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Alexei Kitaev
Russian-American physicist

Alexei Yurievich Kitaev is a Russian-American theoretical physicist known for his influential work in quantum mechanics and quantum computing. He is a professor of theoretical physics and mathematics at the California Institute of Technology and serves as a permanent member of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. Throughout his career, Kitaev has received multiple awards recognizing his significant contributions to advancing quantum science and computation.

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Life

Kitaev was educated in Russia, graduating from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1986,3 and with a Ph.D. from the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics under the supervision of Valery Pokrovsky in 1989.45

Kitaev worked as a research associate at the Landau Institute between 1989 and 1998. Between 1999 and 2001, he served as a researcher at Microsoft Research.6 Since 2002, Kitaev has been a professor at Caltech.7

In 2021, Kitaev was elected into the National Academy of Sciences.8

Research

Toy models

Kitaev has introduced many toy models in the fields of solid-state physics and quantum mechanics. In his words:9

Throughout my career I have been successful inventing toy models, some simple models that capture important features of a more complex problem.

— Alexei Kitaev

Kitaev's toric code has since been found to describe several physical situations, such as quantum dimer models10 and atoms in certain Rydberg blockades.11

Another toy model is Kitaev's honeycomb model, which is an exactly solvable lattice model for topological order with non-abelian anyons.12[non-primary source needed] This model is notable not only for being one of the first examples of an explicit Hamiltonian with non-abelian anyons, but also due to the fact that the Hamiltonian is amenable to experimental realization. Many materials have since been found whose effective Hamiltonians are similar to the honeycomb model, and such materials are known as Kitaev spin liquids.13

It is believed that all invertible topological phases in two dimensions are obtained by stacking copies of Kitaev's E8 state.14

Classification of topological phases

A classification result is Kitaev's 16-fold way, which gives a periodic description of the anyons in the Kitaev spin liquids based on their Chern numbers modulo 16, which can be rephrased in terms of a classification result for minimal fermionic topological phases.15

Fault-tolerant quantum computation

Since 2021 Kitaev has worked with Google Quantum AI on their experimental effort of realizing fault-tolerant quantum computation, whose efforts have made extensive use of the toric code.1617181920

Honors and awards

YearAwardInstitutionReason
2008MacArthur Fellows ProgramMacArthur FoundationContributions to the field of quantum computing and quantum physics21
2012Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental PhysicsBreakthrough Prizes BoardFor the theoretical development of implemeting quantum memories and fault-tolerant quantum computation22
2015Dirac Medal (ICTP)International Centre for Theoretical PhysicsFor the interdisciplinary contributions in condensed matter systems and applications of these ideas to quantum computing.23
2017Oliver E. Buckley Prize (with Xiao-Gang Wen)American Physical SocietyFor theories of topological order and its consequences in a broad range of physical systems24
2024Henri Poincaré PrizeInternational Association of Mathematical PhysicsContributions to the development of quantum computing, the study of quantum many-body systems and quantum information25
2024Basic Science Lifetime AwardInternational Congress of Basic ScienceContributions to the development of quantum computing26

Political activism

In March, 2022, he was one of 78 Breakthrough Prize Laureates whose names appeared on an "open letter" criticizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.27

See also

References

  1. Arantes, José Tadeu (2022-10-12). "Study makes spin liquid model more realistic". Agência FAPESP. Archived from the original on 2022-10-12. Retrieved 2025-04-01. https://agencia.fapesp.br/study-makes-spin-liquid-model-more-realistic/39778 ↩

  2. "Alexei Kitaev - Computing + Mathematical Sciences". www.cms.caltech.edu. Archived from the original on 2025-03-01. Retrieved 2025-03-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20250301134118/https://www.cms.caltech.edu/people/kitaev#profile-44119cce-tab ↩

  3. Neith, Katie (2012-08-01). "Caltech Physicist Wins $3 Million Fundamental Physics Prize". California Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 2024-09-20. Retrieved 2025-04-01. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-physicist-wins-3-million-fundamental-physics-prize-23604 ↩

  4. "Диссертации, подготовленные или защищенные в ИТФ им. Л.Д. Ландау". www.itp.ac.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2025-01-10. Retrieved 2023-08-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20250110095711/http://www.itp.ac.ru/ru/dissertation-council/thesis/ ↩

  5. Neith, Katie (2012-08-01). "Caltech Physicist Wins $3 Million Fundamental Physics Prize". California Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 2024-09-20. Retrieved 2025-04-01. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-physicist-wins-3-million-fundamental-physics-prize-23604 ↩

  6. Neith, Katie (2012-08-01). "Caltech Physicist Wins $3 Million Fundamental Physics Prize". California Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 2024-09-20. Retrieved 2025-04-01. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-physicist-wins-3-million-fundamental-physics-prize-23604 ↩

  7. Neith, Katie (2012-08-01). "Caltech Physicist Wins $3 Million Fundamental Physics Prize". California Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 2024-09-20. Retrieved 2025-04-01. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/caltech-physicist-wins-3-million-fundamental-physics-prize-23604 ↩

  8. "National Academy of Sciences Elects New Members — Including a Record Number of Women — and International Members - NAS". NAS Online. Archived from the original on 2024-11-13. Retrieved 2025-03-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20241113182009/https://www.nasonline.org/news/national-academy-of-sciences-elects-new-members-including-a-record-number-of-women-and-international-members/ ↩

  9. "Watch: Alexei Kitaev and the Value of Toy Models". Simons Foundation. 2019-04-22. Archived from the original on 2024-05-15. Retrieved 2025-02-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20240515101851/https://www.simonsfoundation.org/2019/04/22/watch-alexei-kitaev-and-the-value-of-toy-models/ ↩

  10. Misguich, G.; Serban, D.; Pasquier, V. (2002-09-06). "Quantum Dimer Model on the Kagome Lattice: Solvable Dimer-Liquid and Ising Gauge Theory". Physical Review Letters. 89 (13): 137202. arXiv:cond-mat/0204428. Bibcode:2002PhRvL..89m7202M. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.137202. PMID 12225059. https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.137202 ↩

  11. Verresen, Ruben; Lukin, Mikhail D.; Vishwanath, Ashvin (2021-07-08). "Prediction of Toric Code Topological Order from Rydberg Blockade". Physical Review X. 11 (3): 031005. arXiv:2011.12310. Bibcode:2021PhRvX..11c1005V. doi:10.1103/physrevx.11.031005. ISSN 2160-3308. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevx.11.031005 ↩

  12. Kitaev, Alexei (2006-01-01). "Anyons in an exactly solved model and beyond". Annals of Physics. January Special Issue. 321 (1): 2–111. arXiv:cond-mat/0506438. Bibcode:2006AnPhy.321....2K. doi:10.1016/j.aop.2005.10.005. ISSN 0003-4916. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003491605002381 ↩

  13. Takagi, Hidenori; Takayama, Tomohiro; Jackeli, George; Khaliullin, Giniyat; Nagler, Stephen E. (April 2019). "Concept and realization of Kitaev quantum spin liquids". Nature Reviews Physics. 1 (4): 264–280. arXiv:1903.08081. Bibcode:2019NatRP...1..264T. doi:10.1038/s42254-019-0038-2. ISSN 2522-5820. https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-019-0038-2 ↩

  14. Freed, Daniel S. (2014-08-10), Short-range entanglement and invertible field theories, arXiv:1406.7278 /wiki/ArXiv_(identifier) ↩

  15. Bruillard, Paul; Galindo, César; Hagge, Tobias; Ng, Siu-Hung; Plavnik, Julia Yael; Rowell, Eric C.; Wang, Zhenghan (2017-04-01). "Fermionic modular categories and the 16-fold way". Journal of Mathematical Physics. 58 (4): 041704. arXiv:1603.09294. Bibcode:2017JMP....58d1704B. doi:10.1063/1.4982048. ISSN 0022-2488. S2CID 119753109. /wiki/ArXiv_(identifier) ↩

  16. Satzinger, K. J.; Liu, Y.-J; Smith, A.; Knapp, C.; Newman, M.; Jones, C.; Chen, Z.; Quintana, C.; Mi, X.; Dunsworth, A.; Gidney, C.; Aleiner, I.; Arute, F.; Arya, K.; Atalaya, J. (2021-12-03). "Realizing topologically ordered states on a quantum processor". Science. 374 (6572): 1237–1241. arXiv:2104.01180. Bibcode:2021Sci...374.1237S. doi:10.1126/science.abi8378. PMID 34855491. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abi8378 ↩

  17. Mi, X.; Sonner, M.; Niu, M. Y.; Lee, K. W.; Foxen, B.; Acharya, R.; Aleiner, I.; Andersen, T. I.; Arute, F.; Arya, K.; Asfaw, A.; Atalaya, J.; Bardin, J. C.; Basso, J.; Bengtsson, A. (2022-11-18). "Noise-resilient edge modes on a chain of superconducting qubits". Science. 378 (6621): 785–790. arXiv:2204.11372. Bibcode:2022Sci...378..785M. doi:10.1126/science.abq5769. PMID 36395220. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq5769 ↩

  18. Deutsch, Ivan H.; Chiao, Raymond Y.; Garrison, John C. (1992-12-21). "Diphotons in a nonlinear Fabry-Pérot resonator: Bound states of interacting photons in an optical quantum wire". Physical Review Letters. 69 (25): 3627–3630. Bibcode:1992PhRvL..69.3627D. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.69.3627. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 10046872. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.69.3627 ↩

  19. Acharya, Rajeev; Aleiner, Igor; Allen, Richard; Andersen, Trond I.; Ansmann, Markus; Arute, Frank; Arya, Kunal; Asfaw, Abraham; Atalaya, Juan; Babbush, Ryan; Bacon, Dave; Bardin, Joseph C.; Basso, Joao; Bengtsson, Andreas; Boixo, Sergio (February 2023). "Suppressing quantum errors by scaling a surface code logical qubit". Nature. 614 (7949): 676–681. Bibcode:2023Natur.614..676G. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05434-1. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 9946823. PMID 36813892. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9946823 ↩

  20. Andersen, T. I.; Lensky, Y. D.; Kechedzhi, K.; Drozdov, I. K.; Bengtsson, A.; Hong, S.; Morvan, A.; Mi, X.; Opremcak, A.; Acharya, R.; Allen, R.; Ansmann, M.; Arute, F.; Arya, K.; Asfaw, A. (June 2023). "Non-Abelian braiding of graph vertices in a superconducting processor". Nature. 618 (7964): 264–269. arXiv:2210.10255. Bibcode:2023Natur.618..264G. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-05954-4. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 10247379. PMID 37169834. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10247379 ↩

  21. "Alexei Kitaev". www.macfound.org. Archived from the original on 2024-04-21. Retrieved 2025-03-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20240421092236/https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2008/alexei-kitaev ↩

  22. "Breakthrough Prize – Fundamental Physics Breakthrough Prize Laureates – Alexei Kitaev". breakthroughprize.org. Archived from the original on 2025-01-10. Retrieved 2025-03-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20250110102227/https://breakthroughprize.org/Laureates/1/L3 ↩

  23. "Dirac Medallists 2015 | ICTP". www.ictp.it. Archived from the original on 2024-12-13. Retrieved 2025-03-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20241213153722/https://www.ictp.it/home/dirac-medallists-2015 ↩

  24. "Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize". American Physical Society. Archived from the original on 2025-03-29. Retrieved 2025-04-01. https://www.aps.org/funding-recognition/prize/buckley-prize ↩

  25. Nachtergaele, Bruno. "2024 Henri Poincare' Prize Laudatio Kitaev" (PDF). International Association of Mathematical Physics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-11-07. Retrieved 2025-03-01. https://www.iamp.org/poincare/ki24-laud.pdf ↩

  26. "Edward Witten Receives Basic Science Lifetime Award in Theoretical Physics - IAS News | Institute for Advanced Study". www.ias.edu. 2024-07-10. Archived from the original on 2024-10-04. Retrieved 2025-02-11. https://www.ias.edu/news/edward-witten-receives-basic-science-lifetime-award-theoretical-physics ↩

  27. "Breakthrough Prize – An Open Letter From Breakthrough Prize Laureates". breakthroughprize.org. Archived from the original on 2025-01-18. Retrieved 2025-03-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20250118184948/https://breakthroughprize.org/News/69 ↩