I am an ICREA Research Professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. I am also still the Principal Investigator of the De les Coves group at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Innsbruck (Austria).

I work on trying to understand the reach of universality & unreachability across disciplines. A good entry point to this topic may be this TEDx talk or this invitation to our framework for universality. This line of thought made us see local hamiltonians as grammars and classify spin models as languages in the Chomsky hierarchy. We also found that the universality of spin models is essentially the same as that of some machine learning models. One kind of universality we understand well is that of spin models. Our best understanding of the topic can be found in Tobias Reinhart's PhD Thesis.

We have also examined notions of universality in natural languages.

Some have argued that, because we humans seem to be able to make sense of some paradoxes, our mind is more powerful than some computers; we argue that the answer should be more nuanced here.

I believe that considerations about the lack of ultimate closure [cf. Priest's Beyond the limits of thought] bear consequences on what should be considered fundamental in quantum physics, as I argued in a recent chapter of a book edited by M. Cuffaro and S. Hartmann (to appear in Oxford University Press). Such tension between transcendence and closure also shines an unorthodox yet profound (I believe) light through science and culture, as I have argued in Being human: The wound of infinity. An intimate encounter of science and culture, a chapter in In an Open Field, and in Ser humà: La ferida de l'infinit. Una trobada íntima de ciència i cultura, in A camp obert (in Catalan).

The world from inside can look different from the world from outside -- we derive an epistemic horizon here.

I have worked on mathematical quantum physics mainly with Tim Netzer, investigating the rich relation between parts and wholes in quantum theory, that is, the interaction between positivity and the multiplicity of systems, with approximations, their border ranks, in the hyperreals, their computational complexity and their implications for distributional semantics. We also studied quantum magic squares, which cannot be purified -- see this invitation in The Science Breaker. Our latest work is a framework to go beyond operator systems, where we ask for tensor products which are uniform in the dimension of the system. Here you can find Andreas Klingler's PhD Thesis and Mirte van der Eyden's PhD Thesis. A good entry point to this topic may be this invitation paper. You can also find more info in the research site of our group and our Youtube channel, where we post video abstracts of our works.

The three most influential books for my research in recent years have been Gödel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstadter, The beginning of infinity by David Deutsch and Beyond the limits of thought by Graham Priest. Other books that I recently found impressive are The infinite by A. W. Moore, Leibniz (A very short introduction) by Maria Rosa Antognazza, various introductions to metaphysics, as well books by Carlo Rovelli.

I have writen a book which narrates an existential and poetic journey through science, philosophy and language. It is entitled Les cremalleres de la realitat (in Catalan) and I am looking for an editor. (En Bernat Puigtobella va escriure'n algunes paraules aquí).

We recently inaugurated the Week of Science at Parlament de Catalunya - this was a beautiful event. My conversation with Eli Tremps can be found on Spotify and Apple podcast (in Catalan). Tanja Traxler wrote an article in Der Standard, the Uni Innsbruck wrote this portrait, and the ÖPG these lines (the latter three in German).

If you'd like to work with me in Barcelona, please get in touch and I can share funding options. E.g. if you are German and would like to do a PostDoc with me, one can consider the Feodor Lynen fellowship. Or if you would like to do a PhD with me, one can consider the INPhINIT fellowship.

I regularly teach undergraduate courses at the Department and School of Egineering of the UPF. This trimester, Calculus I. Past (and potential future) courses include Theory of Information and Codification, and Theory of Computation (all classical).

You can find more information on past and upcoming events, CV, etc at my ICREA website.

(My former name is Gemma De las Cuevas)

(Photo by Miki Bosch at the Biblioteca Gabriel García Márquez, in Barcelona)