Miles P. Blencowe
Professor
Appointments
Eleanor and A. Kelvin Smith Distinguished Professor in Physics
Area of Expertise
Theoretical physics,
gravitational quantum physics,
the quantum-classical correspondence,
open quantum systems,
mesoscopic physics,
analogue gravity,
quantum music
Biography
My work as a theoretical physicist centres on addressing the fundamental question concerning how our macroscopic, classical world of everyday experience emerges from the microscopic, counterintuitive quantum world. Relevant investigations range from collaborating with experimentalists (Alex Rimberg, Dartmouth; Keith Schwab, Caltech) and theorists (Andrew Armour, Nottingham) on mesoscale electro(opto)mechanical systems that straddle the micro-macro worlds ... to constructing fundamental theories on the possible role of gravity as an enforcer of classicality in the macroscopic domain. I also work on analogue gravity in superconducting circuit systems, in particular finding ways to demonstrate Hawking radiation from analogue event horizons (in collaboration with Haruna Katayama, Hiroshima). And I have been exploring ways to use sound to learn about the quantum realm, both through creating quantum soundscapes (sonifying data from quantum device experiments) and quantum music.
Research progress would not have been possible without the close collaboration with several graduate students: Jackson Yant (Postdoc, University of Rhode Island), William Braasch Jr. (Postdoc, NIST NRC), Sisira Kanhirathingal (Quantum Engineer, Rigetti Computing), Qidong Xu (Securities Quantitative Analytics, Wells Fargo), Hui Wang (Postdoc at Texas A&M; formerly postdoc at RIKEN, Japan), Erind Brahimi (Data Scientist, Meta), Latchezar Benatov, Laura Remus (Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit), Paul Nation (Principle Research Scientist, IBM Quantum), Yong Zhang (Associate Professor, Southwest U., China).
I have also had the pleasure to work with several undergraduate students on research (appointments after graduating from Dartmouth listed): Ora Cullen (M.Sc. in QFT and Quantum Gravity at Trinity College Dublin), Zehua (Astoria) Song (grad student at Penn State), Laxman Bist, Cassidy Nicks, Kimberly Tan (Yenching Academy Scholar), Viola Gatti Roaf, Eashwar Sivarajan (grad student at Boston University), Saba Nejad (master's student at MIT), Oscar Friedman (music producer), Ben Katz (grad student at Penn State), Emily DeBaun (grad student at Tufts), Laura DeLorenzo (grad student at Caltech), Brendan Huang (MD-PhD student at Yale), Wendell Smith (grad student at Yale), Ben Chapman (grad student at U.C. Boulder), Evan Brand (grad student at UNH), Spencer Smith (grad student at Tufts; Associate Prof. at Mount Holyoke College), Louisa Gilder (writer, author of "The Age of Entanglement").
I have taught a number of courses at the undergraduate and graduate level: Biophysics, Solid State Physics, Statistical Physics, Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, Quantum Mechanics (beginning, intermediate, and advanced), Quantum Field Theory, Particle Physics. In 2023, I received the Jerome Goldstein Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Education
B.Sc. (1st Class Hons.), ARCS, Imperial College, London
Ph.D., DIC, Imperial College, London
Postdoctoral Positions: DAMTP, University of Cambridge; Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago; University of British Columbia; Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College
Publications
J. Yant and M. Blencowe, Operational quantum field theoretic model for gravitationally induced entanglement, Physical Review D 114, 026006 (2026). DOI: 10.1103/rvky-5ppb
M. Blencowe, M. Casey, and K. Tan, Notes on quantum soundscapes and music, arxiv:2504.04624 (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2504.04624
H. Wang, F. Giacomini, F. Nori, and M. P. Blencowe, Relational superposition measurements with a material quantum ruler, Quantum 8, 1335 (2024). DOI: 10.22331/q-2024-05-06-1335
J. Yant and M. Blencowe, Gravitationally induced entanglement in a harmonic trap, Phys. Rev. D 107, 106018 (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.107.106018
H. Katayama, N. Hatakenaka, T. Fujii, and M. P. Blencowe, Analog black-white hole solitons in traveling wave parametric amplifiers with superconducting nonlinear asymmetric inductive elements, Phys. Rev. Research 5, L022055 (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L022055
Q. Xu and M. P. Blencowe, Optomechanical quantum entanglement mediated by acoustic phonon fields, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 203604 (2022); DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.203604
S. Kanhirathinghal, B. L. Brock, A. J. Rimberg, and M. P. Blencowe, Charge sensitivity of a cavity-embedded Cooper pair transistor limited by single-photon shot noise, Journal of Applied Physics 130, 114401 (2021); DOI: 10.1063/5.0062421
Hui Wang and Miles Blencowe, Coherently amplifying photon production from vacuum with a dense cloud of accelerating photodetectors, Communications Physics 4, 128 (2021), DOI: 10.1038/s42005-021-00622-3
M. P. Blencowe and H. Wang, Analogue gravity on a superconducting chip, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 378, 20190224 (2020), DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2019.0224
William F. Braasch, Jr., Oscar D. Friedman, Alexander J. Rimberg, and Miles P. Blencowe, Wigner current for open quantum systems, Physical Review A 100, 012124 (2019). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.100.012124
Hui Wang, M. P. Blencowe, C. M. Wilson, and A. J. Rimberg, Mechanically generating entangled photons from the vacuum: A microwave circuit-acousticresonator analog of the oscillatory Unruh effect, Physical Review A 99, 053833 (2019). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.99.053833
Hui Wang, M. P. Blencowe, A. D. Armour, and A. J. Rimberg, Quantum dynamics of a Josephson junction driven cavity mode system in the presence of voltage bias noise, Physical Review B 96, 104503 (2017). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.96.104503
M. P. Blencowe, Quantum Physics: Photons paired with phonons, Nature (News & Views) 530, 284 (2016). DOI: 10.1038/530284a
B. N. Katz, M. P. Blencowe, and K. C. Schwab, Mesoscopic mechanical resonators as quantum non-inertial reference frames, Physical Review A 92, 042104 (2015). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.92.042104
Fei Chen, Juliang Li, A. D. Armour, E. Brahimi, Joel Stettenheim, A. J. Sirois, R. W. Simmonds,
M. P. Blencowe, and A. J. Rimberg, Realization of a single-Cooper-pair Josephson laser, Physical Review B 90, 020506(R) (2014). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.90.020506
M. P. Blencowe, Effective field theory approach to gravitational induced decoherence, Physical Review Letters 111, 021302 (2013). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.021302
P. D. Nation, J. R. Johansson, M. P. Blencowe, and F. Nori, Colloquium: Stimulating uncertainty: Amplifying the vacuum with superconducting circuits, Reviews of Modern Physics 84, 1 (2012). DOI: 10.1103/RevModPhys.84.1
J. Stettenheim, M. Thalakulam, F. Pan, M. Bal, Z. Q. Ji, W. W. Xue, L. Pfeiffer, K. W. West, M. P. Blencowe, and A. J. Rimberg, A macroscopic mechanical resonator driven by mesoscopic electrical back-action, Nature 466, 86 (2010). DOI: 10.1038/nature09123
Works in Progress
Book project (Oxford University Press): Mechanical Systems in the Quantum Regime.
Gravitationally induced decoherence and entanglement.
Quantum music
Analogue relativistic quantum field and spacetime effects in superconducting circuits.
Quantum versus classical dynamics of ultrastrong coupling opto(electro)mechanical systems.
Contact
Research Images
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Scheme of proposed thought experiment for gravitationally induced entanglement between two particles [from J. Yant and M. Blencowe, Phys Rev. D 114, 026006 (2026)].
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Scheme to realize accelerating photon production from vacuum [from H. Wang and M. Blencowe, Comms. Phys., 4, 128 (2021)].
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A quantum soundscape [V. Gatti Roaf, C. Y. Blencowe, and M. P. Blencowe (2020)].
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Snapshot of evolving Duffing oscillator Wigner function and associated environmental diffusion current vector field [from W. F. Braasch et al. Phys. Rev. A 100, 012124 (2019)].
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Circuit-acoustic resonator scheme that provides a close, realisable analogue of the oscillatory Unruh effect [from H. Wang et al. Phys. Rev. A 99, 053833 (2019)].
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A superfluid interferometer scheme for investigating non-inertial reference frame induced quantum phase shifts [from B. N. Katz et al. Phys. Rev. A 92, 042104 (2015)].
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A cavity-Cooper pair transistor scheme for investigating quantum optomechanics in the ultrastrong coupling regime [from A. J. Rimberg et al. New J. Phys. 16, 055008 (2014)].
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Schemes for superconducting circuit implementations of vacuum amplification processes [from P. D. Nation et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 1 (2012)].
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A quantum music composition in four movements.