William Slofstra wins 2020 Faculty of Mathematics Golden Jubilee Research Excellence Award

Pure Mathematics Professor William Slofstra has received a 2020 Faculty of Mathematics Golden Jubilee Research Excellence Award.

Slofstra’s most significant research has been on the mathematical foundations of quantum information theory and especially the mathematics concerning the Tsirelson conjectures and the reformulation of the Connes Embedding Problem in terms of joint conditional probability densities. In 2017, Slofstra was the first to prove that some of Tsirelson’s mathematical models yielded different sets of joint quantum probability densities. Eventually he was able to show that all but the pair of models related to Connes Embedding Problem yielded different sets of densities.

“William’s work has led directly to the definition of new complexity classes which in turn have led a group of computer scientists to show that Connes Embedding Problem has a negative solution,” said David McKinnon, Chair of the department of pure mathematics. “I have been genuinely impressed with the depth and ingenuity of William’s work.”

Slofstra has also been a member of the Institute for Quantum Computing since 2015.

The $2,500 award, conferred to early or mid-career faculty members who have made outstanding research contributions, was established in 2017 to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Faculty of Mathematics. 

The award is based on the quality of a candidate’s research over the past five years or for an influential paper published within the past five years as assessed through its quality and impact.