The Quantum Pub

Mmmmmmmmmm…. You probably thought that nothing was further away from quantum mechanics than a pub…. But here they are! Quantum states are going to expand their quirkiness among pints of lager and crisps. Come to listen to what would happen if familiar beer would become a quantum beer and to learn about the weirdness of entangled beers.

In the internet age, keeping our information secret is increasingly important --- to enjoy the convenience of internet banking we need good codes, for example. I will describe the ideas behind coding and give some simple codes and how they can be broken. But how good can our codes be? Thinking about this will naturally point us back towards quantum thoughts...

Any communication requires interaction with the physical world, whether we choose to send information through sound, light pulses or semaphore. We want to take secret-keeping (and sharing) to the very limits allowed by nature; to do so, it is helpful to have an accurate description of its laws and this is where quantum theory comes in, as our best description to date. By establishing our true limits -- as well as those of our eavesdropping enemies -- we can achieve things otherwise thought impossible.