arXiv subjects

Andrew Doherty

Publications and source records attributed to Andrew Doherty.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

CL API: Real-Time Closed-Loop Interactions with Biological Neural Networks

Biological neural networks (BNNs) are increasingly explored for their rich dynamics, parallelism, and adaptive behavior. Beyond understanding their function as a scientific endeavour, a key focus has been using these biological systems as a novel computing substrate. However, BNNs can only function as reliable information-processing systems if inputs are delivered in a temporally and structurally consistent manner. In practice, this requires stimulation with precisely controlled structure, microsecond-scale timing, multi-channel synchronization, and the ability to observe and respond to neural activity in real-time. Existing approaches to interacting with BNNs face a fundamental trade-off: they either depend on low-level hardware mechanisms, imposing prohibitive complexity for rapid iteration, or they sacrifice temporal and structural control, undermining consistency and reproducibility - particularly in closed-loop experiments. The Cortical Labs Application Programming Interface (CL API) enables real-time, sub-millisecond closed-loop interactions with BNNs. Taking a contract-based API design approach, the CL API provides users with precise stimulation semantics, transactional admission, deterministic ordering, and explicit synchronization guarantees. This contract is presented through a declarative Python interface, enabling non-expert programmers to express complex stimulation and closed-loop behavior without managing low-level scheduling or hardware details. Ultimately, the CL API provides an accessible and reproducible foundation for real-time experimentation with BNNs, supporting both fundamental biological research and emerging neurocomputing applications.

q-bio.NC↗

arXiv2008

Quantum Control via Geometry: An explicit example

We explicitly compute the optimal cost for a class of example problems in geometric quantum control. These problems are defined by a Cartan decomposition of $su(2^n)$ into orthogonal subspaces $\mathfrak{l}$ and $\mathfrak{p}$ such that $[\mathfrak{l},\mathfrak{l}] \subseteq \mathfrak{p}, [\mathfrak{p},\mathfrak{l}] = \mathfrak{p}, [\mathfrak{p},\mathfrak{p}] \subseteq \mathfrak{l}$. Motion in the $\mathfrak{l}$ direction are assumed to have negligible cost, where motion in the $\mathfrak{p}$ direction do not. In the special case of two qubits, our results correspond to the minimal interaction cost of a given unitary.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

On the distributed compression of quantum information

We consider the problem of distributed compression for correlated quantum sources. The classical version of this problem was solved by Slepian and Wolf, who showed that distributed compression could take full advantage of redundancy in the local sources created by the presence of correlations. We show that, in general, this is not the case for quantum sources by proving a lower bound on the rate sum for irreducible sources of product states which is stronger than the one given by a naive application of Slepian-Wolf. Nonetheless, strategies taking advantage of correlation do exist for some special classes of quantum sources. For example, Devetak and Winter demonstrated the existence of such a strategy when one of the sources is classical. Here we find optimal non-trivial strategies for a different extreme, sources of Bell states. In addition, we illustrate how distributed compression is connected to other problems in quantum information theory, including information-disturbance questions, entanglement distillation and quantum error correction.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2005

Nonlinear Quantum Dynamics

The vast majority of the literature dealing with quantum dynamics is concerned with linear evolution of the wave function or the density matrix. A complete dynamical description requires a full understanding of the evolution of measured quantum systems, necessary to explain actual experimental results. The dynamics of such systems is intrinsically nonlinear even at the level of distribution functions, both classically as well as quantum mechanically. Aside from being physically more complete, this treatment reveals the existence of dynamical regimes, such as chaos, that have no counterpart in the linear case. Here, we present a short introductory review of some of these aspects, with a few illustrative results and examples.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2001

Robust control in the quantum domain

Recent progress in quantum physics has made it possible to perform experiments in which individual quantum systems are monitored and manipulated in real time. The advent of such new technical capabilities provides strong motivation for the development of theoretical and experimental methodologies for quantum feedback control. The availability of such methods would enable radically new approaches to experimental physics in the quantum realm. Likewise, the investigation of quantum feedback control will introduce crucial new considerations to control theory, such as the uniquely quantum phenomena of entanglement and measurement back-action. The extension of established analysis techniques from control theory into the quantum domain may also provide new insight into the dynamics of complex quantum systems. We anticipate that the successful formulation of an input-output approach to the analysis and reduction of large quantum systems could have very general applications in non-equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics and in the nascent field of quantum information theory.

quant-ph↗