The 19th High Performance Computing Physics (HPC-Phys) Workshop

August 31 (Thu) at 13:30 - 17:30, 2023

Computational science is indispensable research method in various fields in physics. On the other hand, there is technical challenge in massive numerical simulations, such as optimization for each computational system and proper choice of computational method, and it is desirable to promote interdisciplinary collaborations between different fields. This series of workshops is organized to enhance such interdisciplinary activities among wide area of computational physics. The 19th workshop will be held with the following program: Program 13:30-13:35 Introduction 13:35-14:25 Tomonori Shirakawa : "Simulation of quantum computation using tensor network method" 14:25-15:15 Misa Ogata : "New computational method using Lagrangian construction for equilibrium shape of 2-dimensional stars" 15:15-15:35 Break 15:35-16:25 Rico Pohle : "Semi-classical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations of spin coherent states" 16:25-17:15 Ken-Ichi Ishikawa : "Algorithms for Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics" 17:15-17:30 Discussions (17:30- Informal social gathering)

Venue: Welfare and Conference Bldg. 2F Meeting Room, RIKEN Wako Campus

Event Official Language: Japanese

MNISQ: A Large-Scale Quantum Circuit Dataset for Machine Learning on/for Quantum Computers in the NISQ era

August 29 (Tue) at 14:00 - 15:30, 2023

Leonardo Placidi (Ph.D. Student, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University)

We introduce the first large-scale dataset, MNISQ, for both the Quantum and the Classical Machine Learning community during the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum era. MNISQ consists of 4,950,000 data points organized in 9 subdatasets. Building our dataset from the quantum encoding of classical information (e.g., MNIST dataset), we deliver a dataset in a dual form: in quantum form, as circuits, and in classical form, as quantum circuit descriptions (quantum programming language, QASM). In fact, also Machine Learning research related to quantum computers undertakes a dual challenge: enhancing machine learning by exploiting the power of quantum computers, while also leveraging state-of-the-art classical machine learning methodologies to help the advancement of quantum computing. Therefore, we perform circuit classification on our dataset, tackling the task with both quantum and classical models. In the quantum endeavor, we test our circuit dataset with Quantum Kernel methods, and we show excellent results with up to 97% accuracy. In the classical world, the underlying quantum mechanical structures within the quantum circuit data are not trivial. Nevertheless, we test our dataset on three classical models: Structured State Space sequence model (S4), Transformer, and LSTM. In particular, the S4 model applied on the tokenized QASM sequences reaches an impressive 77% accuracy. These findings illustrate that quantum circuit-related datasets are likely to be quantum advantageous, but also that state-of-the-art machine learning methodologies can competently classify and recognize quantum circuits. We finally entrust the quantum and classical machine learning community.

Venue: #345, 3F, Main Research Building, RIKEN Wako Campus (Main Venue) / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Landscape structure drives eco-evolution in host parasite systems

August 24 (Thu) at 16:00 - 17:00, 2023

Jhelam Deshpande (Ph.D. Student, Biodiversity: dynamics, interactions and conservation team, Institute of Evolutionary Science of Montpellier, France)

As all biological and many artificial systems, hosts and their parasites are most often spatially structured. Besides this highly relevant spatial context, parasites may change through time due to to evolutionary processes, including mutation and selection. These facts imply that we must study host-parasite systems taking into account space and evolution. Past work has mainly focused on simple spatial structures, but how parasites evolve in realistically complex landscapes remains unclear, hampering the translation of theoretical predictions to real ecological systems.Therefore, we here develop an eco-evolutionary metapopulation model of host-parasite interactions in which hosts and parasites disperse through realistically complex spatial graphs. Parasite virulence, a parasite life-history trait of central importance that here impacts host reproduction, is able to evolve. Our model therefore captures the eco-evolutionary feedback loop between host demography and parasite evolution in space. In order to gain a general understanding of parasite eco-evolution in space, we analyse our model for spatial networks that represent terrestrial (represented by random-geometric graphs; RGG) and riverine aquatic (represented by optimal channel networks; OCN) landscapes. We find that evolved virulence is generally a function of host dispersal, with a unimodal relationship in aquatic and a saturating relationship in terrestrial landscape, and this is driven by higher order network properies. Consistent with previous work, we show that our results are driven by kin selection, because dispersal and landscape structure impact both patterns of relatedness and availability of susceptible hosts. Our model yields readily testable predictions, including that terrestrial parasites should be more virulent than aquatic parasites are low dispersal rates and vice versa as dispersal increases. These differences in evolved virulence directly lead to differences in system stability, with more virulent parasites more often leading to host extinction. Thus, in this study we highlight the role of landscape structure in driving eco-evolutionary dynamics of parasites.

Venue: via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Exploring 2D Quantum Spacetime Based on Causal Dynamical Triangulations

August 21 (Mon) - 23 (Wed), 2023

Yuki Sato (Associate Professor, National Institute of Technology, Tokuyama College)

This is the fourth event by the Quantum Gravity Gatherings (QGG) Study Group at RIKEN iTHEMS. For this event we have invited Prof. Yuki Sato, National Institute of Technology, Tokuyama College, to give pedagogical lectures on the causal dynamical triangulations approach to quantum gravity. We wish this event to provide insights to researchers in related fields. The causal dynamical triangulations formalism appears to be one of the most promising constructive approaches to quantum gravity: possessing deep links with the asymptotic safety programme and Hořava-Lifshitz gravity, causal dynamical triangulations appears to avoid many of the well-known pathologies characteristic of its Euclidean analogue. As an example the emergence of spacetime geometry remains possible in various spacetime dimensions. While many of the results in higher dimensions are understood only at the numerical level, the analytical study of the approach in two spacetime dimensions is relatively well developed; Yuki Sato is a leading expert on these latter developments and we are very lucky he has agreed to present the understanding of 2D causal spacetime coming from this approach in a manner consistent with the Quantum Gravity Gatherings philosophy. This intensive lecture series is intended to be a lively and participatory event, not just a listening experience. For this reason, the number of participants will be limited to about 30 with priority given to graduate students and young post-docs; the intensive talk will be given in a face-to-face blackboard style (in English, no online streaming) to allow for informal and lively Q&A discussions. The program will also include short talk sessions, where interested participants can give a 5 min talk on a topic of their choice (their research, reviews on some works, what they want to study in the future, etc.). Registration is available via the dedicated website.

Venue: #435-437, 4F, Main Research Building

Event Official Language: English

Mating system of buckwheat

August 17 (Thu) at 16:00 - 17:00, 2023

Jeffrey Fawcett (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS)

Buckwheat (soba in Japanese) has a slightly unusual mating system called heterostylous self-incompatibility where two types of individuals coexist, one that produces flowers with a long style (female part of the flower) and short stamen (male part of the flower), and the other that produces flowers with a short style and long stamen. Mating is only successful when it occurs between the different types of individuals. It is a bit similar to sexual dimorphism where males and females coexists but in this case all individuals have both male and female organs. In this talk, I will introduce the basics of this mating system in buckwheat and some work we have been doing. In particular, I will talk about its genetic architecture and some parallels observed with other plants in which a similar mating system evolved independently. The talk will be aimed at non-experts so non-biologists are also welcome to attend.

Venue: via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Dark matter heating vs vortex creep heating in old neutron stars

August 7 (Mon) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2023

Motoko Fujiwara (Postdoctoral Researcher, Theoretical Particle Physics Group, Technical University of Munich, Germany)

Old isolated neutron stars have been gathering attention as targets to probe Dark Matter (DM) through temperature observations. DM will anomalously heat neutron stars through its gravitational capture and annihilation process, which predicts surface temperature as T_s ~ (1 − 3) × 10^3 K for t > 10^6 years. We may put constraints on DM-nucleon scattering cross section by finding even colder neutron stars. This story, however, assumed that there is no relevant heating source for old neutron stars. In this talk, we discuss the creep motion of vortex lines in the neutron superfluid of the inner crust as the heating mechanism. This creep mechanism is inherent in the structure of neutron stars. The heating luminosity is proportional to the time derivative of the angular velocity of the pulsar rotation, and the proportional constant J has an approximately universal value for each neutron star. If this vortex creep heating is quantitatively relevant against DM heating, this mechanism may cause a serious background to probe DM. The J parameter can be determined from the temperature observation of old neutron stars because the heating luminosity is balanced with the photon emission in the late time. We study the latest data of neutron star temperature observation and find that these data indeed give similar values of J, in favor of the assumption that these neutron stars are heated by the frictional motion of vortex lines. Besides, these values turn out to be consistent with the theoretical calculations of the vortex-nuclear interaction. Integarting all the results, we evaluate the vortex creep heating and conclude its significance against DM heating.

Venue: Seminar Room #359 (Main Venue) / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Quasi-local holography in 3d quantum gravity

August 4 (Fri) at 14:00 - 15:30, 2023

Etera Livine (Research Director CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France)

Since the idea appeared in black hole physics, the concept of holography has become a guiding principle for quantum gravity. It is the notion that the dynamics of the geometry of a region of space-time can be entirely encoded in a theory living on its boundary. Although such holographic dualities have been well-developed in an asymptotical context, it remains a challenge to realize it exactly at finite distances. I will draw a possible route in 3d quantum gravity, by showing a duality between the Ponzano-Regge path integral for 3d quantum gravity as a topological field theory and the 2d (inhomogeneous) Ising model. This leads to an intriguing geometrical interpretation of the Ising critical couplings and opens the door to a possibly rich interplay between 3d quantum gravity and 2d condensed matter built out of holographic dualities.

Venue: Seminar Room #359 (Main Venue) / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Evidence against a strong first-order phase transition in neutron star cores: impact of new data

August 1 (Tue) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2023

Len Brandes (Ph.D. Student, Technical University of Munich, Germany)

Information on the phase structure of strongly interacting matter at high baryon densities can be gained from observations of neutron stars and their detailed analysis. Bayesian inference methods are used to set constraints on the speed of sound in the interior of neutron stars, based on recent multimessenger data in combination with low-density constraints based on chiral effective field theory and perturbative QCD constraints at asymptotically high densities. A detailed re-analysis is performed in order to clarify the influence of the latter constraints on the inference procedure. The impact of the recent new heavy (2.35 M_sol) black widow pulsar PSR J0952-0607 and of the unusually light supernova remnant HESS J1731-347 is inspected. One of the consequences of including PSR J0952-0607 in the database is a further stiffening of the equation-of-state, resulting in a 2.1 solar-mass neutron star in a reduced central density of less than five times the equilibrium density of normal nuclear matter. A systematic Bayes factor assessment quantifies the evidence (or non-evidence) for small sound speeds, necessary for a strong first-order phase transition, within the range of densities realized in the core of neutron stars. Given the presently existing database, it can be concluded that the occurrence of a strong first-order phase transition in the core of even a 2.1 solar-mass neutron star is unlikely, while a continuous crossover cannot be ruled out.

Venue: via Zoom (Main Venue) / Seminar Room #132

Event Official Language: English

Clifford Group and Unitary Designs under Symmetry

July 31 (Mon) at 14:00 - 15:30, 2023

Yosuke Mitsuhashi (Ph.D. Student, Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo)

We have generalized the well-known statement that the Clifford group is a unitary 3-design into symmetric cases by extending the notion of unitary design. Concretely, we have proven that a symmetric Clifford group is a symmetric unitary 3-design if and only if the symmetry constraint is described by some Pauli subgroup. We have also found a complete and unique construction method of symmetric Clifford groups with simple quantum gates for Pauli symmetries. For the overall understanding, we have also considered physically relevant U(1) and SU(2) symmetry constraints, which cannot be described by a Pauli subgroup, and have proven that the symmetric Clifford group is a symmetric unitary 1-design but not a 2-design under those symmetries. Our findings are numerically verified by computing the frame potentials, which measure the difference in randomness between the uniform ensemble on the symmetric group of interest and the symmetric unitary group. This work will open a new perspective into quantum information processing such as randomized benchmarking, and give a deep understanding to many-body systems such as monitored random circuits.

Venue: #345-347, Main Research Building, RIKEN Wako Campus (Main Venue) / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Higher Algebra in Geometry

July 31 (Mon) - August 10 (Thu), 2023

Hiro Lee Tanaka (Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Texas State University, USA)

In these lectures, we will shed light on modern tools of higher algebra, where the traditional structures of algebra yield themselves only after controlled deformations. We will introduce infinity-categories, spectra, operads, and other standard tools of the last decade. The main applications will be to encode various higher-algebraic structures that inevitably arise in, and shed light on, geometry and topology. If time permits, we will illustrate how spectra naturally arise in geometric invariants. The audience is imagined to consist of mathematicians interested in applications of infinity-categorical tools -- so a broad range of geometers (including topologists) and algebraists. From Lecture Two onward, I will assume basic knowledge of algebraic topology (e.g., the material of Hatcher) and homological algebra. These lectures will be held between July 31 and August 10, each from 10:30 to 12:00, for a total of 8 lectures. 1st Week: Jul 31(mon), Aug 1(tue) - 3(thu) - Introduction to ideas of higher algebra in geometry, for a general audience. - Introduction to infinity-categories and to spectra. 2nd Week: Aug 7(mon) - 10(thu) - Examples in geometry and topology, including invariants of Legendrian links and generating functions. - Future Directions. Profile: Hiro Lee Tanaka is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics. After receiving his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and completing postdoctoral work at Harvard University, he conducted research at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley, California, and at the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge, England. His research aims to fuse the higher structures in modern algebra with geometries emerging from both classical mechanics and supersymmetric field theories. Beyond research, Tanaka engages in efforts to create more equitable and supportive environments throughout the mathematics community.

Venue: #435-437, Main Research Building / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

3rd QGG Intensive Lectures: Spinfoam path integrals for Quantum Gravity

July 26 (Wed) - 28 (Fri), 2023

Etera Livine (Research Director CNRS, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France)

At the crossroads of several approaches to quantum gravity, Spinfoams propose a discrete path integral for quantum general relativity built from topological field theory. With the spectrum of geometric operators directly read from the representation theory of the local symmetry group, they can be interpreted as a quantized version of Regge calculus and can be understood as implementing the dynamics of quantum states geometry in loop quantum gravity. I will explain the basics of the formalism, the motivations, the mathematical framework and the main tools. In three space-time dimensions, the spinfoam quantization of 3d gravity is given by the Turaev-Viro topological invariant, which is intimately related to the quantization of Chern-Simons theory. I will explain in particular how the spinfoam amplitudes solve the Wheeler-de Witt equation, implement the invariance under 3d diffeomorphisms (despite being formulated in a discretized space-time) and lead to a quasi-local version of holography. In four space-time dimensions, general relativity can be formulated as an almost-topological theory and I will explain how the existing spinfoam models introduce a sea of topological defects to re-create the gravitational degrees of freedom from a topological path integral. Finally, I will show how spinfoams are naturally defined in terms of group field theory, which are generalized tensor models, and the prospects that this opens. I will conclude with the main challenges and open lines of research of the field. Program: July 26 10:00 - 10:15 Registration and reception 10:15 - 11:45 Lecture 1 11:45 - 13:30 Lunch & coffee break 13:30 - 15:00 Lecture 2 15:00 - 16:00 Coffee break 16:00 - 17:00 Lecture 3 17:10 - 18:30 Short talk session July 27 10:00 - 11:45 Lecture 4 11:45 - 13:30 Lunch & coffee break 13:30 - 15:00 Lecture 5 15:00 - 16:00 Coffee break 16:00 - 17:00 Lecture 6 17:30 - 20:00 Banquet July 28 10:00 - 11:45 Lecture 7 11:45 - 13:30 Lunch & coffee break 13:30 - 15:00 Lecture 8 15:00 - 16:00 Coffee break 16:00 - 17:30 Lecture 9 & Closing

Venue: #435-437, 4F, Main Research Building

Event Official Language: English

Exploring interior magnetic-field in neutron stars

July 25 (Tue) at 10:00 - 12:00, 2023

Yasufumi Kojima (Emeritus Professor, Hiroshima University)

Neutron stars are well known as a good laboratory to test high-density material. Magnetic field on the stars is relevant to some astrophysical phenomena, and understanding the effect is crucial to extract information of the stellar interior. In this talk, I start with discussing some evidence and implications for intense magnetic field, and focus on the magneto-elastic equilibrium in the solid crust. The study leads to upper limit of deformation, and beyond a threshold crustal fracture observed burst on strongly magnetized neutron stars. The model is still primitive, and further development is desirable to connect micro-physics with astrophysical observation.

Venue: via Zoom (Main Venue) / #345, 3F, Main Research Building, RIKEN Wako Campus

Event Official Language: English

Electronic instabilities emerging from higher-order van Hove singularities

July 24 (Mon) at 17:00 - 18:15, 2023

Xinloong Han (Postdoctoral Fellow, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)

Time: 5pm ~ 6:15pm (JST); 10am ~ 11:15am (CET); 4pm ~ 5:15pm (Taiwan) Field: condensed matter physics Keywords: topological superconductor, Van Hove singularity, Hubbard model, Kagome lattices Abstract: Competing correlated electronic states are a central topic in condensed matter physics. A typical example is the close competition between spin density wave and d-wave superconductivity in the Hubbard model on the square lattice near half filling where the band structures have saddle points at which the Fermi surface topology changes from hole type to electron type. The saddle points are called van Hove singularity (VHS) points, and host diverging density of states with power-law behavior in the two dimensions. Recently, another type of VHS, namely the higher-order VHS was investigated in ABC-stacked trilayer graphene and twisted bilayer graphene. In this talk, I will first introduce the higher-order VHS, and make comparisons to the conventional VHS. Then I will discuss the enhanced nematicity driven by large flavor number with higher-order VHSs on the square and Kagome lattices. Finally, I will show that robust topological superconductivity can emerge on the square lattice due to interplay of spin-orbital coupling and higher-order VHSs.

Venue: Hybrid Format (Common Room 246-248 and Zoom)

Event Official Language: English

The 23rd MACS Colloquium

July 14 (Fri) at 14:45 - 18:00, 2023

Tetsushi Ito (Associate Professor, Division of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University)
Aya Ishihara (Professor, International Center for Hadron Astrophysics / Institute for Advanced Academic Research, Chiba University)

14:45-15:00 Teatime discussion 15:00-16:00 Talk by Dr. Tetsushi Ito (Associate Professor, Division of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University) 16:15-17:15 Talk by Prof. Aya Ishihara (Professor, International Center for Hadron Astrophysics / Institute for Advanced Academic Research, Chiba University) 17:15-18:00 Discussion

Venue: Maskawa Hall, 1F, Maskawa Building for Education and Research

Event Official Language: Japanese

Evolution of dormant egg production and their hatching rate in Aedes albopictus

July 13 (Thu) at 16:00 - 17:00, 2023

Yusuke Kuwano (Ph.D. Student, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI))

Mosquitoes are important insect vectors of infectious diseases in humans, and knowledge of their population dynamics is pivotal in disease control. Some mosquito species have dormancy in their life history to survive harsh environments. However, the population dynamics of mosquitoes have not yet been well understood due to the lack of field and experimental data on dormancy. For that reason, I modeled the population dynamics of mosquitoes that face environmental fluctuations and examine the evolution of egg dormancy strategy to survive harsh periods. I found that the ESS dormancy fraction monotonically increases with the period of environmental fluctuation. Next, I analyzed evolutionary traits of the dependence of the dormancy rate and the hatching rate from dormant egg on soil moisture content and conducted evolutionary simulations using actual weather measurement in Tokyo. The results of the hatching rate from dormant egg showed that two mosquito phenotypes having distinctly different responses to soil moisture were selected.

Venue: via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Conserved charges in the quantum simulation of integrable spin chains

July 12 (Wed) at 13:30 - 15:00, 2023

Juan William Pedersen (Ph.D. Student, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

In this talk, we present the result of the quantum simulation of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg XXX spin chain. We implement the integrable Trotterization algorithm, which allows us to control the Trotter error with conserved charges remaining conserved, on a real quantum computer and classical simulators. We study the effects of quantum noise on the time evolution of several conserved charges and specifically observe the decay of the expectation values. Our work improves our understanding of quantum noises and can potentially be applied to benchmark quantum devices and algorithms.

Venue: Seminar Room #359 (Main Venue) / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

The eyes have it: Influenza virus infection beyond the respiratory tract

July 11 (Tue) at 14:00 - 15:30, 2023

Jessica Belser (Research Microbiologist, Influenza Division, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA)

Influenza viruses are typically considered a respiratory pathogen, but are nonetheless capable of causing ocular complications in infected individuals and establishing a respiratory infection following ocular exposure. While both human and zoonotic influenza A viruses can replicate in ocular tissue and use the eye as a portal of entry, many H7 subtype viruses possess an ocular tropism in humans, though the molecular determinants that confer a non-respiratory tropism to a respiratory virus are poorly understood. In this presentation, I will discuss the establishment of several mammalian models to study ocular exposure and ocular tropism, ongoing investigations conducted in vitro and in vivo to elucidate properties associated with ocular-tropic viruses, and ways in which this information can improve efforts to identify, treat, and prevent human infection following ocular exposure to influenza viruses. Continued investigation of the capacity for respiratory viruses to gain entry to the respiratory tract and to cause ocular complications will improve understanding of how these pathogens cause human disease, regardless of the virus subtype or exposure route.

Venue: Okochi Hall / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Searching for dark matter subhalos in the Fermi-LAT catalog with Bayesian neural networks

July 10 (Mon) at 16:30 - 18:00, 2023

Slivia Manconi (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow, Laboratoire d'Annecy-Le-Vieux de Physique Theorique (LAPTh), CNRS, France)

Machine learning techniques are powerful tools to tackle diverse tasks in current astroparticle physics research. For example, Bayesian neural networks provide robust classifiers with reliable uncertainty estimates, and are particularly well suited for classification problems that are based on comparatively small and imbalanced data sets, such as the gamma-ray sources detected by Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT). About one third of the gamma-ray sources collected in the most recent catalogs remain currently unidentified. Intriguingly, some of these could be exotic objects such as dark subhalos, which are overdensities in dark matter halos predicted to form by cosmological N-body simulations. If they exist in the Milky Way, they could be detected as gamma-ray point sources due to the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles into Standard Model final states. In this talk I will discuss our recent work* in which, after training on realistic simulations, we use Bayesian neural networks to identify candidate dark matter subhalos among unidentified gamma-ray sources in Fermi-LAT catalogs. Our novel framework allows us to derive conservative bounds on the dark matter annihilation cross section, by excluding unidentified sources classified as astrophysical-like.

Venue: via Zoom

Event Official Language: English