DIMACS - RUTGERS EXPERIMENTAL MATHEMATICS SEMINAR

sponsored by the Rutgers University Department of Mathematics and the
Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS)

Co-organizers:

Drew Sills, Rutgers University, asills {at} math [dot] rutgers [dot] edu

Doron Zeilberger, Rutgers University, zeilberg {at} math [dot] rutgers [dot] edu

Title: From Packing Planes in 4-Space to Quantum Error-Correcting Codes

Speaker: Neil Sloane, AT & T

Date: September 9, 2004 4:30-5:30pm

Location: DIMACS Center, CoRE Bldg, Room 431, Rutgers University, Busch Campus, Piscataway, NJ

Abstract:

I will describe the route that took us from experimental work on a new packing problem (looking for "codes" in Grassmann manifolds - e.g., how should you place 18 planes through the origin in Euclidean 4-space so that they are as far apart as possible?) to the construction of codes for quantum computers. This work began as a project with Ron Hardin and John Conway, but many others (Peter Shor, Rob Calderbank, Eric Rains, Gabriele Nebe, ...) have since been involved. There are also applications to medicine, to visualizing multi-dimensional data, and to wireless communications.