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AI and Symmetry Accelerate the Design of Sound-Absorbing Woven Materials

An international research team including Sonia Mahmoudi, Assistant Professor at the Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University, and Visiting Scientist at iTHEMS's Tohoku University Collaboration Team, has developed a method that uses AI and symmetry to make the design of sound-absorbing woven materials more efficient. The researchers organized manufacturable weave patterns according to symmetry and trained an AI model on a limited set of detailed simulations, enabling rapid evaluation of many candidates. Predicted sound-absorption performance agreed with independent simulations within 5%. The team plans to test selected 3D-woven prototypes experimentally. For details, please see the related links.

2026-10-20
Helping AI Recognize Shapes through Event Cameras: Paper by Masato Taki and Colleagues Accepted at NeurIPS 2026

A paper by Masato Taki, Team Director of the AI as Science Team at RIKEN iTHEMS and Associate Professor at Rikkyo University, together with Soshun Kihara and Shunsuke Yasuki, graduates of Rikkyo University's Graduate School of Artificial Intelligence and Science, has been accepted at NeurIPS 2026, a leading international conference in AI and machine learning. The researchers used knowledge distillation to transfer what an AI model learned from event-camera data, which capture changes in brightness at individual pixels, to a model processing conventional color images. The resulting model relied more on object shapes than on color or texture and became less sensitive to color changes and fine-grained noise. For details, please see Rikkyo University's press release via the related link.

2026-10-09
Tomoki Ozawa was awarded the 30th Matsuo Foundation Hiroshi Takuma Memorial Academic Award

Tomoki Ozawa, Team Director of the Tohoku University Collaboration Team at RIKEN iTHEMS, has been awarded the 30th (FY2026) Matsuo Foundation Hiroshi Takuma Memorial Academic Award for his research on "Topological physics in AMO systems, particularly synthetic dimensions." The award ceremony will be held on December 7, 2026. The Matsuo Foundation Hiroshi Takuma Memorial Academic Award is presented annually by the Matsuo Foundation to one researcher who has achieved outstanding results in atomic and molecular physics and quantum electronics. Congratulations, Tomoki!

2026-10-08
Lingxiao Wang Receives 2026 Google TPU Builders Research Award

Lingxiao Wang, Deputy Team Director of the AI as Science Team at RIKEN iTHEMS, has received the 2026 Google TPU Builders Research Award for his research, "Physics-Driven Diffusion Samplers on TPUs." The award was granted under Google's 2026 Awards for Machine Learning Research and Education with TPUs. The Google program supports the advancement of machine learning through both foundational and applied research, as well as the design and execution of courses that feature Google TPUs. The project aims to combine physics-driven generative models with large-scale computing resources to develop efficient and scalable sampling methods for challenging problems in lattice field simulations. This support will help advance research at the intersection of generative AI, high-performance computing, and quantum field theory. Congratulations, Lingxiao!

2026-10-08
ECL Unit Leader Leo Speidel elected a 2026 AYS Fellow in Life Sciences

Leo Speidel, a RIKEN ECL Unit Leader at the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) and RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute(PRI), has been elected as a 2026 Asian Young Scientist (AYS) Fellow in Life Sciences. AYSF is a privately funded research fellowship that aims to encourage and support young scientists in Asia to carry out creative and transformative research. The Fellowship annually selects early-career scientists in three fundamental disciplines: 1) Life Science, 2) Physical Science, and 3) Mathematics and Computer Science. Speidel’s research focuses on the development and application of new mathematical and statistical techniques to reveal human evolution, with the goal of reconstructing genome-wide genealogies across individuals and species. He was selected for this year’s AYSF in recognition of his pioneering achievements.

2026-10-05
Farewell message from Osamu Fukushima

Our colleague, Osamu Fukushima, will be joining the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Doshisha University, as an Assistant Professor. We will all miss him and wish him the best of luck in his new endeavor. Here is a message from Osamu: <i>I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone at iTHEMS as I leave my position as a Special Postdoctoral Researcher. During my time at iTHEMS, I greatly benefited from its open and interdisciplinary research environment. My research has mainly focused on theoretical and mathematical physics, but interactions with researchers from a wide range of fields encouraged me to broaden my perspective and explore new research directions.</i> <i>I especially appreciated the many stimulating discussions, seminars, and informal conversations at iTHEMS. They often gave me new ideas and perspectives that I would not have encountered within my own field.</i> <i>I would like to thank all the researchers, assistants, and staff for their support and for making iTHEMS such a welcoming place to work. Although I am leaving iTHEMS, I hope to stay connected and continue interacting and collaborating with its members in the future. It has been a great pleasure to be part of the iTHEMS community.</i>

2026-10-01
Workshop “Quantum Information: Entanglement of Mathematics & Physics” Held at UBC

From September 21 to 23, 2026, iTHEMS held the workshop “Quantum Information: Entanglement of Mathematics & Physics” at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. The workshop brought together researchers in mathematics and physics to foster cross-disciplinary discussion through the shared lens of quantum information. Its wide-ranging program covered operator algebras, quantum resource theories, quantum gravity, condensed-matter physics, quantum computing, and quantum error correction. Participants discussed entanglement in these different fields and the mathematical structures underlying quantum information. Approximately 40 researchers from iTHEMS, UBC, and other universities and research institutions in Japan and Canada participated in the workshop. Over the three days, 21 talks were presented. Generous time was also allocated each day for discussion, allowing participants from different fields to share their perspectives and research methods and to engage in lively exchanges. Viewing the participants’ research through the common perspective of quantum information revealed many concrete ways in which insights and methods from distinct fields can complement one another. The broad range of expertise represented by researchers from Japan and Canada gave depth to the discussions and enabled an organic exchange of ideas, with candid questions and challenges addressed across disciplinary boundaries. On the final day, a plenary discussion entitled “Entanglement across mathematics and physics; future iTHEMS–UBC collaboration” explored how the exchanges initiated at the workshop could lead to future research collaboration between iTHEMS and UBC. The workshop also provided a valuable opportunity to build relationships toward sustained academic exchange and a possible Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two institutions. By connecting diverse areas of mathematics and physics through quantum information, the workshop expanded opportunities for new exchanges and collaborative research, while further strengthening the partnership between iTHEMS and UBC.

2026-09-30
Mathematical Genomics RIKEN ECL Research Unit Joins OIST Mirror Lab

The Mathematical Genomics RIKEN ECL Research Unit, led by RIKEN ECL Unit Leader Leo Speidel at iTHEMS, has joined an OIST Mirror Lab together with research groups from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), the Max Planck Institute, and Karolinska Institutet. Mirror Labs are a framework established by OIST to foster long-term research partnerships with institutions in Japan and abroad. Through joint research, researcher exchanges, and the development of early-career researchers, Mirror Labs promote sustained collaboration that brings together the complementary expertise of participating research groups. The newly established “The Evolutionary History of Archaic and Modern Humans Mirror Lab” brings together research groups from OIST, the Max Planck Institute, Karolinska Institutet, and RIKEN to investigate human evolution and population history using genomic data from Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans. The collaboration will explore topics including genetic admixture between archaic and modern humans and the more recent population history of modern humans, particularly in the Japanese Archipelago. The unit will contribute its expertise in population genetic analyses to research on human migration, admixture, and evolution through analyses of modern and ancient genomes.

2026-09-29
AI for Science Summer School 2026 Held on August 25–27, 2026

The AI for Science Summer School was held on August 25–27, 2026, at RIKEN Wako Campus, with online participation via Zoom. Jointly organized by the AI as Science Team and the DEEP-IN Working Group, the three-day school brought together more than 40 participants for lectures and hands-on coding sessions exploring how artificial intelligence can support scientific research. The program focused on three practical questions concerning where AI can help address scientific problems, how to choose appropriate methods, and how to apply them effectively. Masato Taki (Rikkyo University/RIKEN) introduced machine learning fundamentals, and Lingxiao Wang (RIKEN/The University of Tokyo) discussed generative modeling. Vinicius Massami Mikuni (Nagoya University) presented foundation models and parameter inference. Naoya Takeishi (The University of Tokyo) covered simulation-based inference. Akinori Tanaka (RIKEN) and Conglong Li (Google DeepMind) explored large language models and their applications to scientific discovery. Hands-on tutorials complemented the lectures. Tutors included Yang-yang Tan (The University of Tokyo), Jinyang Li (KEK/RIKEN), Victor Kawasaki-Borruat (EPFL), and Jingzong Zhang (Fudan University). The sessions covered supervised and unsupervised learning, generative models, data generation, and AI-assisted research workflows. These tutorials connected the lecture material with practical implementation. By combining conceptual introductions with practical exercises, the school offered participants an opportunity to explore how AI methods could be incorporated into their own research. Its emphasis on scientific questions connected the different topics, from interpreting data and generating samples to assisting the research process itself. We thank all lecturers, tutors, participants, and iTHEMS staff for their contributions and support. Reported by Lingxiao Wang

2026-09-25
A simulation of the Milky Way galaxy, utilizing exascale supercomputers and AI, advances to Finals for 2026 ACM Gordon Bell Prize

A research group including Special Postdoctoral Researcher Keiya Hirashima of the Division of Fundamental Mathematical Science at the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) has been selected as a finalist for the 2026 ACM Gordon Bell Prize for their research achievements on a high-resolution simulation of the Milky Way galaxy using multiple GPU supercomputers. The research group also includes researchers from the University of Tokyo, Kobe University, Flatiron Institute, University of Tsukuba, Tohoku University of Community Service and Science, Hokkaido University, and the University of Barcelona.

2026-09-24

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RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) is an international research center at RIKEN. It facilitates close collaborations among researchers from different disciplines in theoretical, mathematical and computational sciences. On April 1, 2025, iTHEMS transitioned from a program to a center. The ultimate goal of iTHEMS is to unravel the mystery of the Universe, matter, and life, as well as to solve key problems in modern society through interdisciplinary approaches.

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Director: Satoshi Iso

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Yang-Yang Tan

Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Physics of Intelligence, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo

Term: May 1 (Fri) 2026 - April 30 (Fri) 2027

Visiting Place: Main Research Building, RIKEN Wako Campus
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Liang Zhang

Visiting Scientist, Quantum Mathematical Science Team, Division of Applied Mathematical Science, RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) / Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, China

Term: September 4 (Fri) - November 3 (Tue) 2026

Visiting Place: Main Research Building, RIKEN Wako Campus
Yuefeng Liu

Academic Researcher, Institute for Advanced Study,, Kyushu University

Term: October 28 (Wed) - 31 (Sat) 2026

Visiting Place: Main Research Building, RIKEN Wako Campus