RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and
Mathematical Sciences Program
理化学研究所 数理創造プログラム

Farewell message from Jizhou Li

Our colleague, Jizhou Li, will be joining Professor Akira Shudo's group in the Department of Physics at Tokyo Metropolitan University as a postdoctoral researcher, starting April 1, 2025. We will all miss him and wish him the best of luck in this new endeavor. Here is a message from Jizhou: <i>As I move on to my next position at Tokyo Metropolitan University, I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you. I’ve really enjoyed the discussions, collaborations, and all the insightful talks at iTHEMS. The biology seminars and coffee meetings, in particular, have been a fantastic learning experience for me.</i> <i>Luckily, since I live just 1 km from RIKEN, I’m not going too far! I still plan to drop by for the biology seminar every Thursday, so I’m looking forward to more chats and discussions with you all.</i> <i>Thanks again, and see you around!</i>

2025-03-12

Review on Physics-Driven Learning for Inverse Problems Published in Nature Reviews Physics

Nature Reviews Physics recently published a review paper on ”Physics-driven learning for inverse problems in quantum chromodynamics”, from DEEP-IN working group led by Lingxiao Wang (Research Scientist, iTHEMS), including Tetsuo Hatsuda (Program Director, iTHEMS). The authors explore how combining deep learning techniques with physics-driven designs significantly improves the extraction of accurate physical properties from complex QCD phenomena. Highlighting applications such as lattice QCD calculations and studies of hadron interactions, neutron stars, and heavy-ion collisions, the review emphasizes the benefits of embedding physical priors into machine learning models and suggests broader potentials to general physics problems.

2025-03-06

理化学研究所-奈良女子大学理学部合同 ダイバーシティ推進ワークショップ2025が開催されました

奈良女子大学の数学、物理学、化学、生物科学、環境科学など異なるコースの学生たち（学部1回生/2回生/3回生、大学院博士前期課程1回生の合計19名）が3月3日と3月4日の2日間に理研を訪問し、RIBF施設、iTHEMS、知覚運動統合機構研究チーム(CBS)、光量子制御技術開発チーム(RAP)、 分子生命制御研究チーム(CSRS)を見学しました。それぞれの研究室で、実験機器の近くで最先端の研究の一端に触れるとともに、夕方からの理研研究者との交流会では、iTHEMS研究員のポスターでより深く研究内容について聞いて質問したり、研究者の日常生活やキャリアについて知り、学生たちは研究現場から刺激を受けていました。 このダイバーシティ推進活動は、奈良女子大学理学部と理研iTHEMSが共同で推進する事業として、奈良女子大学での連続講義とセットで行われているもので、次年度以降も継続する予定です。

2025-03-06

Farewell message from Jeffrey Fawcett

Our colleague, Jeffrey Fawcett will move on to a new career as a Chief Scientist at Regional Fish Institute, Ltd. as of March 1st, 2025. We all will miss him and wish him the best of luck in his latest endeavor. Here is a message from Jeffrey Fawcett: <i>I will be moving to Kyoto to work at a company called Regional Fish from March. I will also most likely have a joint position at Kyoto University at a lab funded by the company. The company was started a few years ago mostly be people from Kyoto University, Graduate School of Agriculture, where I did my study, and specializes in breeding and developing fish and aquatic species using genome editing and various other techniques. My task will mainly be to perform genomic data analysis for the company, although I will also have some freedom to pursue my own research. I am looking forward to the new challenge to utilize my expertise and work for a company whose I mission I can identify with.</i> <i>I have been in iTHEMS for exactly 7 years, which say how much I enjoyed and appreciated the setup of iTHEMS. I remember some people telling me its their first time meeting a biologist, whereas I never imagined I would ever have the opportunity to enjoy talks on pure mathematics and theoretical physics. I would like to thank all the people involved in iTHEMS and hopefully I will be able to visit iTHEMS from time to time and keep up the connection.</i>

2025-02-25

急性肝障害はどのような人が急性肝不全に進展しやすいのか？

九州大学病院 肝臓・膵臓・胆道内科/九州大学 大学院医学研究院の小川 佳宏 主幹教授、田中 正剛 助教、黒川 美穂 博士後期課程学生らの研究グループは、名古屋大学 大学院理学研究科の岩見 真吾 教授（兼 九州大学マス・フォア・インダストリ研究所 客員教授、理化学研究所 数理創造プログラム 客員研究員、京都大学高等研究院ヒト生物学高等研究拠点 連携研究者）、吉村 雷輝 博士後期課程学生らとの人工知能（AI）技術を臨床研究に応用した共同研究により、急性肝障害患者は治療効果（治療反応性）により3つの集団に分類できることを新たに発見しました。さらに、初診時の血液検査などの臨床情報を用いることにより、患者がどの集団に属するのかを予測するAIモデルの開発に世界で初めて成功しました。 詳細は関連リンクより九州大学のホームページをご覧ください。

2025-02-10

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.

2025-01-29

Farewell message from Liang Zhang

Our colleague, Liang Zhang, has returned to the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences to complete his PhD thesis. We will all miss him and wish him the very best of luck in successfully defending his thesis ! Here is a message from Liang Zhang: <i>I joined iTHEMS in January 2023 as a joint student and completed my two-year journey here in January 2025. I initially joined iTHEMS to study lattice QCD and the HAL QCD method, and I am deeply grateful to Hatsuda-san and Doi-san for guiding me into this fascinating field. However, I soon realized that my experience at iTHEMS extended far beyond my original purpose. For example I had a discussion with Namba san on chiral symmetry breaking which is studied in both particle physics and cosmology. It left an immediate impression that physics is so universal other than reading such sentences in textbooks. And the interdisciplinary energy at iTHEMS constantly amazed me. When I first came here I always struggled to pinpoint people’s major. In some seminars, theoretical physicists gave a biology talk (like Christy)! I vaguely feel like there is a group theory for nature which can be expressed to different representations, biological, mathematical, physical, etc. Is this what the “i” in iTHEMS means?</i> <i>At last I would like to thank everyone in iTHEMS again for my two-year experience here. This experience gives me a great impulse to expand the possibilities of my future research life. iTHEMS’s uniqueness lies in its boundless possibilities. And I dearly hope our paths will cross again!</i>

2025-01-24

Farewell message from Lucy McNeill

Our colleague Lucy McNeill has moved on to a new career as a Hakubi Assistant Professor at The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research, Kyoto University as of January 16, 2025. We all will miss her and wish her the best of luck in her latest endeavor. Here is a message from Lucy McNeill: <i>During my 1 year at iTHEMS as a postdoctoral researcher, I was presented with opportunities to further both my own research and professional development at every turn. I am especially grateful for iTHEMS directors and colleagues' support in starting the "asymptotics in astrophysics" iTHEMS study group, ample chances to travel abroad to share my work, and the frequent international workshops organised at iTHEMS. In particular, workshops co-hosted with RIKEN-Berkeley left this lasting impression on me; that new stellar astrophysics and supernova physics paradigms are creatively and efficiently conceived when physicists, mathematicians and data scientists join forces to solve longstanding astrophysical puzzles. iTHEMS is such a special place where those necessary first interactions are regularly facilitated, and I am sad to leave. But... "I'll be back"!</i>

2025-01-17

Farewell message from Yantao Wu

Our colleague Yantao Wu will move on to a new career as a faculty member at Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences as of January 10, 2025. We all will miss him and wish him the best of luck in his latest endeavor. Here is a message from Yantao Wu: <i>I joined iTHEMS in June 2021 as a RIKEN-Berkeley fellow, and have stayed here for three years and a half now. iTHEMS is a precious rare place in the academic world, where there seems to be no responsibility, no one telling you what to do, and infinite space for travel; where there seems to be a curious mind on every subject and every question ought to be asked. The interdisciplinary nature of the group has forever left an imprint on me, and I will always remember the vivid biological facts and mathematical tricks that I have learned here. Entering as a condensed matter physicist and leaving as a condensed matter physicist, my heart will always have a spot for the particle theory which I have learned from here. It has been an unexpected, yet very pleasant mix. Sadly, it appears that every gathering ends somewhere, and I need to leave this warm and protective bubble to a new place, to really enter the grown world of independent research and start my own group. iTHEMS will always remain as a source of lasting encouragement. I will move to the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing to start a faculty position. If you ever want to visit, please let me know you are from iTHEMS and I will make you a cup of tea (amidst taking you to the great wall and covering your travel costs.) </i>

2025-01-10

量子観測に誘起されたスペクトル相転移の発見

理化学研究所（理研）開拓研究本部 濱崎非平衡量子統計力学理研白眉研究チームの濱崎 立資 理研白眉研究チームリーダー（理研 数理創造プログラム 上級研究員）、東京大学 大学院工学系研究科 物理工学専攻の望月 健 助教（理研 開拓研究本部 濱崎非平衡量子統計力学理研白眉研究チーム 客員研究員）の共同研究チームは、観測下の量子系におけるスペクトル相転移を発見しました。 本研究成果は、近年急速に研究が進んでいる「非平衡な量子系における観測誘起相転移」と、古くから精力的に研究されている「平衡状態にある量子系における相転移」を、同一の枠組みで統一的に理解することにつながると期待されます。 共同研究チームは、Lyapunov解析という手法を用いることで、観測下の量子系においてもスペクトル相転移が存在することを示しました。また、その臨界点が量子もつれ転移の臨界点と一致することを見いだしました。 詳細は関連リンクをご覧下さい。

2025-01-10

数学者 坪井俊さんインタビュー【PARTⅡ】

物理学者 野村泰紀さんインタビュー【PARTⅣ】

物理学者 野村泰紀さんインタビュー【PARTⅢ】

数学者 坪井俊さんインタビュー【PARTⅠ】

数学者 森脇湧登さんインタビュー【後編】

数学者 森脇湧登さんインタビュー【前編】

数学者 井上瑛二さんインタビュー【後編】

物理学者 野村泰紀さんインタビュー【PARTⅡ】

数理と微生物研究の関係【水産学部から数理の道へ】

「一家に1枚」ポスター制作にも参加【よく理科室に貼ってあるやつ】

惑星形成論 研究者 辰馬未沙子さんインタビュー

数学者 井上瑛二さんインタビュー【前編】

物理学者 野村泰紀さんインタビュー【PARTⅠ】

物理学者 難波亮さんインタビュー【後編】

物理学者 難波亮さんインタビュー【前編】

数理生物学 研究者 入谷亮介さんインタビュー【前編】

理論物理学者 初田哲男さんインタビューvol.2 研究や数学について

理論物理学者 初田哲男さんインタビューvol.1 理研iTHEMSについて

気候変動って実際どうなの？【ヨビノリ×研究者】

Renormalization revisited

Renormalization: Awareness of Ignorance

Recipe for soup of quarks and gluons

A subjective view on what is a quantum effect

Mathematical aspects of the entropic uncertainty relation

Forming black holes from stars

Singularity Theorems

Resurgence: making sense out of non-convergent series

How can we use a quantum computer to study the ground state of the hydrogen molecule?

Applications and Extensions of the Nielsen-Ninomiya Theorem in Condensed Matter Physics

COVID-19: then, now, and into the future

Exploring Quantum Spacetime

Classical simulations of quantum computers

When a Cretan says all Cretans are liars

Physical and local observables in gravitational theory

Can you hear the shape of a drum?

Quantum many-body physics with cold atoms

complexity in non-unitary dynamics of photons

Physics Through the Looking Glass

A new B.O.A.T. in astrophysics

Evolution and our daily rhythms

Area law of entanglement entropy in quantum many body systems and its implication in tensor network calculation

Comparison between conventional computers and quantum computers

A glimpse of enumerative geometry

Message-passing algorithms for graphical models

Canonical form of tensor networks in one and two dimensions

The basics of topological band theory

Building something from nothing: a mathematical framework for aperiodic/amorphous sets

Planetary lightning: Current State-of-the-art and outstanding questions

Collective Power of Science ~ from the High-Energy Atmospheric Physics to our New Exploration of the Universe ~

Morse theory and Floer theory

Knot theory and topological semimetals

On Dark Matter

Odd couples of interdisciplinary research