Luca [Chinese Given Name: Xi(曦), Family Name: Lu(鲁)] received his B.S.
in Mathematics with a minor in Physics from Zhejiang University, China, in June 2021.
He completed his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at the same institution in December 2025.
In Oct 2023 - Dec 2023, he visited the University of Pavia and worked with Prof. Lorenzo Maccone
about
quantum metrology.
In Aug 2024 - Aug 2025, he visited the North Carolina State University and worked with Prof. Yuan Liu about signal Processing and
simulation
on hybrid continuous-discrete variable (hybrid CV-DV) quantum systems.
Timeline
Selected Preprints
Efficient Qubit Simulation of Hybrid Oscillator-Qubit Quantum Computation
Xi Lu, Bojko N. Bakalov, Yuan Liu
Quantum Simulation
A framework for simulating hybrid oscillator-qubit quantum processors on qubit-only
systems via position encoding, achieving polylogarithmic per-gate complexity —
an exponential improvement over Fock basis encoding
Quantum Signal Processing and Quantum Singular Value
Transformation on $U(N)$
Xi Lu, Yuan Liu, Hongwei Lin
Quantum Signal Processing
Generalizing Quantum Signal Processing (QSP) and Quantum Singular Value
Transformation (QSVT) from $U(2)$ to $U(N)$, which enables us to encode multiple
polynomials at a time and has application in parameter estimation and multi-variate
QSP
Wojciech Górecki, Xi Lu (co-first), Chiara Macchiavello,
Lorenzo Maccone
Quantum Metrology
A connection between local estimation (Fisher information) and global estimation
(mutual
information), and a global mutual information bound for quantum phase estimation in
the
presence of different noise sources
Xi Lu, Wojciech Górecki, Chiara Macchiavello, Lorenzo
Maccone
Quantum Metrology
Mutual information bound and optimal strategies for noisy quantum phase estimation,
and
some discussions on optimal entangled and adaptive strategies beyond the bound in
noiseless case
Only a few chapters in, but already blown away by the framework of 10 cognitive
distortions. Looking back at my late PhD years, I can now name the mental patterns
that felt so overwhelming at the time: all-or-nothing thinking, catastrophizing, you
name it. The solution Burns offers is deceptively simple: write down your thoughts.
There's something powerful about seeing those spiraling thoughts on paper instead of
letting them loop endlessly in your head. Wish I'd found this earlier.
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of
Connection
Charles Duhigg
Social Psychology
The core idea is simple but powerful: every conversation is one of three types:
"What's this really about?", "How do we feel?", or "Who are we?". Miscommunication
happens when we're having different conversations without realizing it. Each chapter
pairs a compelling story—The "Big Bang Theory" Writers' Room, The Vaccine Sceptic
Doctor, Netflix's equity debates, etc. The takeaway is practical: recognize which
conversation you're in, match it, and listen with genuine curiosity.
TBD: full review later...
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
PsychologyBehavioral Economics
Kahneman splits human thought into two systems. System 1 is fast, automatic, and emotional — it reads faces, catches balls, fills in patterns without effort. System 2 is slow, deliberate, and logical — it does math, weighs options, checks assumptions. The catch: System 2 is lazy. We default to System 1 far more than we think, and most of the book is a catalog of the errors that follow: cognitive ease, the law of small numbers, anchoring, availability bias, regression to the mean, the illusion of understanding, loss aversion, and the gap between experienced and remembered well-being. We are not as rational as we think, but we can develop a skill to mobilize our System 2 when the cost of error is high.
