arXiv subjects

Caterina Puca

Publications and source records attributed to Caterina Puca.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

High schoolers excel at Oxford quantum course using pictorial mathematics

We are at the dawn of the second quantum revolution, where our ability to create and control individual quantum systems is poised to drive transformative advancements in basic science, computation, and everyday life. However, quantum theory has long been conceived as notoriously hard to learn, creating a significant barrier to workforce development, informed decision-making by stakeholders and policymakers, and broader public understanding. This paper is concerned with Quantum Picturalism, a novel visual mathematical language for quantum physics. Originally developed over two decades ago to explore the foundational structure of quantum theory, this rigorous diagrammatic framework has since been adopted in both academia and industry as a powerful tool for quantum computing research and software development. Here, we demonstrate its potential as a transformative educational methodology. We report the findings from a pilot study involving 54 UK high school students, randomly selected from a pool of 734 volunteers across the UK. Despite the absence of advanced mathematical prerequisites, these students demonstrated a strong conceptual grasp of key quantum principles and operations. On an assessment comprising university graduate-level exam questions, participants achieved an 82% pass rate, with 48% obtaining a distinction-level grade. These results pave the way for making quantum more inclusive, lowering traditional cognitive and demographic barriers to quantum learning. This approach has the potential to broaden participation in the field and provide a promising new entry point for stakeholders, future experts, and the general public.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2025

Making the quantum world accessible to young learners through Quantum Picturalism: An experimental study

The educational value of a fully diagrammatic approach in a scientific field has never been explored. We present Quantum Picturalism (QPic), an entirely diagrammatic formalism for all of qubit quantum mechanics. This framework is particularly advantageous for young learners as a novel way to teach key concepts such as entanglement, measurement, and mixed-state quantum mechanics in a math-intensive subject. This eliminates traditional obstacles without compromising mathematical correctness - removing the need for matrices, vectors, tensors, complex numbers, and trigonometry as prerequisites to learning. Its significance lies in that a field as complex as Quantum Information Science and Technology (QIST), for which educational opportunities are typically exclusive to the university level and higher, can be introduced at high school level. In this study, we tested this hypothesis, examining whether QPic reduces cognitive load by lowering complex mathematical barriers while enhancing mental computation and conceptual understanding. The data was collected from an experiment conducted in 2023, whereby 54 high school students (aged 16-18) underwent 16 hours of training spread over eight weeks. The post-assessments illustrated promising outcomes in all three specific areas of focus: (1) whether QPic can alleviate technical barriers in learning QIST, (2) ensures that the content and teaching method are age appropriate, (3) increases confidence and motivation in science and STEM fields. There was a notable success rate in terms of teaching outcomes, with 82% of participants successfully passing an end-of-training exam and 48% achieving a distinction, indicating a high level of performance. The unique testing and training regime effectively reduced the technical barriers typically associated with traditional approaches, as hypothesized.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2023

Obstructions to Compositionality

Compositionality is at the heart of computer science and several other areas of applied category theory such as computational linguistics, categorical quantum mechanics, interpretable AI, dynamical systems, compositional game theory, and Petri nets. However, the meaning of the term seems to vary across the many different applications. This work contributes to understanding, and in particular qualifying, different kinds of compositionality. Formally, we introduce invariants of categories that we call zeroth and first homotopy posets, generalising in a precise sense the pi0 and pi1 of a groupoid. These posets can be used to obtain a qualitative description of how far an object is from being terminal and a morphism is from being iso. In the context of applied category theory, this formal machinery gives us a way to qualitatively describe the "failures of compositionality", seen as failures of certain (op)lax functors to be strong, by classifying obstructions to the (op)laxators being isomorphisms. Failure of compositionality, for example for the interpretation of a categorical syntax in a semantic universe, can both be a bad thing and a good thing, which we illustrate by respective examples in graph theory and quantum theory.

math.CT↗

arXiv2023

Quantum Picturalism: Learning Quantum Theory in High School

Quantum theory is often regarded as challenging to learn and teach, with advanced mathematical prerequisites ranging from complex numbers and probability theory to matrix multiplication, vector space algebra and symbolic manipulation within the Hilbert space formalism. It is traditionally considered an advanced undergraduate or graduate-level subject. In this work, we challenge the conventional view by proposing "Quantum Picturalism" as a new approach to teaching the fundamental concepts of quantum theory and computation. We establish the foundations and methodology for an ongoing educational experiment to investigate the question "From what age can students learn quantum theory if taught using a diagrammatic approach?". We anticipate that the primary benefit of leveraging such a diagrammatic approach, which is conceptually intuitive yet mathematically rigorous, will be eliminating some of the most daunting barriers to teaching and learning this subject while enabling young learners to reason proficiently about high-level problems. We posit that transitioning from symbolic presentations to pictorial ones will increase the appeal of STEM education, attracting more diverse audience.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2023

Fibrational Linguistics (FibLang): Language Acquisition

In this work we show how FibLang, a category-theoretic framework concerned with the interplay between language and meaning, can be used to describe vocabulary acquisition, that is the process with which a speaker acquires new vocabulary (through experience or interaction). We model two different kinds of vocabulary acquisition, which we call 'by example' and 'by paraphrasis'. The former captures the idea of acquiring the meaning of a word by being shown a witness representing that word, as in 'understanding what a cat is, by looking at a cat'. The latter captures the idea of acquiring meaning by listening to some other speaker rephrasing the word with others already known to the learner. We provide a category-theoretic model for vocabulary acquisition by paraphrasis based on the construction of free promonads. We draw parallels between our work and Wittgenstein's dynamical approach to language, commonly known as 'language games'.

math.CT↗

arXiv2022

Fibrational linguistics: First concepts

We define a general mathematical framework for linguistics based on the theory of fibrations, called FibLang. We start by modelling the interaction between linguistics and cognition in the most general way possible, with a heavy focus on conceptually motivating any assumption we make. The advantage is that FibLang remains agnostic with respect to any particular axiomatization of grammar one may choose. As such, it is compatible with already existing categorical models of language (such as for example, DisCoCat), providing a formally sound framework to apply mathematical tools developed in the context of category theory, mainly categorical logic, to the study of language

math.CT↗