Announcement #4
4 abril 2026, 01:38 • Carlos Paiva
Dear students of TiP (Topics in Photonics),
· As settled in our classes, the discussions of the projects will take place on 10th April, next Friday. Later on I will inform you about the room where these discussions take place. Contrary to what it was initially agreed upon, the discussions will begin at 08:00 but will finish at 13:00 (01:00 PM). So, everything should be finished at 13:00; there will be no discussions in the afternoon (i.e., after 13:00).
· The process will be the following: (i) firstly, all groups present their project; (ii) only after all the presentations have been completed, then the discussions will begin.
· The presentations of the projects will be done through a PowerPoint file, using a PC that belongs to the group. The projector (in the room) will be connected to the PC either using a HDMI/USB-C connector (that I provide) or, if that is possible, directly to the HDMI port of the group’s PC. The group can also use the whiteboard (in the room) to write, if they wish to do so (or during the discussions).
· Every element in the group has a small time slot of 5 minutes to present. Therefore, we can guarantee that each group will have (at most) a total slot of 20 minutes to present their project. If we have six groups, the total presentation time will last, at most, less than 2 hours (there are groups will less than 4 elements). So, by 10:00 all the presentations should have be completed and the discussion will begin.
· I will split the discussions into two separate parts: (i) a first part, focused on Bell’s theorem and Bell’s games; (ii) a second part, focused on the topic chosen by each group. I intend to spend equal time on those two parts, i.e., each part cannot exceed 90 minutes. So, all questions regarding the first part should have finished by 11:30. Therefore, all discussions (including all groups) should have finished by 13:00 (as intended).
· Although I will begin my questions within a given group, I can also ask those same questions to elements belonging to other groups. At the end of each question I will comment on the answers given by the different students involved (who, as said before, can belong to different groups).
· I intend to make one session (or, if needed, two sessions) during the next week (let us say one on 6th April – Monday and the other one on 8th April – Wednesday, between 15:00 and 17:00) where I will answer your questions. As you know some aspects cannot be technically discussed without some (elementary) mathematical approach (using linear algebra in the field of complex numbers). Although some discussions can be preferably done without mathematical formalism, some specific topics cannot de completely addressed without some mathematical notation. We will always use the Dirac bra-ket notation as the mathematical toolkit.
· I am sorry if am I have not given personalized answers to the different e-mails you have sent to me. I always thought to address the questions raised in those e-mails using a global answer directed to all students (as this e-mail) because, in fact, there were several points in common that I should address to all students.
· I have already received some projects. Nevertheless, for the other groups involved, I must remember that the deadline to submit your projects in 7th April (Tuesday).
Best regards,
Carlos Paiva
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E-mail: carlos.paiva@tecnico.ulisboa.pt