2026 World Quantum Day Abstracts
Is reality really real?
The question of the reality has been addressed since ancient Greek times. An object can be considered to be real if it exists independent of whether we look at it or we do not. Quantum mechanics give a surprising answer to the question: What is reality? In this talk, I shall discuss how quantum mechanics deals with the questions about reality and locality.
Bio: Professor M. Suhail Zubairy received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in 1978. He is presently a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the holder of the Munnerlyn-Heep Chair in Quantum Optics at Texas A&M University. He has made several pioneering contributions in the fields of Quantum Optics and Laser Physics. He is the co-author of two books, one on Quantum Optics and the other on Quantum Computing Devices. Recently, he published two books, the first entitled Quantum Mechanics for Beginners and the other entitled A Mysterious Universe. In recognition of his contributions to the field of Quantum Optics and Laser Physics, Prof. Zubairy has received many honors including the Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics, Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize for Distinguished Scientists, the Changjiang Distinguished Award, the Outstanding Physicist Award from the Organization of Islamic Countries, the Abdus Salam Prize in Physics, the International Khwarizmi Award, and the George H. W. Bush Award for Excellence in International Research.
Quantum Computing and the Arts
What happens when you put artists and scientists in the same room? This talk traces a path from robotics labs to quantum computers, exploring why art-science collaborations matter and what they might offer quantum computing.
Ishaan Pakrasi entered the world of art-science as a roboticist collaborating with dancers and choreographers, designing expressive robots that could communicate through movement. That experience revealed something fundamental: when artists and scientists share a space, they don’t just illustrate each other’s work – they generate new questions that neither discipline would ask alone. Through examples of prominent art-science collaborations that have advanced both fields, this talk makes the case that art-science is a generative “third space” – one that produces emergent knowledge at the boundaries of disciplines. Ishaan then turns to quantum computing specifically, showing how shared spaces for artists and scientists, from hackathons to university classrooms, can open new ways of engaging with the field.
Ishaan will show early work from his artistic collaboration with Ravin Raori, tentatively725, that treats quantum computers not just as computational tools but as artistic instruments. This is made possible by Amazon Braket, AWS’s quantum computing service which makes real quantum hardware available through the cloud. Braket’s “write once, run anywhere” approach allows users to program quantum circuits on superconducting processors, trapped-ion and neutral-atom machines through a unified interface, making quantum computing accessible to scientists, researchers, and artists alike.
SiC AI/Quantum: Are Guardrails Needed for Quantum Computers
by Christopher Savoie
This talk asks whether deliberate guardrails—technical, policy, and ethical—are now essential to ensure quantum computing delivers benefits without causing harm.
One example of a potential technical guardrail is SiC Systems’ award-winning work. In partnership with ORCA Computing, SiC Systems developed a hybrid quantum–classical agentic-AI framework that achieved the first practical quantum advantage in anomaly detection. Using ORCA’s photonic quantum processors within ensemble GANs, the system learns normal operational patterns from limited data via unsupervised learning. This enables early detection of subtle deviations, fraud, and anomalous behaviors by rogue systems—outperforming classical AI in low-data regimes. The project received the 2025 Hyperion HPC Innovation Excellence Award. Crucially, these same quantum anomaly detection tools can act as proactive guardrails by modeling “normal” behavior across networks and AI agents, providing continuous monitoring to detect fraud, cyber threats, and rogue quantum-AI actions.