Clément Canonne
@ccanonne.github.io
Senior Lecturer #USydCompSci at the University of Sydney. Postdocs IBM Research and Stanford; PhD at Columbia. Converts ☕ into puns: sometimes theorems. He/him.
Pinned
Clément Canonne
@ccanonne.github.io
· Nov 15
Reminder/plug: my graduate-level monograph on "Topics and Techniques in Distribution Testing" (FnT Comm. and Inf Theory, 2022).
📖 ccanonne.github.io/survey-topic... [Latest draft+exercise solns, free]
📗 nowpublishers.com/article/Deta... [Official pub]
📝 github.com/ccanonne/sur... [LaTeX source]
📖 ccanonne.github.io/survey-topic... [Latest draft+exercise solns, free]
📗 nowpublishers.com/article/Deta... [Official pub]
📝 github.com/ccanonne/sur... [LaTeX source]
He did it again! My PhD student Kenny Chen has a new preprint on the arXiv, establishing (nearly) tight classical and quantum query complexity bounds for testing Fourier dimensionality, which show an exponential quantum advantage for the task!
arxiv.org/abs/2609.25816
arxiv.org/abs/2609.25816
Exponential Quantum Advantage in Testing Fourier Dimensionality
A boolean function $f$ has Fourier dimension $k$ if its nonzero Fourier coefficients span a subspace of dimension $k$. We consider the property testing task of determining whether a function has Fouri...
arxiv.org
September 23, 2026 at 1:38 PM
He did it again! My PhD student Kenny Chen has a new preprint on the arXiv, establishing (nearly) tight classical and quantum query complexity bounds for testing Fourier dimensionality, which show an exponential quantum advantage for the task!
arxiv.org/abs/2609.25816
arxiv.org/abs/2609.25816
Reposted by Clément Canonne
Looking for takes by TCS (Theoretical Computer Science) senior academics/researchers about AI and their discipline/research values. E.g., essays, detailed blog posts.
(Specifically TCS: there is a lot from Maths, but while adjacent there are enough differences in culture it's worth distinguishing)
(Specifically TCS: there is a lot from Maths, but while adjacent there are enough differences in culture it's worth distinguishing)
September 22, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Looking for takes by TCS (Theoretical Computer Science) senior academics/researchers about AI and their discipline/research values. E.g., essays, detailed blog posts.
(Specifically TCS: there is a lot from Maths, but while adjacent there are enough differences in culture it's worth distinguishing)
(Specifically TCS: there is a lot from Maths, but while adjacent there are enough differences in culture it's worth distinguishing)
Reposted by Clément Canonne
We invite your project proposals for Circles, the Simons Institute – Jane Street Small Group Collaborations, which supports groups of 3-6 researchers for 4 weeklong gatherings over 2 years.
Apply by Oct. 15 (deadline extended).
simons.berkeley.edu/participate/...
Apply by Oct. 15 (deadline extended).
simons.berkeley.edu/participate/...
September 22, 2026 at 11:40 PM
We invite your project proposals for Circles, the Simons Institute – Jane Street Small Group Collaborations, which supports groups of 3-6 researchers for 4 weeklong gatherings over 2 years.
Apply by Oct. 15 (deadline extended).
simons.berkeley.edu/participate/...
Apply by Oct. 15 (deadline extended).
simons.berkeley.edu/participate/...
Reposted by Clément Canonne
Tuesday, September 29, 3:30pm PT (8:30am on Wednesday in Sydney), livestream and in-person attendance available. And, obviously, Ryan is a truly great speaker!
Register: simons.berkeley.edu/events/my-fa... @simonsinstitute.bsky.social
Register: simons.berkeley.edu/events/my-fa... @simonsinstitute.bsky.social
September 22, 2026 at 10:08 PM
Tuesday, September 29, 3:30pm PT (8:30am on Wednesday in Sydney), livestream and in-person attendance available. And, obviously, Ryan is a truly great speaker!
Register: simons.berkeley.edu/events/my-fa... @simonsinstitute.bsky.social
Register: simons.berkeley.edu/events/my-fa... @simonsinstitute.bsky.social
Looking for takes by TCS (Theoretical Computer Science) senior academics/researchers about AI and their discipline/research values. E.g., essays, detailed blog posts.
(Specifically TCS: there is a lot from Maths, but while adjacent there are enough differences in culture it's worth distinguishing)
(Specifically TCS: there is a lot from Maths, but while adjacent there are enough differences in culture it's worth distinguishing)
September 22, 2026 at 11:28 PM
Looking for takes by TCS (Theoretical Computer Science) senior academics/researchers about AI and their discipline/research values. E.g., essays, detailed blog posts.
(Specifically TCS: there is a lot from Maths, but while adjacent there are enough differences in culture it's worth distinguishing)
(Specifically TCS: there is a lot from Maths, but while adjacent there are enough differences in culture it's worth distinguishing)
If I had been offered one dollar for each time someone asked to "pick my brain", I'd have a lot of questions: first, why do you have so many coins? And what are you doing with these pieces of brain?
September 22, 2026 at 11:14 PM
If I had been offered one dollar for each time someone asked to "pick my brain", I'd have a lot of questions: first, why do you have so many coins? And what are you doing with these pieces of brain?
Quite the exciting talk by Ryan O'Donnell (@booleananalysis.bsky.social) at the Simons Institute next week, on Expander Graphs.
We'll finally know which ones are his favorites!
Livestream option available upon (free) registration: simons.berkeley.edu/events/my-fa... @simonsinstitute.bsky.social
We'll finally know which ones are his favorites!
Livestream option available upon (free) registration: simons.berkeley.edu/events/my-fa... @simonsinstitute.bsky.social
My Favorite Expanders | Richard M. Karp Distinguished Lecture
Expander graphs are sparse graphs for which, whenever you split the graph into two parts, the number of edges going between the parts is proportional to the size of the smaller part. There are extreme...
simons.berkeley.edu
September 22, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Quite the exciting talk by Ryan O'Donnell (@booleananalysis.bsky.social) at the Simons Institute next week, on Expander Graphs.
We'll finally know which ones are his favorites!
Livestream option available upon (free) registration: simons.berkeley.edu/events/my-fa... @simonsinstitute.bsky.social
We'll finally know which ones are his favorites!
Livestream option available upon (free) registration: simons.berkeley.edu/events/my-fa... @simonsinstitute.bsky.social
"If OpenAI and Anthropic really want to help advance science, there is one obvious way they can do so: They can spend a tiny fraction of their vast fortunes to fund the kind of humble but essential research that’s increasingly starved for resources."
(That they don't, and won't, says it all)
(That they don't, and won't, says it all)
Polls show people expect AI to at least advanced science. Navier-Stokes, right?
AI may throttle science instead! It doesn’t always advance understanding, its glut overwhelms filters for quality, and its methods don’t fit medical research.
Gift link to my NYT essay.
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/o...
AI may throttle science instead! It doesn’t always advance understanding, its glut overwhelms filters for quality, and its methods don’t fit medical research.
Gift link to my NYT essay.
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/o...
September 22, 2026 at 12:41 PM
"If OpenAI and Anthropic really want to help advance science, there is one obvious way they can do so: They can spend a tiny fraction of their vast fortunes to fund the kind of humble but essential research that’s increasingly starved for resources."
(That they don't, and won't, says it all)
(That they don't, and won't, says it all)
The Academic Space-Time Principle: the bigger the office a professor has, the less time they appear to be spending in it
September 22, 2026 at 6:43 AM
The Academic Space-Time Principle: the bigger the office a professor has, the less time they appear to be spending in it
Reposted by Clément Canonne
Thank you to our wonderful staff, panelists, and of course incredible alumni for making the #ComputerScience Alumni Dinner such a resounding success! We're looking forward to engaging deeply and broadly with our alumni, and bringing their experience, thoughts, and energy to the School! #USyd
September 22, 2026 at 3:02 AM
Thank you to our wonderful staff, panelists, and of course incredible alumni for making the #ComputerScience Alumni Dinner such a resounding success! We're looking forward to engaging deeply and broadly with our alumni, and bringing their experience, thoughts, and energy to the School! #USyd
Reposted by Clément Canonne
Two summers ago, I was very lucky to be a member of a working group of 4 junior faculty that has a 100% success rate on our NSF CAREER Award proposals. I wrote a blog post about our process and the advice I received.
www.kiragoldner.com/blog/career....
www.kiragoldner.com/blog/career....
Applying for NSF CAREER
www.kiragoldner.com
May 14, 2026 at 1:31 AM
Two summers ago, I was very lucky to be a member of a working group of 4 junior faculty that has a 100% success rate on our NSF CAREER Award proposals. I wrote a blog post about our process and the advice I received.
www.kiragoldner.com/blog/career....
www.kiragoldner.com/blog/career....
Rare photograph of the Australian Cookie Monster, seen here next to a mailbox.
September 21, 2026 at 9:42 PM
Rare photograph of the Australian Cookie Monster, seen here next to a mailbox.
Palate cleanser: a tree, and its surprise tiny inhabitant.
September 20, 2026 at 6:57 AM
Palate cleanser: a tree, and its surprise tiny inhabitant.
"The proof [...] was obtained in a conversation with ChatGPT-6 Astra on Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 1:02 AM PDT. We then prepared this manuscript for public release, with the intent of uploading it on the morning of Thursday, September 17, 2026"
Shameless, and shameful. arxiv.org/abs/2609.207...
Shameless, and shameful. arxiv.org/abs/2609.207...
The Strong Secretary Conjecture is True for Linear Matroids
We prove a $1/e$ guarantee for the matroid secretary problem on linear matroids, therefore settling the strong secretary conjecture in this class of matroids. The result holds both when the matroid is...
arxiv.org
September 19, 2026 at 3:09 AM
"The proof [...] was obtained in a conversation with ChatGPT-6 Astra on Tuesday, September 15, 2026 at 1:02 AM PDT. We then prepared this manuscript for public release, with the intent of uploading it on the morning of Thursday, September 17, 2026"
Shameless, and shameful. arxiv.org/abs/2609.207...
Shameless, and shameful. arxiv.org/abs/2609.207...
New preprint by my PhD student Abigail Gentle (@abigailgentle.com) and her coauthors on differentially private testing of graph properties!
📝 arxiv.org/abs/2609.14394
"Our main results are privacy amplification theorems for different graph sampling schemes [...] which lead to DP property testers"
📝 arxiv.org/abs/2609.14394
"Our main results are privacy amplification theorems for different graph sampling schemes [...] which lead to DP property testers"
Private Graph Property Testing
Graph property testing asks whether a massive graph satisfies a given property, or is far from doing so, using only a sublinear number of queries to the graph. Since property testers typically inspect...
arxiv.org
September 18, 2026 at 7:06 AM
New preprint by my PhD student Abigail Gentle (@abigailgentle.com) and her coauthors on differentially private testing of graph properties!
📝 arxiv.org/abs/2609.14394
"Our main results are privacy amplification theorems for different graph sampling schemes [...] which lead to DP property testers"
📝 arxiv.org/abs/2609.14394
"Our main results are privacy amplification theorems for different graph sampling schemes [...] which lead to DP property testers"
Reposted by Clément Canonne
Come join us for summer research internships at #USyd!
Important detail: only students enrolled at Australian universities are eligible
Important detail: only students enrolled at Australian universities are eligible
Choose from 47 research projects spanning the whole spectrum of Computer Science, and spend a summer doing research, working closely with the academics in our School!
List of CS projects: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Details, and application: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
List of CS projects: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Details, and application: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Computer science internships
www.sydney.edu.au
September 18, 2026 at 2:20 AM
Come join us for summer research internships at #USyd!
Important detail: only students enrolled at Australian universities are eligible
Important detail: only students enrolled at Australian universities are eligible
Reposted by Clément Canonne
The Call for Papers for #STOC2027 is up! Importantly, the PC "will place substantial weight on the quality of exposition, and clarity of technical arguments and proofs"
Also:
- Public posting requirement
- Required video submission
and more.
Deadline: ⏰ Nov 2, AoE
acm-stoc.org/stoc2027/sto...
Also:
- Public posting requirement
- Required video submission
and more.
Deadline: ⏰ Nov 2, AoE
acm-stoc.org/stoc2027/sto...
September 17, 2026 at 7:56 PM
The Call for Papers for #STOC2027 is up! Importantly, the PC "will place substantial weight on the quality of exposition, and clarity of technical arguments and proofs"
Also:
- Public posting requirement
- Required video submission
and more.
Deadline: ⏰ Nov 2, AoE
acm-stoc.org/stoc2027/sto...
Also:
- Public posting requirement
- Required video submission
and more.
Deadline: ⏰ Nov 2, AoE
acm-stoc.org/stoc2027/sto...
The Call for Papers for #STOC2027 is up! Importantly, the PC "will place substantial weight on the quality of exposition, and clarity of technical arguments and proofs"
Also:
- Public posting requirement
- Required video submission
and more.
Deadline: ⏰ Nov 2, AoE
acm-stoc.org/stoc2027/sto...
Also:
- Public posting requirement
- Required video submission
and more.
Deadline: ⏰ Nov 2, AoE
acm-stoc.org/stoc2027/sto...
September 17, 2026 at 7:56 PM
The Call for Papers for #STOC2027 is up! Importantly, the PC "will place substantial weight on the quality of exposition, and clarity of technical arguments and proofs"
Also:
- Public posting requirement
- Required video submission
and more.
Deadline: ⏰ Nov 2, AoE
acm-stoc.org/stoc2027/sto...
Also:
- Public posting requirement
- Required video submission
and more.
Deadline: ⏰ Nov 2, AoE
acm-stoc.org/stoc2027/sto...
Today's research meeting: productive, with a surprising amount of cake.
(Thanks to my amazing students, who presumably noticed my new gray hairs)
(Thanks to my amazing students, who presumably noticed my new gray hairs)
September 17, 2026 at 4:55 AM
Today's research meeting: productive, with a surprising amount of cake.
(Thanks to my amazing students, who presumably noticed my new gray hairs)
(Thanks to my amazing students, who presumably noticed my new gray hairs)
Reposted by Clément Canonne
Choose from 47 research projects spanning the whole spectrum of Computer Science, and spend a summer doing research, working closely with the academics in our School!
List of CS projects: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Details, and application: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
List of CS projects: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Details, and application: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Computer science internships
www.sydney.edu.au
September 15, 2026 at 8:26 PM
Choose from 47 research projects spanning the whole spectrum of Computer Science, and spend a summer doing research, working closely with the academics in our School!
List of CS projects: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Details, and application: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
List of CS projects: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Details, and application: www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Reposted by Clément Canonne
Nihar Shah did a heroic experiment for TMLR: he spent 20-25 hours over two weeks interviewing authors of seemingly low-quality submissions about their own papers.
He confirmed what we all suspected: people submitting these papers have *no idea* what is going on in them.
He confirmed what we all suspected: people submitting these papers have *no idea* what is going on in them.
TMLR has faced a deluge of submissions, necessitating stricter desk rejection policies due to limited reviewer capacity
Co-EiC Nihar Shah reached out to authors of 10 papers slated for desk reject. Could they answer questions about their *own* submission?
medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...
Co-EiC Nihar Shah reached out to authors of 10 papers slated for desk reject. Could they answer questions about their *own* submission?
medium.com/@TmlrOrg/ask...
Asking Authors About Their Own Papers
By Nihar B. Shah
medium.com
September 16, 2026 at 8:36 PM
Nihar Shah did a heroic experiment for TMLR: he spent 20-25 hours over two weeks interviewing authors of seemingly low-quality submissions about their own papers.
He confirmed what we all suspected: people submitting these papers have *no idea* what is going on in them.
He confirmed what we all suspected: people submitting these papers have *no idea* what is going on in them.
Oded Goldreich's take is crisp, thoughtful, and worth your time: www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~oded/on-pro...
"Humans are not a mean for generating achievements (i.e., obtaining results), but are rather the end of these achievements (i.e., their improved understanding is the goal)."
"Humans are not a mean for generating achievements (i.e., obtaining results), but are rather the end of these achievements (i.e., their improved understanding is the goal)."
September 15, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Oded Goldreich's take is crisp, thoughtful, and worth your time: www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~oded/on-pro...
"Humans are not a mean for generating achievements (i.e., obtaining results), but are rather the end of these achievements (i.e., their improved understanding is the goal)."
"Humans are not a mean for generating achievements (i.e., obtaining results), but are rather the end of these achievements (i.e., their improved understanding is the goal)."
Lots of fantastic opportunities to do an 8-week (paid) research internship with my colleagues in the School of CS at #USyd!
The projects I am proposing are
CS2026-27/10 Pseudo deterministic Quantum Algorithms
CS2026-27/18 Feasibility of Quantum One Time Programs
but the whole list is worth is read!
The projects I am proposing are
CS2026-27/10 Pseudo deterministic Quantum Algorithms
CS2026-27/18 Feasibility of Quantum One Time Programs
but the whole list is worth is read!
Undergrad or postgrad student in Australia interested in a summer research internship in the School of #ComputerScience, or more broadly in the Faculty of Engineering at #USyd?
Join us in December–February for an eight-week Engineering Vacation Research internship!
www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Join us in December–February for an eight-week Engineering Vacation Research internship!
www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/...
Engineering Vacation Research Internship Program
Our Engineering Vacation Research Internship Program provides valuable engineering, computer science and project management research experience during summer and winter for students interested in a re...
www.sydney.edu.au
September 15, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Lots of fantastic opportunities to do an 8-week (paid) research internship with my colleagues in the School of CS at #USyd!
The projects I am proposing are
CS2026-27/10 Pseudo deterministic Quantum Algorithms
CS2026-27/18 Feasibility of Quantum One Time Programs
but the whole list is worth is read!
The projects I am proposing are
CS2026-27/10 Pseudo deterministic Quantum Algorithms
CS2026-27/18 Feasibility of Quantum One Time Programs
but the whole list is worth is read!
Reposted by Clément Canonne
Goldreich’s short take on AI proofs is thought-provoking (and the Borges reference is quite on point).
www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~oded/on-pro...
www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~oded/on-pro...
On AI replacing Mathematicians
www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il
September 15, 2026 at 6:43 PM
Goldreich’s short take on AI proofs is thought-provoking (and the Borges reference is quite on point).
www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~oded/on-pro...
www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~oded/on-pro...
Reposted by Clément Canonne
The Zoom link for Tselil Schramm's talk on "10 years of the low-degree framework in average-case complexity" is now available on our website.
See you tomorrow, 1pm ET! www.tcsplus.org/welcome/next...
See you tomorrow, 1pm ET! www.tcsplus.org/welcome/next...
September 15, 2026 at 8:18 PM
The Zoom link for Tselil Schramm's talk on "10 years of the low-degree framework in average-case complexity" is now available on our website.
See you tomorrow, 1pm ET! www.tcsplus.org/welcome/next...
See you tomorrow, 1pm ET! www.tcsplus.org/welcome/next...