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De Sitter Holography Meets Non-Hermitian Quantum Matter

June 16 (Tue) - 18 (Thu) 2026

Tadashi Takayanagi (Professor, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University)
Takato Mori (Ph.D. Student, Department of Particle and Nuclear Physics, School of High Energy Accelerator Science, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI))
Tomoki Ozawa (Professor, Advanced Institute for Materials Research (AIMR), Tohoku University)
Yuichiro Tada (Designated Assistant Professor, C-Lab, Department of Physics, Institute for Advanced Research, Nagoya University)
Zimo Sun (Postdoc, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA)
Masataka Watanabe (Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo)
Zixia Wei (Junior Fellow at Society of Fellows, Harvard University, USA)
Masaru Hongo (Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Niigata University)
Chang Po-Yao (Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)
Jiro Soda (Professor, Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University)
Harry Goodhew (Predoctoral Fellow, Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, Taiwan)
Guilherme Leite Pimentel (Associate Professor, Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy)

Understanding quantum gravity in de Sitter (dS) space remains a central challenge in cosmology and high-energy theory. While the dS/CFT proposal offers an organizing principle, its dual description is generically non-unitary, forcing us to rethink what we mean by dynamics, observables, and consistency when unitarity is not available. In parallel, condensed-matter theory has developed powerful frameworks for non-unitary physics via non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and field theories, revealing systematic structures such as complex spectra, biorthogonal formalisms, generalized symmetries (e.g., PT/pseudo-Hermiticity), exceptional points, and non-Hermitian topology. This workshop brings these communities together to test whether modern non-Hermitian tools can sharpen dS/CFT: clarifying the interpretation of non-unitary dynamics, identifying dS counterparts of non-Hermitian structures, and formulating concrete cross-field problems that can seed new collaborations.

Venue: Okochi Hall (Main Venue) / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Which Cosmological EFTs Survive the UV? A first step from quantum consistency to late-time cosmology

June 15 (Mon) 10:00 - 11:30, 2026

Carlos Pastor-Marcos (Ph.D. Student, ITP, Heidelberg University, Germany)

EFTs for cosmology are one of our best tools to describe possible departures from GR in the Universe we observe. However, not every low-energy theory can arise from a consistent quantum theory at high energies. In this talk, I will discuss how this question can be addressed using asymptotic safety (AS), and how UV consistency can constrain the space of viable modified-gravity EFTs. Instead of treating all EFT parameters as equally possible, we can ask which regions of theory space are connected to a well-defined fixed point in the UV. This provides the first ingredients of a UV-to-IR strategy, restricting the allowed low-energy theories and indicating how quantum-gravity information may reach cosmology. I will first give a pedagogical introduction to AS and the functional RG, focusing on the physical picture rather than technical details. I will then apply the framework to generalized Proca theories, a class of vector–tensor modified-gravity EFTs with relevant cosmological applications, to illustrate how this analysis is performed in practice and how it can constrain viable IR theories. I will close by discussing how UV completion can become a practical guide for cosmology, translating quantum-consistency conditions into phenomenological signatures, from late-time modified gravity to early-universe observables, strong-gravity tests and GW probes.

Venue: Hybrid Format (3F #359 and Zoom), Seminar Room #359

Event Official Language: English

Noncritical Conformal Gravity and 4D Liouville Theory

June 12 (Fri) 15:00 - 16:30, 2026

Nobuyoshi Ohta (Visiting Professor, Nambu Yoichiro Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (NITEP), Osaka Metropolitan University)

We study the quantum aspects of the conformal gravity in four dimensions, specifically addressing a known discrepancy in beta functions between general quadratic curvature theories and conformal gravity, which corresponds to two scalar degrees of freedom. We demonstrate that this mismatch is resolved by carefully introducing gauge-fixing and ghost terms via the BRST symmetry, which effectively adds the two scalar modes. Drawing lessons from two-dimensional quantum gravity and Liouville theory, we proceed to integrate the four-dimensional trace anomaly to derive a consistent Liouville action, which is given by a free-field action for the conformal mode with a consistent conformal anomaly. We give the condition that the BRST transformation is anomaly free. Finally I would like to talk about some application of this theory.

Venue: Hybrid Format (3F #359 and Zoom), Seminar Room #359

Event Official Language: English

Testing quantum gravity

June 12 (Fri) 10:30 - 12:00, 2026

Daniel Carney (Scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), USA)

I will give an overview of proposals to test the quantization of the gravitational field using terrestrial experiments. This will include gravitational entanglement experiments, "single-graviton detection" experiments, and searches for anomalous gravitational noise and decoherence.

Venue: Hybrid Format (3F #359 and Zoom), Seminar Room #359

Event Official Language: English

Quantum Improved Black Holes in Asymptotically Safe Gravity

June 11 (Thu) 15:00 - 16:30, 2026

Chiang-Mei Chen (Professor, Department of Physics, National Central University, Taiwan)

In this talk, I will explore quantum-improved black hole solutions within the framework of asymptotic safety. In this approach, the Newton coupling becomes scale-dependent, necessitating a meaningful identification between the energy scale and a corresponding physical (length) scale to derive observable consequences for black hole spacetimes. I will argue that the requirement of consistency with the first law of black hole thermodynamics provides a physically motivated criterion for this scale-setting, particularly near the event horizon. Applying this principle, we propose a specific identification scheme that leads to a regularized geometry capable of resolving the ring singularity of Kerr black holes.

Venue: Hybrid Format (3F #359 and Zoom), Seminar Room #359

Event Official Language: English

Classification of certain actions of representation categories

June 5 (Fri) 15:00 - 17:00, 2026

Mao Hoshino (Special Postdoctoral Researcher, Division of Fundamental Mathematical Science, RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS))

Last year I showed a classification theorem for certain classes of module categories over the representation category of quantum SU(n). Although its proof is elementary, the classification itself has a natural interpretation based on the concept of quantization.

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

Event Official Language: English

DeepQuark: A Deep-Neural-Network Approach to Multiquark Bound States

June 4 (Thu) 15:00 - 16:00, 2026

Wei-Lin Wu (Ph.D. Student, School of Physics, Peking University, China)

Recent discoveries of multiquark candidates have opened a new frontier in hadron spectroscopy and nonperturbative QCD. Understanding these multiquark states poses a challenging quantum many-body problem governed by SU(3) color interactions. Traditional approaches based on basis expansions often encounter severe bottlenecks as the system size and dynamical complexity increase. In this talk, I will present DeepQuark, a deep-neural-network-based variational Monte Carlo framework for solving multiquark bound states. I will discuss the general methodology behind neural-network quantum states, the challenges of extending existing approaches from electronic and nuclear systems to hadron physics, and the architecture of DeepQuark. By combining physics-informed symmetry constructions with the expressive power of deep neural networks, DeepQuark provides a scalable framework for studying multiquark spectroscopy and exploring confinement dynamics.

Venue: via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Lectures on Quantum Measurement Theory: I

June 2 (Tue) 15:30 - 17:00, 2026

Masanao Ozawa (Professor Emeritus, Nagoya University)

Lecture I: Conventional approach: Repeatability, Heisenberg’s original uncertainty principle, and the SQL for gravitational-wave detection The conventional approach to quantum measurement theory taken by von Neumann (1932), Dirac (1958), and Schrödinger (1935) assumes the "repeatability hypothesis" stating that if a physical quantity is measured twice in succession, then the same value is obtained each time, which is often quantitatively generalized to the "approximately repeatable hypothesis" stating that after a measurement of a physical quantity with error ε, the post-measurement deviation around the measured value is no larger than ε; this is equivalent to saying that the state after obtaining a measurement result with error ε becomes an ε-approximate eigenstate corresponding to that measurement result. From the approximate repeatability hypothesis, one can derive "Heisenberg’s original formulation of the uncertainty principle," namely, that when position and momentum are approximately measured simultaneously, the product of their respective errors is at least ℏ/2 (Heisenberg 1927, Kennard 1927, Ozawa 2015), as well as the "standard quantum limit (SQL) for monitoring the free-mass position", which states that when the position of a free mass m is measured at a time interval τ, the result of the second measurement cannot be predicted with uncertainty smaller than (ℏτ/ m)^{1/2} (Caves 1985). The last result leads to a sensitivity limit for interferometric gravitational-wave detectors, and in the early 1980s it was therefore argued that gravitational waves of the expected strength could not be observed using interferometric detectors (Braginsky et al. 1980, Caves et al. 1980).

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

Event Official Language: English

Closed Seminar on Quantum Topology and Related Topics

May 29 (Fri) 14:00 - 18:00, 2026

Mao Hoshino (Special Postdoctoral Researcher, Division of Fundamental Mathematical Science, RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS))
Kan Kitamura (Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, College of Science, Rikkyo University)
Yuya Murakami (Research Scientist, Division of Fundamental Mathematical Science, RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS))
Vladimir Sosnilo (Research Scientist, Division of Fundamental Mathematical Science, RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS))

We will hold a closed seminar on quantum topology and related topics. The talks will be given by the following four speakers. The talks will not be streamed online or recorded. 14:00–14:30 Mao Hoshino 14:30–15:00 Kan Kitamura (15:00–15:30 Coffee break) 15:30–16:00 Yuya Murakami 16:00–16:30 Vladimir Sosnilo (16:30–17:30 Casual reception)

Venue: Seminar Room #359

Event Official Language: English

Introduction to categorification and link homology

May 28 (Thu) 14:00 - 15:30, 2026

Mikhail Khovanov (Professor, Department of Mathematics, Johns Hopkins University, USA)

Quantum link invariants relate topology in 3 dimensions to mathematical physics and representation theory. They admit liftings to 4-dimensional structures, known as link homology. We will explain how the skein relations for quantum invariants turn into homological structures at this higher level and how semisimple representation theory turns into non-semisimple representations and homological algebra upon categorification.

Venue: Okochi Hall (Main Venue) / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

The First RIKEN Quantum International Workshop on Frontiers of Quantum Computing Applications and Quantum-HPC Integration

May 25 (Mon) - 26 (Tue) 2026

This two-day workshop will bring together leading experts from academia, industry, and national laboratories to explore the rapidly evolving frontiers of quantum computing applications and their integration with high-performance computing (HPC) platforms. Hosted by RIKEN Quantum, the event will provide a forum for discussing recent advances, practical challenges, and future directions toward achieving utility-scale quantum computations and robust quantum–HPC hybrid workflows. The workshop is primarily an in-person event, but a special session on quantum computing in chemistry and life sciences will also be accessible via Zoom.

Venue: 2F Large Conference Room, Administrative Headquarters, RIKEN Wako Campus

Event Official Language: English

Positivity constraints for the gravitational path integral

May 21 (Thu) 10:00 - 11:50, 2026

Gabriele Di Ubaldo (Postdoctoral Researcher, RIKEN-Berkeley Center, Division of Global Collaborations and Research Talent Development, RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS))

For a quantum theory of gravity to have a well-defined Hilbert space, the inner product between different states of open and closed universes must be positive semi-definite. Positivity however is not manifest in the low-energy effective theory and in fact imposes nontrivial constraints on the theory. Working in the Gravitational Path Integral (GPI) approach, we derive the general set of positivity constraints on the closed and open universe Hilbert spaces. In the case of AdS gravity, open universe positivity in principle follows from CFT unitarity, however the holographic description of closed universes remains unclear. Strikingly, we exhibit positivity of closed universes across many theories and prove that open positivity implies closed positivity, showing that the CFT 'knows' about the closed universe hilbert space. We then analyze positivity constraints on gravitational theories coupled to axions. We present a method to compute off-shell axion wormholes in AdS and flat space which we use to show that positivity is violated if the axion shift symmetry is exact. In low-energy EFTs where these wormholes are perturbatively stable, to restore positivity the wormhole must have a non-perturbative instability due to instantons that breaks the shift symmetry. Positivity then leads to a proof of a sharp version of the Axion Weak Gravity Conjecture A-WGC, including precise numerical constants. For the QCD axion this provides a bound on the axion decay constant which has phenomenological and experimental consequences for axion searches. In string theory, positivity gives a bound on the coupling between the axion and the dilaton in the low energy effective action.

Venue: via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Realizing two-dimensional discrete time crystals on a digital quantum computer

May 19 (Tue) 15:00 - 16:30, 2026

Kazuya Shinjo (Research Scientist, Computational Quantum Matter Research Team, RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS))

This work was featured in a RIKEN press release. For details, please see the related link.

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

Event Official Language: English

Introduction to quantum resource theories (3)

May 15 (Fri) 9:00 - 17:00, 2026

Ryuji Takagi (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

[Registration Closed] Due to high demand and venue capacity limits, registration for this course is now closed as of April 25. If you wish to be placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations, please contact us via the inquiry form at the bottom of this page. One of the central goals of quantum information theory is to quantitatively clarify the relationship between the performance of quantum information processing and the valuable quantum features that underlie it. In this lecture, we will discuss quantum resource theories, a framework that provides a useful approach to this question. By presenting concrete examples—starting with entanglement theory, the most representative resource theory—as well as recent research results, we will see how perspectives and tools from information theory enable the quantification of quantum resources and the characterization of their convertibility. Beyond entanglement theory, we plan to discuss other key settings such as quantum thermodynamics, resource theory of asymmetry, and quantum magic—relevant resource in fault-tolerant quantum compuation. The overall aim of this lecture is to provide new analytical viewpoints that can be applied to a wide range of systems and quantum information processing tasks. While we do not plan to change the overall start and end times for each day, the detailed lecture schedule is subject to change. The intensive course will be held over three days. Please register for the course using the form. The registration deadline is May 7 (Thu). Please note that the registration form is the same for all three days, so you only need to register once. The 3rd day: May 15 (Fri) 9:00–10:30 Lecture 7 10:30–11:00 Coffee break 11:00–12:30 Lecture 8 12:30-13:30 Lunch time 13:30-15:00 Lecture 9 15:00-15:30 Coffee break 15:30-17:00 Seminar (or Lecture 10) This event is in-person only.

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

Event Official Language: English

Stochastic Schrödinger Diffusion Models for Pure-State Ensemble Generation

May 14 (Thu) 14:30 - 15:30, 2026

Jian Xu (Postdoctoral Researcher, Quantum Mathematical Science Team, Division of Applied Mathematical Science, RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS))

In quantum machine learning (QML), classical data are often encoded as quantum pure states and processed directly as quantum representations, motivating \emph{representation-level generative modeling} that samples new quantum states from an underlying pure-state ensemble rather than re-preparing them from perturbed classical inputs. However, extending \emph{score-based} diffusion models with well-defined reverse-time samplers to quantum pure-state ensembles remains challenging, due to the non-Euclidean geometry of the complex projective space $\mathbb{CP}^{d-1}$ and the intractability of transition densities. We propose \emph{Stochastic Schr\"odinger Diffusion Models} (SSDMs), an intrinsic score-based generative framework on $\mathbb{CP}^{d-1}$ endowed with the Fubini--Study (FS) metric. SSDMs formulate a forward Riemannian diffusion with a stochastic Schr\"odinger equation (SSE) realization, and derive reverse-time dynamics driven by the Riemannian score $\nabla_{\mathrm{FS}} \log p_t$. To enable training without analytic transition densities, we introduce a local-time objective based on a local Euclidean Ornstein--Uhlenbeck approximation in FS normal coordinates, yielding an analytic teacher score mapped back to the manifold. Experiments show that SSDMs faithfully capture target pure-state ensemble statistics, including observable moments, overlap-kernel MMD, and entanglement measures, and that SSDM-generated quantum representations improve downstream QML generalization via representation-level data augmentation.

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

Event Official Language: English

From Birkhoff's Polytope to Petz Recovery: Unistochastic Matrices, Quantum Channels, and Approximate Markov Chains

May 13 (Wed) 13:30 - 15:00, 2026

Claude Gravel (Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada)

A doubly stochastic matrix is unistochastic if its entries correspond to the squared moduli of a unitary matrix. Determining which n × n doubly stochastic matrices admit such a representation remains an open problem at the intersection of convex geometry, combinatorics, and quantum information. For 3 × 3 matrices, elegant triangle inequalities provide a complete characterization: the unistochastic set occupies approximately 75% of the Birkhoff polytope and exhibits deltoid cross-sections. For n ≥ 4, the characterization problem remains unresolved and is influenced in unexpected ways by the prime factorization of n via the defect of the Fourier matrix. This presentation surveys these results and then establishes a connection to a second, seemingly unrelated question: given a tripartite quantum state with small conditional mutual information, to what extent can one subsystem be recovered from the others? The Petz recovery map and its rotated variants offer a universal solution. These two topics are linked through coherification, which concerns when a classical stochastic process can be elevated to coherent quantum dynamics, and through the conditional mutual information as a continuous measure of non-unistochasticity. The talk concludes with open problems at this interface, including the star-shapedness conjecture for n = 4 and the pursuit of tighter recovery bounds.

Venue: #359, Seminar Room #359

Event Official Language: English

Universal Laws of Nonequilibrium Quantum Many-Body Systems: From Understanding to Control

May 12 (Tue) 15:00 - 16:00, 2026

Ryusuke Hamazaki (RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader, Nonequilibrium Quantum Statistical Mechanics RIKEN Hakubi Research Team, RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR))

(Note: This lecture will be given in Japanese. This seminar is also designated as part of the Pioneering Research Institute (PRI) Lecture Series.) Recent advances in quantum simulators and quantum computers have made it possible to realize and manipulate quantum many-body systems with high precision and to directly observe their dynamics. This progress has renewed interest in a fundamental question dating back to John von Neumann: how macroscopic statistical mechanics emerges from microscopic quantum mechanics. At the same time, there is growing momentum toward harnessing the quantum nature of such systems through control, with the aim of realizing devices and functionalities that surpass those of classical systems. In this talk, I will discuss our research and future perspectives from the viewpoint of understanding universal laws governing nonequilibrium quantum many-body systems from microscopic quantum dynamics, and theoretically elucidating their controllability. In particular, I will focus on topics such as the characterization of phases unique to open quantum many-body systems, the emergence of thermal statistical mechanics in isolated quantum systems, and the establishment of rigorous universal laws in nonequilibrium dynamics. Building on these insights, I will also discuss how we may open up the unexplored frontier of the statistical and many-body physics of control. Finally, I would like to touch upon the possibility that this universal framework of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics may find applications beyond quantum condensed matter physics and extend to other fields as well.

Venue: 2F Large Conference Room, Administrative Headquarters, RIKEN Wako Campus

Event Official Language: Japanese

Introduction to quantum resource theories (2)

May 12 (Tue) 9:00 - 17:00, 2026

Ryuji Takagi (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

[Registration Closed] Due to high demand and venue capacity limits, registration for this course is now closed as of April 25. If you wish to be placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations, please contact us via the inquiry form at the bottom of this page. One of the central goals of quantum information theory is to quantitatively clarify the relationship between the performance of quantum information processing and the valuable quantum features that underlie it. In this lecture, we will discuss quantum resource theories, a framework that provides a useful approach to this question. By presenting concrete examples—starting with entanglement theory, the most representative resource theory—as well as recent research results, we will see how perspectives and tools from information theory enable the quantification of quantum resources and the characterization of their convertibility. Beyond entanglement theory, we plan to discuss other key settings such as quantum thermodynamics, resource theory of asymmetry, and quantum magic—relevant resource in fault-tolerant quantum compuation. The overall aim of this lecture is to provide new analytical viewpoints that can be applied to a wide range of systems and quantum information processing tasks. While we do not plan to change the overall start and end times for each day, the detailed lecture schedule is subject to change. The intensive course will be held over three days. Please register for the course using the form. The registration deadline is May 7 (Thu). Please note that the registration form is the same for all three days, so you only need to register once. The 2nd day: May 12 (Tue) 9:00–10:30 Lecture 3 10:30–11:00 Coffee break 11:00–12:30 Lecture 4 12:30-13:30 Lunch time 13:30-15:00 Lecture 5 15:00-15:30 Coffee break 15:30-17:00 Lecture 6 This event is in-person only.

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

Event Official Language: English

Introduction to quantum resource theories (1)

May 11 (Mon) 13:30 - 17:00, 2026

Ryuji Takagi (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

[Registration Closed] Due to high demand and venue capacity limits, registration for this course is now closed as of April 25. If you wish to be placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations, please contact us via the inquiry form at the bottom of this page. One of the central goals of quantum information theory is to quantitatively clarify the relationship between the performance of quantum information processing and the valuable quantum features that underlie it. In this lecture, we will discuss quantum resource theories, a framework that provides a useful approach to this question. By presenting concrete examples—starting with entanglement theory, the most representative resource theory—as well as recent research results, we will see how perspectives and tools from information theory enable the quantification of quantum resources and the characterization of their convertibility. Beyond entanglement theory, we plan to discuss other key settings such as quantum thermodynamics, resource theory of asymmetry, and quantum magic—relevant resource in fault-tolerant quantum compuation. The overall aim of this lecture is to provide new analytical viewpoints that can be applied to a wide range of systems and quantum information processing tasks. While we do not plan to change the overall start and end times for each day, the detailed lecture schedule is subject to change. The intensive course will be held over three days. Please register for the course using the form. The registration deadline is May 7 (Thu). Please note that the registration form is the same for all three days, so you only need to register once. The 1st day: May 11 (Mon) 13:30-15:00 Lecture 1 15:00-15:30 Coffee break 15:30-17:00 Lecture 2 This event is in-person only.

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

Event Official Language: English

Building autonomous AI physicists for frontier physics research

April 30 (Thu) 15:00 - 16:00, 2026

Tingjia Miao (Ph.D. Student, School of Artificial Intelligence, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China)

Advances in LLMs have led to agents with knowledge and operational capabilities comparable to human scientists, suggesting potential to assist, accelerate, and automate research. Physics, especially theoretical and computational physics, which requires integrating analytical reasoning, code-based computation, and profound domain expertise, is well suited for verifying the end-to-end research capabilities of AI scientists. Accordingly, we construct a general-purpose AI physicist PhysMaster, equipped with a layered academic knowledge base, adapted to the agent skill ecosystem, and adopting an adaptive exploration strategy that balances efficiency and exploration, enabling robust performance in ultra-long-horizon tasks; PhysMaster has been open-sourced. Meanwhile, we introduce PRL-Bench (Physics Research by LLMs), a benchmark with 100 tasks adapted from recent Physical Review Letters papers, covering astrophysics, condensed matter physics, high-energy physics, quantum information, and statistical physics. Evaluation across frontier models shows that failures are dominated by conceptual and formulaic errors, and that exploration and derivations remain unstable over long horizons. In addition, we develop domain-specialized AI scientists, including LQCD Master, which integrates Lattice QCD workflows and expert skills, enabling automated generation and submission of lattice computation scripts from concise physics goals.

Venue: via Zoom

Event Official Language: English