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Robert Gerstner

Welcome!

About Me

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I am a first-year Master's student in the Department of Physics at McGill University supervised by Prof. Bill Coish. I am interested in harnessing computational tools such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing for scientific advancement, with my current focus being on quantum many-body physics. I hope to pursue a PhD degree after the completion of my MSc.

I can be reached via email at robert.gerstner@mail.mcgill.ca, and my CV can be found here.

Education

Year Degree Institution Location
2024-Present Master of Science McGill University Montréal, QC, Canada
2020-2024 Bachelor of Science Western University London, ON, Canada

Activity

Publications

  • [2025-06-11] MBL paper accepted by Physical Review Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wgss-nt8t.

  • [2025-06-05] My new paper coming out of my undergraduate thesis work with Prof. Mahi Singh, in collaboration with Prof. Richard Haglund's group at Vanderbilt University, and completed by my collaborator Qingzhou Meng after my departure, is now available online as an accepted manuscript by Physica Scripta.

  • [2025-02-10] A significantly updated version of our many-body localization (MBL) manuscript is now on the arXiv. We now believe we have strong analytical evidence for a lack of MBL in the disordered Heisenberg and mixed-field Ising models, and open a new avenue towards further studies of MBL via operator growth.

  • [2024-01-16] My first paper, coming out of my work with Prof. Jesko Sirker in collaboration with Dr. Alexander Weisse, is now on the arXiv! We study localization in the Heisenberg model through the novel lens of operator growth, finding strong evidence for a lack of many-body localization.

Conferences, Workshops, Talks, and Posters

  • [2025-05-23] I attended the Grande Conférence du RQMP which took place in Montréal, QC, with the theme of Artificial Intellegence and Materials: Towards a Revolution in Research and Innovation.

  • [2025-05-13 - 2025-05-14] I attended the Spring INTRIQ Meeting in Bromont, QC.

  • [2025-03-17] I gave a talk at the APS Global Physics Summit in Anaheim, CA on my work in many-body localization (slides can be found here). I also attended the conference throughout the rest of the week, focusing on talks at the intersection of artificial intelligence, quantum physics, and material science. Lots of interesting work being done!

  • [2024-11-12 - 2024-11-14] I attended the Workshop on Quantum Simulation with Spin Qubits in Vancouver, BC (at UBC) as a member of the theory pillar for the Consortium on Quantum Simulation with Spin Qubits (CQS2Q).

  • [2024-10-15 - 2024-10-16] I attended the Fall INTRIQ Meeting in Bromont, QC to discuss progress in quantum research in Québec.

  • [2024-09-15 - 2024-09-20] I attended the IEEE Quantum Week in Montréal, QC.

  • [2024-05-27] I gave a talk at the CAP Congress in London, ON on my work on harmonic generation in metallic nanohybrids (slides can be found here). My talk won third prize in the AMO division.

  • [2024-03-22] I presented a poster on my work on my undergraduate thesis work at Western University.

  • [2023-12-06] I organized and gave an information session to students of Western's Integrated Science program on how to get involved with undergraduate summer research.

  • [2023-11-29] I gave a virtual seminar to Prof. Jesko Sirker's research group, discussing my research project on MBL (slides can be found here).

  • [2023-10-28] I presented my MBL poster at the Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference in Waterloo, ON.

  • [2023-08-17] I presented a poster on my MBL summer research project at the University of Manitoba.

Other Projects

  • [2025-01-17] I completed the Deep Learning Specialization offered by DeepLearning.AI through Coursera.

  • [2024-12-19] I have completed a mini research project studying arbitrary one-dimensional periodic materials with graph theory. A paper-style report can be found here and the corresponding GitHub repository is here.

  • [2022-11-28] I successfully completed each problem of the Fall 2022 IBM Quantum Challenge, earning an Advanced Badge.

Milestones

  • [2025-04-30] The second year of my Master's degree at McGill will be funded by an FRQNT Master's Training Scholarship ($20,000 CAD).

  • [2024-08-28] I officially started my Master's degree in physics at McGill University! I will be supervised by Prof. Bill Coish and study the simulation of quantum spin systems using neural networks.

  • [2024-06-12] I officially graduated with a Bachelor of Science - Honours Specialization in Integrated Science with Physics from Western University!

  • [2024-05-06] I officially started my second summer research position with Prof. Jesko Sirker at the University of Manitoba, funded by an NSERC USRA award. We will continue our work studying many-body localization through the lens of operator growth.

  • [2024-04] I submitted my undergraduate honours thesis in which I studied harmonic generation in metallic nanohybrids with Prof. Mahi Singh.

  • [2024-04-01] The first year of my Master's degree at McGill will be funded by an NSERC CGSM award ($27,000 CAD).

  • [2024-03-08] I officially accepted my offer of admission to the Master of Science in Physics program at McGill University, commencing in Fall 2024.

  • [2023-09] I began my position as an undergraduate research assistant with Prof. Mahi Singh at Western University. I will study harmonic generation in metallic nanohybrids, focusing on theory and simulations, leading to the completion of an honours undergraduate thesis. I will also be mentoring two third-year Integrated Science with physics students this academic year.

  • [2023-05-01] I officially started a summer research position with Prof. Jesko Sirker at the University of Manitoba. We will study operator growth in the disordered Heisenberg model and its relation to many-body localization (MBL), or a possible lack thereof.

  • [2022-09] I will be meeting weekly with Prof. Masoud Khalkhali to discuss the mathematical aspects of quantum computing this term. I will also be mentoring two first-year students in Integrated Science throughout the year.

  • [2020-09] I officially started my Bachelor of Science degree at Western University in London, ON, in the Integrated Science program.

  • [2020-06] I graduated from St. Paul's High School in Winnipeg, MB (#1 in class).

  • [2020-04] My undergraduate degree at Western University will be fully funded by a President's Entrance Scholarship ($65,000 CAD).