Information Theory Study Group

Objectives

Mathematics and theoretical science comprise diverse arrays of fields, and the recent years have witnessed a growing interest in understanding our world in view of information theory. For example, chaotic systems can be characterized by topological entropy. The irreversibility of a dynamical system is measured by entropy production, which gives birth to a new field called as ‘information thermodynamics’. Quantum information theory is now an indispensable tool for various fields of physics ranging from condensed matter, black hole physics, to quantum computing. Considering the increasingly higher availability of quantum computing systems – and especially the birth of RQC (RIKEN Quantum Computing) – it has been becoming more and more important to keep up with the trends in knowledge and technology, asking ‘what we can do’ or ‘what we cannot do (now)’ with information theory.

Our purpose is thus twofold: (i) sharing interdisciplinary methods (e.g., theoretical and computational techniques), and (ii) providing key research-topics (e.g., unsolved big problems), from the viewpoints of information theory, thereby unifying seemingly different ideas and exploring new research directions. Our goal is to provide a clearer overview of wider theoretical disciplines on the basis of information theory, by making close connections across fields: physics, mathematics, machine learning, engineering, biology, chemistry, and whatever areas that have to do with mathematics.

Facilitators:

Kyosuke Adachi (RIKEN iTHEMS/RIKEN BDR)

Yukimi Goto (Kyushu Univ.)

Ryusuke Hamazaki (RIKEN Hakubi/RIKEN iTHEMS)

Ryosuke Iritani (RIKEN iTHEMS) *Contact at ryosuke.iritani@riken.jp

Akinori Tanaka (RIKEN AIP/RIKEN iTHEMS)