Volume 171

iTHEMS Weekly News Letter

Event Schedule

Events for the 5th week of October 2021

2021-10-21

Tuesday, October 26, 10:00- Conference: Can social issues be solved by mathematical science? -attempts and challenges
Thursday, October 28, 15:00- iTHEMS Colloquium
Friday, October 29, 12:30- Coffee Meeting

Press Release

Jeffrey Fawcett thumbnail

Increased number of drought-responsive genes in a tropical rainforest tree, Shorea leprosula (Dipterocarpaceae)

2021-10-20

A collaborative research group including Dr. Jeffrey Fawcett (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS) has sequenced the genome of a tropical tree species, Shorea leprosula (Dipterocarpaceae), which is important for the global environment and as an imported timber. Although the trees grow in tropical East Asia, which is blessed with abundant rainfall, they unexpectedly showed an increase in drought-responsive genes, revealing the importance of rare droughts in the tropics. Global environmental change is exacerbating large-scale drought associated with El Niño Southern Oscillations (ENSO) in the tropics, and it is expected that the results of this study will be applied toward sustainable forestry and tropical rainforest conservation.

For more information, please visit the Yokohama City University website.

Reference

  1. Kevin Kit Siong Ng, Masaki J. Kobayashi, Jeffrey A. Fawcett, et. al., The genome of Shorea leprosula (Dipterocarpaceae) highlights the ecological relevance of drought in aseasonal tropical rainforests, Communications Biology 4, 1166 (2021), doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02682-1

Seminar Report

Quantum Matter SG seminar by Mr. Seishiro Ono on October 12, 2021

2021-10-19

Quantum Matter Study Group invited Seishiro Ono from the University of Tokyo to give a talk about symmetry indicators for topological (nodal) superconductors. First, he gave a review of symmetry indicators for topological insulators. In condensed matter physics, using topological invariants to search for topological materials is difficult; alternatively, symmetry indicators serve a simpler calculation to identify topological states of matter since this method considers the properties located at symmetry invariant momenta. After the introduction, the speaker extended the indicator approach to topological (nodal) superconductors. Although the different types of superconducting pairings lead to complications in the symmetry-based classification, the speaker showed that their work classifies all the (magnetic) space groups with possible superconducting pairings. Furthermore, he demonstrated their own database server listing all the classification of the topological superconductors by using the approach of symmetry indicators. The work serves as an important guide for hunting topological superconductors.

Reported by Ching-Kai Chiu

Seminar Report

ABBL/iTHEMS Astro Seminar by Dr. Nobuya Nishimura on October 15, 2021

2021-10-18

At the seminar, there were lots of questions and answers for r-process nucleosynthesis and kilonova events. The speaker presented lots of his excellent works on them, and the audience enjoyed his presentation with curiosity.

Reported by Shigehiro Nagataki

Upcoming Events

Conference

Can social issues be solved by mathematical science? -attempts and challenges thumbnail

Supported by iTHEMS

Can social issues be solved by mathematical science? -attempts and challenges

October 26 (Tue) at 10:00 - 17:00, 2021

Tetsuo Hatsuda (Program Director, iTHEMS)
Masato Wakayama (Fundamental Mathematics Research Principal, NTT Institute for Fundamental Mathematics)
Takashi Sakajo (Professor, Department of Mathematics, Kyoto University)
Shingo Iwami (Professor, Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University)
Hirotaka Irie (Assistant Manager, DENSO Corporation)

In recent years, the importance of mathematical sciences has been increasingly recognized in various fields, as exemplified by the rapid progress of AI technology and the development of DX (Digital Transformation) in companies.
In academia, research centers have been established in fields such as space, materials, life, and medicine, where experts in the mathematical sciences play an important role in research activities in their respective fields.
At the same time, the universality of mathematics and the quantitative and predictive nature of data analysis are also being considered useful in industry, and some companies are actively using mathematical science in their own business. Some companies are actively utilizing mathematical science in their business.

In this symposium, researchers who are conducting research with the mission of returning research using mathematical science to society and implementing it will gather to discuss, based on the results of their cutting-edge research, "Can social issues be solved with mathematical science? -Attempts and Challenges" and discuss the role of mathematical science in society.

Venue: Hybrid Format (Noyori Conference Hall, Nagoya University and Zoom)

Event Official Language: Japanese

Colloquium

iTHEMS Colloquium

High-Energy Neutrino Astrophysics in the Multimessenger Era

October 28 (Thu) at 15:00 - 16:30, 2021

Kohta Murase (Associate Professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA)

The discovery of high-energy cosmic neutrinos opened a new window of astroparticle physics. Their origin is a new mystery in the field, which is tightly connected to the long-standing puzzle about the origin of cosmic rays. I will give an overview of the latest results on high-energy neutrino and cosmic-ray observations, and demonstrate the power of "multimessenger" approaches. In particular, I will show that the observed fluxes of neutrinos, gamma rays, and extragalactic cosmic rays can be understood in a unified manner. I will also highlight the recent developments about astrophysical neutrino emission from supermassive black holes and violent transient phenomena. Possibilities of utilizing high-energy neutrinos as a probe of heavy dark matter may be discussed.

Venue: via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Seminar

iTHEMS Biology Seminar

Toward mathematical medicine: development of a new drug and digital medicine for sleep disorders

November 11 (Thu) at 12:30 - 13:30, 2021

Jae Kyoung Kim (Associate Professor, Department of Mathematical Sciences, KAIST, Republic of Korea)

In this talk, I will illustrate collaborative stories between our math group and medical researchers to treat disrupted circadian rhythms and sleep. First, I will illustrate the key molecular mechanism for robust circadian rhythms against spatio-temporal noise, which we identified by analyzing spatio-temporal timeseries data of clock molecules. This explains why Alzheimer's diseases, obesity, and aging cause unstable circadian rhythms and sleep-wake cycle: cytoplasmic traffic jam, which provides a new paradigm to treat sleep disorders. Next, I will talk about our collaboration story with Pfizer Inc: how we used mathematical modeling to help the development of a new drug modulating the circadian phase. Finally, I will introduce our collaboration with Samsung medical center: how we used mathematical modeling to analyze complex sleep patterns of shift workers measured with wearables to find optimal sleep patterns minimizing sleep disorders. This opens the chance for the development of an app providing a personalized sleep schedule for shift workers.

Venue: via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Paper of the Week

Week 4, October 2021

2021-10-21

Title: Quiescent luminosities of transiently accreting neutron stars with neutrino heating due to charged pion decay
Author: He-Lei Liu, Zi-Gao Dai, Guo-Liang Lv, Akira Dohi, Gao-Chan Yong, Masa-aki Hashimoto
arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/2110.09729v1

Title: Prospects of fast flavor neutrino conversion in rotating core-collapse supernovae
Author: Akira Harada, Hiroki Nagakura
arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/2110.08291v1

Title: Involutions, knots, and Floer K-theory
Author: Hokuto Konno, Jin Miyazawa, Masaki Taniguchi
arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/2110.09258v1

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