Tommy Chin

Tommy Chin - PhD Candidate - Graduate Student

Office: 301D Whitmore Laboratory

Address: 104 Davey Lab, Box 189, University Park PA 16802

Email: wjc5509@psu.edu

Phone: 6692331822

I develop theoretical frameworks for open quantum systems that infer global properties from ensembles of local subsystem descriptions, with emphasis on correlations, non-Markovian dynamics, and quantum Fisher information for global parameters from local observations. These questions arise directly in cosmology and high-energy physics, where observations are fundamentally limited to partial access to correlated subsystems of a larger quantum system.

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Publications

Tommy Chin, Sarah Shandera, "Excitation Flow, Positivity, and Fisher Information for Open Subsystems of an N-Qubit Network." (2026)

Sean Prudhoe, Unnati Akhouri, Tommy Chin, Sarah Shandera, "Effective Dynamics of Qubit Networks via Phase-Covariant Quantum Ensembles." Open Systems & Information Dynamics 31 04 (2024)

The IGC wordmark was created by Monica Rincon Ramirez, while she was a graduate student at the Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos (IGC). Monica enjoys drawing new connections between fundamental theory and observations. Her graduate work includes specialized topics in general relativity, loop quantum gravity, and quantum fields in cosmological backgrounds. In particular, her thesis work focused on finding effective quantum corrections to gravitational phenomena from spinfoams, and applications to cosmology. She received her PhD in 2024.

The wordmark symbolizes the scope and variety of research at the IGC. The base of the image represents quantum gravity, evoking the quantum geometrical picture from spinfoams and loop quantum gravity. These are among the approaches to fundamental questions studied at the Center for Fundamental Theory. The middle of the image represents the Center for Theoretical and Observational Cosmology by galaxies embedded in a smooth surface, characteristic of spacetime in general relativity and the much larger physical scales studied in cosmology. Finally, at the top, the surface curves to an extreme, representing a supermassive black hole accompanied by an energetic jet. These elements depict an active galactic nucleus, inspired by Centaurus A. Just to the right, a pair of black holes approaches merger. This top portion of the wordmark represents the Center for Multimessenger Astrophysics, which specializes in the study of high-energy phenomena in the universe.