Skip to main content

Site navigation

  • University of Technology Sydney home
  • Home

    Home
  • For students

  • For industry

  • Research

Explore

  • Courses
  • Events
  • News
  • Stories
  • People

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Study at UTS

    • arrow_right_alt Find a course
    • arrow_right_alt Course areas
    • arrow_right_alt Undergraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Postgraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Research Masters and PhD
    • arrow_right_alt Online study and short courses
  • Student information

    • arrow_right_alt Current students
    • arrow_right_alt New UTS students
    • arrow_right_alt Graduates (Alumni)
    • arrow_right_alt High school students
    • arrow_right_alt Indigenous students
    • arrow_right_alt International students
  • Admissions

    • arrow_right_alt How to apply
    • arrow_right_alt Entry pathways
    • arrow_right_alt Eligibility
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for students

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Apply for a coursearrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Scholarshipsarrow_right_alt
  • Featured industries

    • arrow_right_alt Agriculture and food
    • arrow_right_alt Defence and space
    • arrow_right_alt Energy and transport
    • arrow_right_alt Government and policy
    • arrow_right_alt Health and medical
    • arrow_right_alt Corporate training
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Tech Central
    • arrow_right_alt Case studies
    • arrow_right_alt Research
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for industry

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Partner with usarrow_right_alt
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Explore our research
    • arrow_right_alt Research centres and institutes
    • arrow_right_alt Graduate research
    • arrow_right_alt Research partnerships
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for research

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Research centres and institutesarrow_right_alt
  • University of Technology Sydney home
Explore the University of Technology Sydney
Category Filters:
University of Technology Sydney home University of Technology Sydney home
  1. home
  2. arrow_forward_ios ... Newsroom
  3. arrow_forward_ios ... 2020
  4. arrow_forward_ios 07
  5. arrow_forward_ios New quantum proof causes rethink of scientific theories

New quantum proof causes rethink of scientific theories

8 July 2020

Well-known mathematics and physics theories may be re-examined after new quantum findings.

A/Prof Troy Lee (left) discusses quantum information theory with Prof Zhengfeng Ji (right) while writing on a whiteboard

QSI researchers A/Prof Troy Lee (left) and Prof Zhengfeng Ji (right) discuss quantum information theory.
Image: Andy Roberts.

It is fascinating to see that our complexity-theoretic approach can be made to work and have interesting implications in both pure mathematics and physics."

Professor Zhengfeng Ji, UTS Centre for Quantum Software and Information

Earlier this year, a collaborative research paper released by Professor Zhengfeng Ji, together with four other computer scientists, sent shock waves of excitement across the global science community.

The team of researchers inadvertently disproved the Connes' embedding problem (first posed by French mathematician Alain Connes in 1976) while working on a computational complexity problem in quantum correlations.

This finding will have far-reaching impacts across other scientific disciplines.

Just like a Rube Goldberg machine set in motion, seemingly unrelated theories will also topple over, once experts verify their work.

The researchers used computational complexity tools and quantum information theory to describe the power of two entangled provers, commonly named Alice and Bob.

“We started with the belief that the Connes' embedding problem should be true, ” said Professor Ji, Director of the UTS Centre for Quantum Software and Information. “Rather than disproving it, we tried to prove some upper bound on the amount of entanglement needed,”

“But what we found surprised us all,” he said.


Diagram of a verifier asking questions to Alice and Bob (an entangled pair of provers). Alice and Bob provide answers back,and the verifier decides if they are convinced or not.

Quantum Local Games The entangled provers called Alice and Bob have a common aim. They need to convince the verifier of the validity of certain statements. Alice and Bob interact with the verifier, but can’t communicate with each other.

The connection between the Connes' embedding problem and the complexity of entangled provers, formalized as the complexity class MIP*, is a well-known fact in the research community through its connections to Tsirelson’s problem in mathematical physics. Since MIP* is computable, a finite amount of shared entanglement is sufficient for Alice and Bob to play any fixed MIP* protocol, optimally.


“Our result shows that MIP* is not computable,” Ji said. “As a consequence, both the Connes' embedding problem and Tsirelson’s problem must, to our surprise, have negative answers,”

“It is fascinating to see that our complexity-theoretic approach can be made to work and have interesting implications in both pure mathematics and physics." he said.

The paper titled MIP*= RE, is a culmination of ideas formed over ten years between five researchers, Zhengfeng Ji of the University of Technology Sydney, Anand Natarajan and Thomas Vidick of the California Institute of Technology, John Wright of the University of Texas at Austin, and Henry Yuen of the University of Toronto, and many other contributors in the quantum information community

And with today marking Math 2.0 Day, a celebration of mathematics and technology, QSI’s quantum researchers certainly have something to shout about.

Chalkboard with July 8 Math 2.0 Day written in chalk

RELATED ARTICLES:
  • Landmark Computer Science Proof Cascades Through Physics and Math
  • A Master's Project
  • The shape of MIP* = RE
Share
Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn
Back to QSI News

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

University of Technology Sydney

City Campus

15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007

Get in touch with UTS

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook

A member of

  • Australian Technology Network
Use arrow keys to navigate within each column of links. Press Tab to move between columns.

Study

  • Find a course
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • How to apply
  • Scholarships and prizes
  • International students
  • Campus maps
  • Accommodation

Engage

  • Find an expert
  • Industry
  • News
  • Events
  • Experience UTS
  • Research
  • Stories
  • Alumni

About

  • Who we are
  • Faculties
  • Learning and teaching
  • Sustainability
  • Initiatives
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Campus and locations
  • Awards and rankings
  • UTS governance

Staff and students

  • Current students
  • Help and support
  • Library
  • Policies
  • StaffConnect
  • Working at UTS
  • UTS Handbook
  • Contact us
  • Copyright © 2025
  • ABN: 77 257 686 961
  • CRICOS provider number: 00099F
  • TEQSA provider number: PRV12060
  • TEQSA category: Australian University
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility