PIMS-UNBC Distinguished Colloquium: Steven Rayan
Topic
Quantum 2.0: A Mathematician's Journey
Speakers
Details
We are in the midst of an exciting revolution in quantum science and technology. One of the most intriguing and potentially disruptive innovations to emerge from this second revolution is the prospect of quantum computation. Serious attempts are being undertaken between academia and industry to design practical quantum computers, and these attempts are pushing physical materials to their extremes. The rise of quantum materials, influenced in part by these attempts, has involved new perspectives and tools not only from physics, chemistry, and material science, but also from mathematics — and not only applied mathematics, but also pure mathematics. I will discuss my work over the past half decade in using ideas from pure mathematics — especially from complex geometry and number theory — to anticipate new models of quantum materials as well as new paradigms for programming quantum devices that might result from these materials. I will explain, with lots of pictures, not only the mathematical and scientific ideas here, but also how the path to fabrication and actualization has led to exciting interdisciplinary collaborations between mathematics and other sciences as well as between academia and industry.
Additional Information
About the Speaker:
Dr. Steven Rayan (Director, Centre for Quantum Topology and Its Applications (quanTA) and Professor, Mathematics and Statistics, University of Saskatchewan)
Steven Rayan (he/him) is an algebraic geometer and quantum scientist based at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) since 2016. He earned his doctorate from the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford in 2011 before taking up a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Toronto. In addition to his role as Full Professor of Mathematics at USask, Dr. Rayan leads the Quantum Innovation Signature Area of Research at USask, is the founding director of the Centre for Quantum Topology and Its Applications (quanTA), and the PIMS Site Director for the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. Rayan works on algebro-geometric problems for their own sake, but also uses perspectives from the pure side of his work to initiate new directions in quantum science. His work in quantum materials has been highlighted in Scientific American twice in the past three years, and one of his recent papers in the area was a runner-up for the 2023 Cozzarelli Prize of the US National Academy of Sciences, selected from over 3,200 papers published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2022. His research, which includes a wide-ranging programme around foundational and applied quantum computing, has been generously funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Tri-Agency New Frontiers in Research Fund, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, PrairiesCan, and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences. Dr. Rayan represents USask in the Canada-France Quantum Alliance and serves as the academic lead for a number of collaborations with companies in the quantum computing ecosystem both within Canada and beyond. In November 2025, Dr. Rayan was inducted into the College of the Royal Society of Canada for his work at the interface of mathematics and quantum science.