arXiv subjects

Tilo Planke

Publications and source records attributed to Tilo Planke.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2015

Games as a Platform for Student Participation in Authentic Scientific Research

This paper presents results from the design and testing of an educational version of Quantum Moves, a Scientific Discovery Game that allows players to help solve authentic scientific challenges in the effort to develop a quantum computer. The primary aim of developing a game-based platform for student-research collaboration is to investigate if and how this type of game concept can strengthen authentic experimental practice and the creation of new knowledge in science education. Researchers and game developers tested the game in three separate high school classes. The tests were documented using video observations of students playing the game, qualitative interviews, and qualitative and quantitative questionnaires. The focus of the tests has been to study players motivation and their experience of learning through participation in authentic scientific inquiry. In questionnaires conducted in the two first test classes students found that the aspects of doing real scientific research and solving physics problems were the more interesting aspects of playing the game. However, designing a game that facilitates professional research collaboration while simultaneously introducing quantum physics to high school students proved to be a challenge. A collaborative learning design was implemented in Class 3, where students were given expert roles such as experimental and theoretical physicists. This significantly improved the students feeling of learning physics compared to Class 1 and 2. Overall the results presented in this paper indicate that the possibility of participating in authentic scientific experiments, which this class of games opens, is highly motivating for students. The findings also show that the learning design in the class setting must be considered in order to improve the students' experience of learning and that various design challenges remain to be addressed further.

physics.ed-ph↗

arXiv2015

Exploring the Quantum Speed Limit with Computer Games

Humans routinely solve problems of immense computational complexity by intuitively forming simple, low-dimensional heuristic strategies. Citizen science exploits this ability by presenting scientific research problems to non-experts. Gamification is an effective tool for attracting citizen scientists to provide solutions to research problems. While citizen science games Foldit, EteRNA and EyeWire have been used successfully to study protein and RNA folding and neuron mapping, so far gamification has not been applied to problems in quantum physics. Does the fact that everyday experiences are based on classical physics hinder the use of non-expert citizen scientists in the realm of quantum mechanics? Here we report on Quantum Moves, an online platform gamifying optimization problems in quantum physics. We show that human players are able to find solutions to difficult problems associated with the task of quantum computing. Players succeed where purely numerical optimization fails, and analyses of their solutions provide insights into the problem of optimization of a more profound and general nature. Based on player strategies, we have thus developed a new, few-parameter heuristic optimization method which efficiently outperforms the most prominent established numerical methods. The numerical complexity associated with time-optimal solutions increases for shorter process durations. To better understand this, we have made a low-dimensional rendering of the optimization landscape. These studies show why traditional optimization methods fail near the quantum speed limit, and they bring promise that combined analyses of optimization landscapes and heuristic solution strategies may benefit wider classes of optimization problems in quantum physics and beyond.

math.OC↗

arXiv2015

Getting Humans to do Quantum Optimization - User Acquisition, Engagement and Early Results from the Citizen Cyberscience Game Quantum Moves

The game Quantum Moves was designed to pit human players against computer algorithms, combining their solutions into hybrid optimization to control a scalable quantum computer. In this midstream report, we open our design process and describe the series of constitutive building stages going into a quantum physics citizen science game. We present our approach from designing a core gameplay around quantum simulations, to putting extra game elements in place in order to frame, structure, and motivate players' difficult path from curious visitors to competent science contributors. The player base is extremely diverse - for instance, two top players are a 40 year old female accountant and a male taxi driver. Among statistical predictors for retention and in-game high scores, the data from our first year suggest that people recruited based on real-world physics interest and via real-world events, but only with an intermediate science education, are more likely to become engaged and skilled contributors. Interestingly, female players tended to perform better than male players, even though men played more games per day. To understand this relationship, we explore the profiles of our top players in more depth. We discuss in-world and in-game performance factors departing in psychological theories of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and the implications for using real live humans to do hybrid optimization via initially simple, but ultimately very cognitively complex games.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2012

The electronic structure of clean and adsorbate-covered Bi2Se3: an angle-resolved photoemission study

Angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy is used for a detailed study of the electronic structure of the topological insulator Bi2Se3. Nominally stoichiometric and calcium-doped samples were investigated. The pristine surface shows the topological surface state in the bulk band gap. As time passes, the Dirac point moves to higher binding energies, indicating an increasingly strong downward bending of the bands near the surface. This time-dependent band bending is related to a contamination of the surface and can be accelerated by intentionally exposing the surface to carbon monoxide and other species. For a sufficiently strong band bending, additional states appear at the Fermi level. These are interpreted as quantised conduction band states. For large band bendings, these states are found to undergo a strong Rashba splitting. The formation of quantum well states is also observed for the valence band states. Different interpretations of similar data are also discussed.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗