the same planet (e.g. Mars) can look, err... wildly different? This new video tells you the various reasons why that could happen!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdUo...
Ever noticed how two "true colour" images of the same planet (e.g. Mars) can look, err... wildly different? This new video tells you the various reasons why that could happen!
Sehr aufregend! Endlich habe ich die Duolingo Deutschkurs fertiggemacht! Leider bin ich noch nicht fließend, aber sicher kann ich viel Deutsch sprechen und verstanden. Vielen Dank, Duo die Eule! 🦉🦉🦉
February 19, 2024 at 3:25 PM
Sehr aufregend! Endlich habe ich die Duolingo Deutschkurs fertiggemacht! Leider bin ich noch nicht fließend, aber sicher kann ich viel Deutsch sprechen und verstanden. Vielen Dank, Duo die Eule! 🦉🦉🦉
Nobel Prize in physics goes to someone formerly affiliated with TU Wien for the second year in a row! Ferenc Krausz did some of the Nobel-winning work while at TU in 2001. Nice to see attosecond science get recognition, too
October 3, 2023 at 10:59 AM
Nobel Prize in physics goes to someone formerly affiliated with TU Wien for the second year in a row! Ferenc Krausz did some of the Nobel-winning work while at TU in 2001. Nice to see attosecond science get recognition, too
Finished reading the four Chronicles of the Avatar novels by F.C. Yee and... they're great! Highly recommend them to fans of the original Airbender/Korra shows. Brilliant reads in their own right, and they capture the spirit of the shows whilst adding cool new twists
August 29, 2023 at 8:54 AM
Finished reading the four Chronicles of the Avatar novels by F.C. Yee and... they're great! Highly recommend them to fans of the original Airbender/Korra shows. Brilliant reads in their own right, and they capture the spirit of the shows whilst adding cool new twists
Joining bluesky and seeing posts from people I follow who left twitter months ago like
August 20, 2023 at 6:28 PM
Joining bluesky and seeing posts from people I follow who left twitter months ago like