Press Release
88 news
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2026-10-27
Press Release
Are Supernovae Giant Cosmic Particle Accelerators? Exploring a PeVatron Candidate through Visible Light and Neutrinos
A collaborative research group including Ryo Sawada, a Special Postdoctoral Researcher at RIKEN iTHEMS, has theoretically shown that the Type Ibn supernova SN 2023uqf may act as a “PeVatron,” capable of accelerating particles to extremely high energies. By connecting the explosion environment inferred from visible-light observations with a high-energy neutrino event detected by IceCube, the study presents a new approach to investigating the origin of cosmic rays. For further details, please see the related link.
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2026-08-25
Press Release
New Mechanism for Sustaining Reputation-Based Cooperation Revealed
An international research team including iTHEMS Team Director Yohsuke Murase has theoretically uncovered a new mechanism that enables the evolution of reputation-based cooperation. In human societies, “indirect reciprocity,” in which people decide whether to cooperate with others based on their reputations, is considered an important mechanism for sustaining cooperation. However, previous studies have shown that maintaining cooperation becomes difficult when individuals hold different assessments of the same person. In this study, the researchers introduced a mechanism called “dual reputation updating,” in which reputations are updated based not only on whether a person cooperates with others, but also on whether that person receives cooperation from others. Through mathematical analysis and computer simulations, they demonstrated that this simple extension reduces disagreements in reputation and substantially enhances the maintenance of cooperation. These findings are expected to deepen our understanding of how cooperation emerges and is sustained through reputation, while also providing new insights into collective behaviors in real-world societies, including conformity, cooperation, and exclusion. The findings are scheduled to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on August 28, 2026.
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2026-08-06
Press Release
Discovery of Anomalous Fluctuations and Universality in Atom Detection Counts
Kazuki Yamamoto, Lecturer at the Graduate School of Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, and Ryusuke Hamazaki, RIKEN Hakubi Research Team Leader at the RIKEN Pioneering Research Institute and Senior Research Scientist at the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS), have theoretically demonstrated that the fluctuations in the number of detected atoms in a continuously measured quantum many-body system consisting of a large number of atoms change dramatically depending on the measurement strength. They found that when the measurement is weak, the number of detected atoms exhibits standard fluctuations, whereas when the measurement is strong, unusually large anomalous fluctuations emerge. For more details, please visit the Osaka Metropolitan University website.
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2026-06-24
Press Release
Tracing the Origin of the “Freely Chosen Numbers” Appearing in the Laws of Nature
An international research team including Yuya Kusuki, Visiting Scientist at iTHEMS (Associate Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, Kyushu University), analyzed a situation in which two conformal field theories are connected through an interface. The researchers showed that, by appropriately extracting the response to a small deformation of the interface, one can obtain a local operator that captures the difference between the two theories. They also provided an explicit method for constructing such operators. This result lends support to the conjecture that quantum gravity does not admit continuous parameters that can be freely chosen from the outside, and is expected to contribute to a deeper understanding of fundamental issues in quantum gravity. For further details, please see the press release from Kyushu University.
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2026-06-02
Press Release
Development and Safety Validation of a High-Performance Japanese Medical LLM
As part of NEDO’s project “Safety Verification and Demonstration for the Social Implementation of a Japanese Medical Domain-Specific LLM,” a collaborative research team comprising ten institutions, including the University of Tokyo, RIKEN, and Kyushu University, developed a high-performance Japanese large language model (LLM) designed to support administrative tasks in healthcare settings. In evaluations based on specialist medical examinations, the model achieved an accuracy of up to 90.8%, demonstrating performance comparable to state-of-the-art commercial LLMs. The project also conducted extensive safety assessments tailored to the characteristics of the Japanese healthcare system. Jun Seita, Team Director of the Medical Science Deep Learning Team at iTHEMS, also participated in the project and contributed to its research and development. For more details, please see the NEDO press release.
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2026-05-26
Press ReleaseIdentifying Topological Superconductors from Fermi Surface Information
An international research group including Seishiro Ono, Special Postdoctoral Researcher, Division of Fundamental Mathematical Science, iTHEMS (at the time of the research; currently Visiting Scientist, Division of Global Collaborations and Research Talent Development), has established a theoretical formula that determines the topological properties of superconductors from information on the “Fermi surface,” which describes the electronic states responsible for electrical conduction and superconductivity. These research results are expected to provide a foundation for efficiently searching for topological superconductors among a vast number of materials, thereby accelerating both theoretical predictions and experimental exploration of candidate materials. For more details, please see the RIKEN press release.
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2026-05-25
Press Release
Discovery of a New Phenomenon Where Translational Symmetry Can No Longer Be Restored
A research group consisting of Tsubasa Oishi and doctoral student Takuma Saito of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, and Hiromi Ebisu, Research Scientist at RIKEN, has revealed that in systems of arbitrary dimensions subject to the Lieb–Schultz–Mattis (LSM) constraint arising from the interplay between internal symmetry and translational symmetry, the operation known as gauging—which converts a global symmetry into a local one—causes the translational symmetry itself to transform into a non-invertible symmetry. For further details, please see the Kyoto University press release.
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2026-04-02
Press Release
Observation of Regular Oscillations in Magnetization with a Quantum Computer
A research group including Senior Research Scientist Tomonori Shirakawa demonstrated that discrete time crystals and discrete time quasicrystals can be stably realized for up to 100 time steps on a 133-qubit two-dimensional lattice using IBM’s superconducting quantum computer (here, one time step corresponds to one period of the drive). This result is expected to contribute to experimental validation toward digital quantum simulation of two-dimensional nonequilibrium quantum many-body systems, which are difficult to simulate using classical computation. For further details, please refer to the related link.
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2026-01-15
Press Release
A New Principle for Controlling the “Butterfly Effect”
Takemasa Miyoshi (Team Principal, Data Assimilation Research Team, RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS) / Team Director, Prediction Science Research Team, Division of Applied Mathematical Science, RIKEN iTHEMS), has developed a new mathematical framework for efficiently controlling chaos by turning the fundamental limitation of predictability in deterministic chaos—widely known as the “butterfly effect”—to an advantage. He proposed a “duality principle,” demonstrating that data assimilation, which forms the foundation of weather forecasting (a process that synchronizes a model with the behavior of nature using observational data), and the control of chaos are mathematically twin concepts. Rather than suppressing chaos itself, this new approach exploits the high sensitivity characteristic of chaotic systems to synchronize real-world behavior with a manageable “target trajectory” through only a small amount of “intervention.” In this way, the study theoretically outlines a path toward controlling chaos beyond the conventional limits of predictability. This achievement provides a theoretical basis for future research in disaster prevention and mitigation—for example, applying minimal interventions to synchronize real atmospheric phenomena with a “typhoon scenario that causes no damage” (a target trajectory) simulated in a model, with the aim of avoiding extreme weather events. It is also expected to have applications in a wide range of fields that exhibit chaotic behavior, including ecosystems and economics. For further details, please refer to the related links.
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2026-01-15
Press Release
A 300-Billion-Particle Milky Way Simulation Achieved with AI × Fugaku
An international collaborative research team including Keiya Hirashima, Special Postdoctoral Researcher, has achieved the world’s highest-resolution simulation of the Milky Way galaxy by utilizing the entire system of the AI and supercomputer “Fugaku” (approximately 150,000 nodes) and modeling 300 billion particles representing stars, interstellar gas, and other components—resolving the galaxy down to individual stars. This research is expected to contribute to a better understanding of the Milky Way’s spiral arm structure (the arm-like features of spiral galaxies that extend outward from the center while winding across the galactic disk), the circulation of chemical elements within the galaxy, and the origins of the materials that formed the Solar System and life. For more details, please refer to the related links.
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2025-09-26
Press Release
Who should be prioritized for continued COVID-19 vaccination?
A research group led by Professor Shingo Iwami of the Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University (Visiting Scientist at iTHEMS, RIKEN), in collaboration with Professor Masaharu Tsubokura of Fukushima Medical University, analyzed changes in blood IgG(S) antibody titers from the initial two doses of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine through the first booster dose. Their study revealed three characteristic patterns of antibody response: “durable responders,” “vulnerable responders,” and “rapid-decliners.” For further details, please see the related links.
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2025-08-07
Press Release
Discovery of Universal Laws of Quantum Entanglement Across Dimensions
Unraveling the structure of quantum entanglement is a central challenge in both theoretical physics and quantum information science. However, much of the research to date has been limited to 1+1 dimensions. Analyzing entanglement structures becomes significantly more difficult beyond 1+1 dimensions, and new methods for investigating higher-dimensional entanglement structures have been long sought. A collaborative research group including Yuya Kusuki (Visiting Scientist, iTHEMS) focused on a technique known as the "thermal effective theory," which has recently made significant advances in analyzing higher-dimensional theories in particle physics. By introducing this approach to quantum information, they successfully uncovered universal behaviors underlying the structure of quantum entanglement in quantum systems of arbitrary dimensions. For more details, please refer to the related links.
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2025-07-28
Press Release
A more complete expansion for black hole ringdown waveforms
Each musical instrument has its own unique sound spectrum. Similarly, a ringing black hole emits gravitational waves with its own characteristic frequencies (or “quasinormal modes.”) Black hole spectroscopy is the program of measuring how black holes “ring down” to infer their properties, just as we recognize a musical instrument by the sound it makes. However, black hole signals are more complex than free oscillations. For example, the long-range nature of gravity produces slowly decaying “tails” that quasinormal modes cannot capture — i.e., quasinormal modes are an incomplete basis. In addition, the quasinormal mode spectrum is unstable under small environmental modifications. If we think of the black hole as a musical instrument and enclose it in a room, its modes behave like echoes reflecting against the walls. This spectral instability challenges the robustness of black hole spectroscopy. A research team including Naritaka Oshita (Visiting Scientist, iTHEMS) has turned this challenge into an opportunity. They showed that a set of destabilized quasinormal modes is actually a more complete basis to expand gravitational waveforms, as it can capture the tail components missed by ordinary modes. This discovery paves the way for more accurate ringdown models and improvements in gravitational wave data analysis.
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2025-07-24
Press Release
How our body keeps time in the heat
Researchers led by Gen Kurosawa at the RIKEN Center for Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) in Japan have used theoretical physics to discover how our biological clock maintains a consistent 24-hour cycle—even as temperatures change. They found that this stability is achieved through a subtle shift in the “shape” of gene activity rhythms at higher temperatures, a process known as waveform distortion. This process not only helps keep time steady but also influences how well our internal clock synchronizes with the day-night cycle. The study was published in PLOS Computational Biology on July 22. For further details, please refer to the related links below.
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2025-07-10
Press Release
Capturing the Echoes of Black Holes with Mathematical Precision
A research group including Ryo Namba (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS) has successfully demonstrated a method that systematically and precisely captures the frequency structure of rapidly decaying quasinormal modes of black holes by incorporating the mathematical technique known as exact WKB analysis. This result enables more rigorous analysis of gravitational wave signals from black holes in various theoretical models and is expected to contribute to improving the precision of future gravitational wave observations and verifying the fundamental properties of black holes with greater accuracy. For further details, please refer to the related link below.
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2025-07-03
Press Release
Using viral load tests to help predict mpox severity when skin lesions first appear
A research group led by Shingo Iwami (Visiting Scientist, iTHEMS) has revealed through an international collaborative study that there is significant individual variation in the progression of skin lesions among patients infected with mpox (Clade Ia). The study also suggests that the blood viral load at the time of onset may serve as a useful indicator for predicting the progression of these symptoms. For more details, please refer to the related links.
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2025-07-03
Press Release
A New Intelligence Deciphering the Universe: Discovery of Anomalous Energy Emission Phenomena through Quantum × AI
A research group, including Shigehiro Nagataki (Chief Scientist, Astrophysical Big Bang Laboratory, RIKEN PRI / Deputy Director, iTHEMS) and Shunji Matsuura (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS), has successfully detected 113 anomalous energy (X-ray) emission events. This was achieved by constructing and applying a quantum machine learning model that integrates quantum computing with machine learning to a large-scale dataset of X-ray variability in space accumulated over approximately 24 years by the X-ray astronomical satellite XMM-Newton, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). For more information, please refer to the related links below.
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2025-07-03
Press ReleaseTheoretical Discovery of Angular Momentum Reversal in Magnetic Vortical Matter
A collaborative research group, including Kazuya Mameda (Visiting Scientist, iTHEMS) has theoretically discovered that in quantum systems where strong magnetic fields and rotation coexist, the polarization of angular momentum becomes dominated by orbital angular momentum—originating from the particles’ orbital motion—rather than spin. This leads to a reversed direction of polarization compared to conventional expectations. For more information, please refer to the related links below.
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2025-07-03
Press Release
AI-Driven High-Resolution Galaxy Simulations: Accelerating Galaxy Evolution Modeling from 8 Months to 2
An international collaborative research group, including Keiya Hirashima (Special Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS), has developed a surrogate model using deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence (AI), to predict the complex physical processes of supernova explosions. This model has been integrated into a galaxy simulation code for the first time. This achievement marks the first instance of accelerating high-resolution "star-by-star" galaxy simulations by performing deep learning inference in real time during the simulation—something that was previously difficult to realize. The new method is expected to contribute to detailed analysis of supernova feedback in the formation and evolution of our own Milky Way galaxy. For more information, please refer to the related links below.
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2025-06-23
Press Release
Bulk-Edge Correspondence of Measurement-Induced Topological Phases
A research group including Ryusuke Hamazaki (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS) has proposed a method to investigate the effective energy level structures and bulk topological invariants in quantum systems under measurement. Utilizing this approach, the team conducted a theoretical analysis of topological phase transitions induced by quantum measurements. Their findings revealed that zero-energy edge states originating from so-called "Majorana particles" can emerge in topological phases under continuous measurement. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that the bulk-edge correspondence, a universal principle typically known to hold in isolated quantum systems, also manifests in measurement-driven quantum systems. This work establishes a robust theoretical foundation for measurement-induced topological phase transitions. The method developed is broadly applicable to a wide class of topological phases, offering a versatile tool that may lead to a systematic and unified understanding of quantum phases induced by measurement. For more details, please refer to the related links.
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2025-06-23
Press Release
Success in Quantum Chemistry Calculations through Quantum–Supercomputer Collaboration
An international research team, including Senior Research Scientist Tomonori Shirakawa, has demonstrated the practical potential of quantum computing by performing calculations that combine IBM's quantum computer with RIKEN's supercomputer "Fugaku" to address quantum chemistry problems that have been difficult to analyze using conventional classical computers. In this study, by processing output data obtained from a real quantum computer with a supercomputer, the team successfully obtained scientifically meaningful results for a large-scale quantum chemical system exceeding 50 qubits for the first time. This achievement demonstrates that quantum computing is effective even for quantum chemistry problems that surpass the limitations of classical computation, marking a significant step forward toward the practical application of quantum computing. For more details, please refer to the related links.
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2025-06-12
Press Release
Developing a framework for inferring spatial biodiversity: quantifying the "beta-diversity" patterns
An international research team led by Ryosuke Iritani, Senior Research Scientist at RIKEN iTHEMS, has developed a theoretical framework to estimate the probability distribution of spatial biodiversity. This interdisciplinary work uses fuzzy set theory to formulate species presence-absence in a community, armed with analytical techniques and concepts from mathematics and theoretical physics. This work enables a quantitative assessment of differences and variations in species richness across regions, contributing to the prediction of how environmental changes in the biosphere influence biodiversity. For more details, please refer to the related link.
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2025-06-03
Press Release
Information entropy untangles vortices and flows in turbulent plasmas: A turbulence analysis inspired by quantum information theory
A research team including Motoki Nakata (Visiting Scientist, iTHEMS) has proposed a novel method that interprets structural transitions and nonlinear interactions in turbulent fields from the perspective of “information,” inspired from information entropy and its mathematical formalism used in quantum mechanics theory. This approach has enabled the discovery of new turbulent states in plasma—states that had been overlooked by conventional energy-based analysis methods—and the extraction of key interactions among vortices and flows in various scales. The team also proposes an application of this method to experimental measurements that observe turbulence and fluctuations. Looking ahead, this technique is expected to be applied beyond turbulent plasmas to a wide range of research domains involving “complex flows” and “mutually correlated fluctuations,” appearing in atmospheric, oceanic, and social systems. For more details, please refer to the press release available through the related links.
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2025-04-14
Press ReleaseDemonstration of Quantum Information Delocalization in a Periodically Driven System
A collaborative research team, including Visiting Scientists Yuta Kikuchi and Tomoya Hayata, has demonstrated that a scrambled state—in which quantum information becomes delocalized—can be prepared using a quantum circuit that simulates a periodically driven system. This was achieved with an ion-trap quantum computer. Scrambled states possess characteristics that are expected to be beneficial for quantum information recovery and many-body quantum system computations. This achievement represents an early-stage application of quantum computing in an academic research domain where physical phenomena and quantum information intersect, and is anticipated to contribute to the promotion of quantum computing utilization in Japan. In this study, the research team confirmed that a scrambled state—previously typically discussed using random quantum circuits—can also be prepared using periodically driven quantum circuits. This was validated through a combination of practical implementation on a high-fidelity quantum computer, appropriate error mitigation techniques, and theoretical analysis. For further details, please refer to the press release available via the related link.
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2025-02-10
Press Release
Who Is at Higher Risk of Progression from Acute Liver Injury to Acute Liver Failure?
A collaborative research group, including Professor Shingo Iwami (Visiting Scientist, iTHEMS / Professor, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University), has applied artificial intelligence (AI) technology to clinical research. Through joint research, they discovered that patients with acute liver injury can be classified into three groups based on their treatment response. Furthermore, they successfully developed the world's first AI model capable of predicting which group a patient belongs to using clinical data such as initial blood test results. For more details, please visit Kyushu University’s website via the related links.
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2025-01-29
Press Release
Make it worth Weyl: engineering the first semimetallic Weyl quantum crystal
An international research team, including Ching-Kai Chiu (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS) and led by the Strong Correlation Quantum Transport Laboratory of the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS) has achieved a world-first by realizing an ideal Weyl semimetal, marking a major breakthrough in quantum materials research. Weyl fermions emerge as quantum excitations of electrons in crystals and are predicted to exhibit exotic electromagnetic properties. However, previous Weyl materials were often overshadowed by unwanted electronic states, making it difficult to observe pure Weyl fermion behavior. The team successfully engineered an ideal Weyl semimetal by precisely controlling the composition of the topological semiconductor (Cr,Bi)2Te3, eliminating irrelevant electronic states. Published in Nature, this work opens new possibilities for terahertz (THz) light devices and next-generation electronics. For more details, please refer to the related link.
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2025-01-10
Press Release
Discovery of Measurement-Induced Spectral Phase Transition in Quantum Systems
A collaborative research team, including Ryusuke Hamazaki (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS / RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader, Nonequilibrium Quantum Statistical Mechanics RIKEN Hakubi Research Team, RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR)), has discovered a spectral phase transition in quantum systems under measurement. This research is expected to bridge the gap between two seemingly distinct phenomena: the recently emerging field of “measurement-induced phase transitions in nonequilibrium quantum systems" and the long-studied "phase transitions in equilibrium quantum systems." By discovering the analogy between these transitions, this work paves the way for a deeper understanding of quantum many-body systems. Using a method known as Lyapunov analysis, the team demonstrated the existence of spectral phase transitions in quantum systems under measurement. Furthermore, they found that the critical point of these spectral phase transitions coincides with the critical point of entanglement transitions. For more details, please refer to the related link.
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2025-01-02
Press Release
Ancient DNA unlocks new understanding of migrations in the first millennium AD
A new study published in Nature reveals waves of human migration across Europe during the first millennium AD using a more precise method of analysing ancestry with ancient DNA. Led by Leo Speidel, ECL Unit Leader at RIKEN iTHEMS, formally a Sir Henry Wellcome postdoctoral researcher at the Francis Crick Institute and UCL, alongside Pontus Skoglund at the Francis Crick Institute, this study reports a new data analysis method called Twigstats. Applied to over 1500 ancient genomes, the new approach reveals previously unknown details of migrations in Europe during the first millennium AD (year 1 to 1000), encompassing the Iron Age, the fall of the Roman Empire, the early medieval ‘Migration Period’ and the Viking Age. The new approach can be applied to populations across the world and may enable researcher to reveal more missing pieces of the puzzle in future. Please refer to the press release by the Francis Crick Institute for further details.
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2024-10-22
Press Release
Discovery of a Sustained Magnetic Flow in Ultracold Atomic Gases
An international research group, including Yuta Sekino (Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS / Postdoctoral Researcher, Nonequilibrium Quantum Statistical Mechanics RIKEN Hakubi Research Team) has discovered a mechanism that generates a long-lasting magnetic flow using ultracold atomic gases. This research result is expected to contribute to the realization of quantum simulators, which are essential for the development of highly efficient next-generation magnetic memory. For further details, please refer to the related link.
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2024-10-17
Press Release
Creation of the Quantum Universe and Precise Calculation of the Wave Function of the Universe
In modern cosmology, the idea that the universe was created from nothing through quantum effects has been a topic of active research. However, a long-standing debate has persisted regarding which of two prominent hypotheses—the no-boundary proposal or the tunneling proposal—is correct. A research team, including Hiroki Matsui (Postdoctoral fellow, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics), Kazumasa Okabayashi (Postdoctoral fellow, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics), Masazumi Honda (Senior Research Scientist, RIKEN), and Takahiro Terada (Research Assistant Professor, Nagoya University), has made significant progress in this debate by calculating the wave function of the universe from first principles, without the need for arbitrary assumptions about either proposal. Previous analyses left mathematical ambiguities unresolved, but this team eliminated those ambiguities using a method called resurgence theory. Their calculations rigorously demonstrated, under certain assumptions, that the wave function of the universe aligns with predictions from the tunneling proposal, not the no-boundary proposal. This result is a giant step forward in resolving the longstanding debate between these two hypotheses. For more details, please refer to the Kyoto University press release via the related links.
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2024-09-20
Press Release
Energy Transmission Requires Information: Approaching the Physics of Boundary Interfaces
A research group, including Yuya Kusuki (Associate Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, Kyushu University / Visiting Scientist, iTHEMS), has demonstrated a clear inequality in 2-dimensional conformal quantum field theory. The inequality links the energy transmission rate, the information transmission rate, and an indicator of the size of the Hilbert space in quantum field theory (specifically, the growth rate of the number of states at high energy) as follows: (energy transmission rate) ≤ (information transmission rate) ≤ (indicator of the size of the Hilbert space). For more details, please refer to Kyushu University's website via the related links below.
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2024-09-13
Press Release
How should the isolation of Mpox patients be ended? - Development of a simulator to verify the timing of isolation termination
A research group led by Professor Shingo Iwami (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University / Visiting Scientist, iTHEMS), in collaboration with Dr. Fuminari Miura (Ehime University / Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)), has developed a new simulator (simulation software) to verify the timing for ending the isolation of Mpox (Clade II) patients. For further details, please visit the Nagoya University Research Information website via the relevant links.
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2024-07-24
Press Release
Decoding Protein Condensation - Predicting Condensation of Proteins from Amino Acid Sequences -
The research team of Kyosuke Adachi (Research Scientist, iTHEMS / Research Scientist, Nonequilibrium Physics of Living Matter RIKEN Hakubi Research Team, RIKEN BDR) and Kyogo Kawaguchi (Team Leader, Nonequilibrium Physics of Living Matter RIKEN Hakubi Research Team, RIKEN BDR / Associate Professor, Institute for Physics of Intelligence, The University of Tokyo) has proposed a theory that predicts the condensation of protein molecules and demixing of condensates based on amino acid sequences. This research is expected to contribute to elucidating the mechanisms for the formation of membraneless organelles in cells and, in the future, to develop into a theory that predicts the effect of mutations in proteins sequences on cellular functions. For more details, please refer to the related link.
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2024-07-11
Press Release
Data and Mathematics toward Understanding the Mysteries of Hibernation
Body temperature of small mammals during hibernation drops close to the ambient temperature (< 10℃). However, it doesn't stay low throughout hibernation but fluctuates multiple times between this low temperature and their normal body temperature. These significant temperature changes are a crucial part of hibernation, but their physiological significance and control mechanisms are not well understood. Using high-precision experimental data and mathematical model, an international collaborative research group (including Shingo Gibo and Gen Kurosawa, iTHEMS) has challenged to understand what occurs during these temperature changes. They found a model that simultaneously reproduces data of multiple hibernators.This collaboration includes Yoshifumi Yamaguchi (Hokkaido University), Isao Tokuda (Ritsumeikan University), Elena Gracheva (Yale University), Sviatoslav Bagriantsev (Yale University). Paper was published in npj Biological Timing and Sleep, a new journal from Nature Portfolio. For more details, please refer to the related link.
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2024-06-05
Press ReleaseRICOH and RIKEN Develop a Proprietary Algorithm to Detect Indicators of Technology Commercialization
RICOH Company, Ltd. (President and CEO: Akira Oyama) and the RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences Program (iTHEMS; led by Senior Visiting Scientist Hideaki Aoyama and Visiting Scientist Wataru Souma) have developed a new algorithm that applies their previously developed technology to perform multi-analysis of keywords commonly appearing in both patents and academic papers.
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2024-05-20
Press Release
Discovery of a Method to Systematically Create New Types of Anyons: Potential New Applications for Quantum Computers
In physics, understanding phases of matter, such as liquids, solids, and gases, is a crucial task, as substances can exist in different states (phases) depending on the conditions. In modern classification of phases, anyons —quasiparticles with fractional charge— are of significant importance and are also being studied for their potential applications in quantum computing. A collaborative research group, including Masazumi Honda (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS) and Taiichi Nakanishi (Junior Research Associate, iTHEMS), has discovered a theoretical framework to systematically construct a new type of anyons with restricted motion. For more details, please refer to the press release article from Kyoto University available through the related link.
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2023-12-20
Press ReleaseBlack Hole Recorder Selected for DIG SHIBUYA Art Event Co-Sponsored by Shibuya Ward
The science art piece "Black Hole Recorder," created in 2021 by iTHEMS in collaboration with external creators based on the quantum black hole theory, has been selected for the collaborative project (open call) of the "DIG SHIBUYA" art event, co-hosted by the SHIBUYA CREATIVE TECH Executive Committee and Shibuya Ward. As part of the program within "DIG SHIBUYA," the artwork is scheduled for exhibition at the Shibuya Ward Workers' Welfare Hall from January 12th (Friday) to January 14th (Sunday), 2024, spanning three days. For more information, please see the related links.
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2023-10-26
Press Release
"Genuine Tetraquark" Consisting of Four Quarks - Supercomputer Fugaku unravels a new particle discovered in accelerator experiment -
The international research group including Yan Lyu (former Student Trainee from Peking Univ., iTHEMS), Takumi Doi (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS) and Tetsuo Hatsuda (Program Director, iTHEMS) has theoretically unraveled the properties of the genuine tetraquark state Tcc, composed of four quarks. This research achievement is expected to contribute to the understanding of a fundamental question in modern physics: how quarks, the elementary particles, can combine to form new states of matter. For more details, please refer to the press release article in the related link.
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2023-10-06
Press Release
Success in Calculating Cluster Occurrence Probability for New Coronavirus Infections
A research group led by Shingo Iwami (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University / Visiting Scientist, RIKEN iTHEMS) in collaboration with the University of Oxford (UK), has achieved the world's first successful calculation of the probability of cluster occurrence due to new coronavirus infections. For more details, please visit Nagoya University's website (in Japanese) or EurekAlert! (in English) through the related links.
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2023-08-23
Press Release
Deciphering the Buckwheat Genome - High-Precision Genome Sequence Illuminates the Past and Future of Buckwheat -
As the world population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, the dependence on the three major cereals - rice, wheat, and corn - is becoming a concern. In response, interest in "orphan crops" is increasing, which have high value as food but whose research has lagged, leaving their potential untapped. Determining the genomes of orphan crops using next-generation sequencing technology is expected to promote their efficient breeding and contribute to the achievement of SDGs such as eradicating hunger and improving nutrition. An international collaborative research group (including Jeffrey Fawcett, iTHEMS) deciphered the genome sequence of buckwheat, an orphan crop cultivated in Eurasia that is used for making soba noodles in Japan, at the chromosomal level with high precision, revealing the evolution of the buckwheat genome and the origin of cultivated buckwheat. Moreover, they modified the predicted genes using methods that do not rely on genome editing technology. As a result, they successfully developed a glutinous buckwheat and a new self-pollinating buckwheat that did not previously exist. The breeding methods used in this study are expected to contribute to the improvement of a wide variety of orphan crops in which genome editing technology cannot be used. For more information, please see the Kyoto University press release article at the related links.
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2023-06-22
Press Release
Control Simulation Experiments of Extreme Events - New Theories for Extreme Weather Control
A collaborative research team led by Takemasa Miyoshi (Team Leader, Data Assimilation Research Team, RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS) / Deputy Program Director, iTHEMS) has revealed the controllability to prevent the occurrence of extreme phenomena such as heavy rainfall and high temperatures through low-dimensional ideal experiments. This research achievement is expected to contribute to the development of theoretical research aimed at controlling intensifying typhoons and torrential rains, thereby mitigating the threat of extreme weather disasters. For more details, please visit the related link.
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2023-06-20
Press Release
Evidence for the utility of quantum computing before fault tolerance
Quantum computing promises to offer substantial speed-ups over its classical counterpart for certain problems. However, the implementation of fault-tolerant quantum circuits is out of reach for current processors. The recent paper by Yantao Wu (RIKEN iTHEMS) together with the IBM and UC Berkeley teams demonstrates the measurement of accurate expectation values on a noisy IBM-Q 127-qubit processor for circuit volumes at a scale beyond brute-force classical computation. In the regime of strong entanglement for the temporal dynamics of the transverse-field Ising model, the quantum computer provides correct results for which leading classical approximations such as the tensor network methods break down. This represents evidence for the utility of quantum computing in a pre-fault-tolerant era. At the same time, their results will motivate and help advance classical approximation methods as both approaches serve as valuable benchmarks of one another.
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2023-06-14
Press Release
Ricoh and RIKEN Develop Unique Algorithm to Visualize Changing Points of Technological Trends from Literature Data
Ricoh Co., Ltd. (President and CEO: Akira Oyama) and RIKEN iTHEMS (Aoyama Hideaki, Senior Visiting Scientist / Wataru Soma, Visiting Scientist) have jointly developed an algorithm to quantitatively measure and understand the points of change in new trends from existing technical literature data. For more details, please visit Ricoh group's website through the related link below.
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2023-03-31
Press Release
Predicting crypto asset price bursts using the correlation tensor of trading networks - towards secure crypto assets and the digital economy -
Cryptoassets are becoming an integral part of the digital economy. RIKEN and Kyoto University are collaborating on theoretical research to detect anomalous events such as money laundering and fraud, and to predict price bursts, by making full use of the mathematical science of networks. A research group led by Yuichi Ikeda (Professor at Kyoto Univ.), Abhijit Chakraborty (Assistant Professor at Kyoto Univ. and Visiting Research Scientist at RIKEN iTHEMS) and Tetsuo Hatsuda (RIKEN iTHEMS), has developed a novel method to analyse the spectrum of the correlation tensor corresponding to a trading network for cryptographic assets, and has developed a new method for predicting price bursts. They found that the maximum singular value of the tensor shows a significant negative correlation with the price of cryptoasset prices. Using this finding, the group gained the prospect of providing an early indicator of price bursts. For details, please refer to Kyoto University's press release article at the related links below.
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2022-12-02
Press Release
Universal Force Appearing in Quantum Fluids at Cryogenic Temperatures - Intermolecular Force in Atomic Superfluids Guided by Quantum Fluctuation
The concept of "forces acting between materials," as exemplified by the universal law of gravitation, has continued to occupy an important position in physics. An international research group including Masaru Hongo (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science, Niigata University / Visiting Scientist, RIKEN iTHEMS) and Keisuke Fujii (Postdoctoral Researcher, University Heidelberg, Germany) have revealed from theoretical calculations that the same intermolecular force known as van der Waals force acts between particles floating in a quantum fluid at cryogenic temperatures over long distances. Atomic groups cooled to near absolute zero (several tens of nano-Kelvin) by laser technology have attracted attention in recent years as a system in which quantum states can be controlled with high precision, and they are an ideal stage for investigating forces in the microscopic world. This research has newly revealed that a universal long-range force due to quantum fluctuation acts on impurity particles in atomic superfluids realized at cryogenic temperatures. For more details, please visit Niigata University's website from the related link below.
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2022-10-27
Press Release
Probing Quark Matter with Gravitational Waves - Reading Traces of Ultra-Dense Matter from Gravitational Waves after Neutron Star Mergers
An international research group including Yongjia Huang (Student Trainee, iTHEMS) and Shigehiro Nagataki (Deputy Program Director, iTHEMS) has performed numerical simulations based on general relativity for the merger of binary neutron stars and shown that the waveform of gravitational waves emitted after the merger provides detailed readings of the properties of ultra dense matter with a density of over 1 trillion kg per cm3. This research result is expected to contribute to the clarification of the internal structure of neutron stars and the properties of ultra-dense matter in gravitational wave astronomy. For details, please see the related link.
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2022-08-29
Press Release
Is it possible to shorten isolation of people infected with new coronavirus? -Development of a simulator to verify the timing of quarantine termination
Professor Shingo Iwami (Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University / Visiting Scientist, iTHEMS), in collaboration with Assistant Professor Keisuke Ejima (Indiana University, USA), has developed a new simulator (computer simulation) to verify when to end isolation of persons infected with a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) through antigen testing. This will allow us to propose a flexible and safe isolation strategy that can terminate isolation of COVID-19-infected patients as early as possible with negative results of a predetermined number of antigen tests. Isolation of infected patients is an important means of preventing the spread of infection. While prolonged isolation reduces the risk of secondary infection, it also places various burdens on the person being isolated and the society that supports them. Using the simulator they have developed, the research group has successfully calculated "the risk of (prematurely) terminating isolation of infectious patients" and "the duration of unnecessary isolation of patients who are no longer infectious (the burden associated with isolation)." As a result, we are now able to propose an appropriate isolation strategy that takes into account individual differences and uses antigen testing to simultaneously reduce risk and burden. As we enter the era of with-colonization, in which social activities are resumed and maintained while infection prevention measures are thoroughly implemented, the successful use of antigen testing will allow for the safe implementation of educational and social activities. In contrast to the current situation where different isolation standards based on clinical and epidemiological data and empirical rules are adopted in different countries, this study is expected to contribute to the establishment of flexible isolation guidelines based on mathematical models, which are required not only in Japan but also worldwide. For more details, please visit the Nagoya University research results dissemination site from the related link.
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2022-06-06
Press Release
Common Laws of Evolution and Ecological Dynamics
The research team of Kyosuke Adachi (Special Postdoctoral Researcher, iTHEMS / Special Postdoctoral Researcher, Nonequilibrium Physics of Living Matter RIKEN Hakubi Research Team, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR)), Ryosuke Iritani (Research Scientist, iTHEMS) and Ryusuke Hamazaki (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS / RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader, Nonequilibrium Quantum Statistical Mechanics RIKEN Hakubi Research Team, RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR)) have proposed a broadly valid formula for theoretical models of evolutionary and ecological population dynamics using methods from information theory and statistical physics. The results of this research are expected to lead to a unified framework for understanding complex population dynamics in evolutionary and ecological systems over time. For more information, please see the related link.
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2022-05-09
Press Release
Discovering Speed Limits for Macroscopic Transitions - A Unified Approach Based on the Equation of Continuity
Ryusuke Hamazaki (RIKEN Hakubi Team Leader, Nonequilibrium Quantum Statistical Mechanics RIKEN Hakubi Research Team / Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS) has discovered a new inequality for the “speed limit," or transition rate, which is useful for physical processes that involve "macroscopic transitions". The research results are expected to have implications for nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, including the time scale of thermalization of quantum many-body systems. They are also expected to contribute to the fundamental understanding of quantum technology, e.g., the control of macroscopic quantum systems, which has become important in recent years. Please see related link for more details.
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2022-05-09
Press Release
Clear Visualization of Lamb Waves from Tonga's Undersea Volcano Eruption -The Full Picture of the Waves Captured by the Himawari-8
Takemasa Miyoshi (Deputy Program Director, iTHEMS / Team Leader, Data Assimilation Research Team, RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS)) and Shigenori Otsuka (Research Scientist, iTHEMS / Research Scientist, Data Assimilation Research Team, RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS)) have developed an original method to clearly visualize "Lamb waves," a type of sound wave associated with Tonga's undersea volcanic eruption in January 2022, using images from the Himawari 8 meteorological satellite. Furthermore, we developed a method to automatically extract the Lamb waves from this image and clarified the relationship between the distribution of arrival times and ground pressure observations. The results of this research are expected to contribute to the scientific understanding and monitoring of atmospheric waves and associated tidal fluctuations caused by volcanic eruptions, and to the development of advanced simulations and future forecasting methods by integrating observation data with large-scale atmospheric and oceanographic calculations. Please see related links for more details.
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