Reconciling Quantum Physics with Math

From left, Nikhil Srivastava, Adam Marcus, and Daniel Spielman shortly after completing the proof of the Kadison-Singer problem. A solution to a problem in mathematics that lingered unsolved for more than 50 years could help deliver faster computer algorithms to many problems in physics and signal processing. However, it may take years for mathematicians to fully digest the result, which was first published online three years ago. The roots of the problem defined by Richard Kadison and Isadore Singer in the late 1950s lie in attempts to give the physics of quantum mechanics a footing in abstract mathematics. The concept it deals with traces back to Werner Heisenberg's initial work on quantum mechanics.