Hello everyone, the next two upcoming online seminars for WG1 are are follows.
Thursday 9th of October at 3pm CET, seminar by Jan Mandrysch
Thursday 13th of November at 3pm CET, seminar by Roger Colbeck
Further details will be shared soon.
Recording of past seminars can be found on the RQI COST YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RQICOST
Hello everyone! The details of the next WG1 seminar are given below.
Date and time: 13 November, 15:00 (CET)
Hello everyone!
We hope this message finds you well and wish you all the best for the New Year 2026!
This is to announce the schedule for the upcoming WG1 online seminars. We will not have a seminar in January as our usual schedule of 2nd Thursday of the month coincides with the holiday/travel season for most potential speakers and participants. The schedule for the next seminars from February to April are as follows.
The titles, abstracts and zoom links will be shared closer to the dates.
1. 12th February 2026 at 15:00 CET by Robert Oeckl (National Autonomous University of Mexico)
2. 12th March 2026 at 10:00 CET by Jan Mandrysch (IQOQI Vienna)
3. 9th April 2026 at 15:00 CET by Maria Papageorgiou (IQOQI Vienna)
Wish you a great first month of the year and hope to see many of you at the upcoming online seminars!
On behalf of:
Kasia Rejzner (Professor of Mathematics, University of York, WG1 leader)
V. Vilasini (Research Faculty in Quantum Information Theory, Inria, Université Grenoble Alpes, WG1 co-leader)
Hello everyone,
Hope you are doing well! The details of the next WG1 seminar are given below, please note the speaker update since the previous announcement. Due to a scheduling conflict, Maria Papageorgiou's talk has been postponed to a later date, and we are pleased to welcome Lin-Qing Chen as tomorrow's speaker.
Date and time: Thursday, 9th April, 15:00 CEST
Speaker: Lin-Qing Chen (IQOQI Vienna)
Title: Quantum coordinate transformations via matter fields
Abstract: A central challenge in quantum gravity is to formulate a theory without presupposing a background spacetime. Such a description requires relational observables and a genuinely quantum generalisation of diffeomorphisms. Here we associate coordinate systems with sets of four dynamical scalar fields, whose stress-energy tensors contribute to the constraints of linearised quantum gravity. Such quantum coordinate fields (QCFs) extend the notion of quantum reference frames and enable a relational description of other physical systems. By generalising the perspective-neutral construction of quantum reference frames, we show that relational, gauge invariant observables admit a description in each QCF perspective, and derive consistent transformations between perspectives. The resulting unitary maps implement local quantum coordinate changes, yielding quantum linearized diffeomorphisms beyond superpositions of classical ones. We further discuss the operational aspects of relational observables, the conceptual distinction between QCFs and quantum reference frames, and identify the difference between QCFs transformations and the superposition of classical diffeomorphisms.
Zoom link: https://york-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/95152863408?pwd=oKL9LKGpsOpUm1Ofxsj93SJLrgtns4.1
Hope to see you there! As you may know, the seminars are recorded and available on the RQI COST YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RQICOST
On behalf of:
Kasia Rejzner (Professor of Mathematics, University of York, WG1 leader)
V. Vilasini (Research Faculty in Quantum Information Theory, Inria, Université Grenoble Alpes, WG1 co-leader)