ホットトピック
142 ニュース
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2022-02-22
ホットトピックWhat’s inside a black hole? U-M physicist uses quantum computing, machine learning to find out
Dr. Enrico Rinaldi (iTHEMS Visiting Scientist) has been featured in institutional website. "Dude, what if everything around us was just … a hologram? The thing is, it could be—and a University of Michigan physicist is using quantum computing and machine learning to better understand the idea, called holographic duality." See related links for details.
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2022-02-16
ホットトピックThe Mysterious Forces Inside the Nucleus Grow a Little Less Strange
In the recent article posted in "Quanta magazine”, iTHEMS Director Tetsuo Hatsuda, visiting researcher Tetsuo Hyodo and their collaborator Laura Fabbietti in Munich are interviewed about the ongoing studies on the mysteries of nuclear forces using the Japanese supercomputers and the European Large Hadron Collider (LHC). See related links for details.
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2022-02-09
ホットトピック「理研AIP-数理女子ジョイントセミナー」が1月29日開催されました
On 29th January, a joint seminar of RIKEN AIP and Suri-Joshi took place and Ryosuke Iritani served as one of the guest speakers (including the iTHEMS affiliates Drs. Motoko Kato and Ade Irma Suriajaya). Unfortunately, the overwhelming COVID-19 situation in Tokyo did not allow for an in-person seminar as had been originally planned, which was indeed a bit disappointing for me. Nevertheless, thanks to the huge effort of AIP staff as well as Suri-Joshi organizers, we had a very successful talk session as well as Q&A session. I found the high diversity among the speakers considerably enriched our discussion. In this pandemic era, I can easily imagine many students struggling how to find dreams or what they want to be, which would have been already difficult even under normal circumstances. We emphasized that learning what you are interested in is a precious experience, which is the best motivating factor to work as a scientist. I hope the audience enjoyed our discussion, but as usual, I bet it was me who enjoyed best as-if one of the audience. I cannot thank too much to Suri-Joshi organizers and AIP staff for inviting me, to the speakers whom I was not able to meet in person this time but look forward to meeting in the near future, to the mathematically enthusiastic, professional announcer Naoko Shinozaki for her moderation of the sessions, and of course to the promising students who are deeply interested in learning and studying, for attending the seminar and asking excellent questions! Reported by Ryosuke Iritani
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2022-02-08
ホットトピックSSH Seminar "When high-school mathematics is useful in biology" was held on February 4, 2022
On February 4th, 2022, Ryosuke Iritani gave an online lecture on mathematical biology, entitled “高校で学ぶ数学が生物研究で活きるとき”(“when high-school mathematics is useful in biology”) for a Super Science High-school program at Takatsuki Junior and Senior High School. I started off with how a scientific career develops and what it is like to work as a scientist. I then delved into a scientific world, and demonstrated high school mathematics is a powerful tool to research in biology, drawing examples from the Fibonacci series in genetics, Price equation using recursive equations, game theory with matrix algebra, and kin selection theory for ants' society. I closed the talk with an encouragement for the motivated, budding scientists, that learning and studying are both extremely fun. I thank Kanda-sensei for inviting me to such a fantastic opportunity, as well as Suri-Joshi for giving me the opportunity to write an article that made this lecture possible by drawing Kanda-sensei's attention! Reported by Ryosuke Iritani
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2022-01-17
ホットトピック「数理の窓から世界を読みとく」若手研究者たちの感性に注目
「数理の窓から世界を読みとく」についてのコラム記事がイマジニア社のテンミニッツTVに掲載されました。 iTHEMSの若手研究者たちが執筆陣を担った共著「数理の窓から世界を読みとく: 素数・AI.生物・宇宙をつなぐ」 (初田哲男・柴藤亮介編著、岩波書店)をもとに数理の魅力が紹介されています。 詳細は関連リンクをご覧下さい。
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2021-11-16
ホットトピックFarewell message from Dr. Jason Chang
Our colleague Jason Chang moves on to a new carrier at LinkedIn as of November 14th. We all will miss him and wish him the best of luck in his latest endeavor. Here is a message from Jason: It was truly a pleasure to be part of iTHEMS. I have matured so much during this time through all the opportunities that have been made available to me because of how much iTHEMS has supported me in the decisions that I made. I certainly will miss everyone as well. I will move on to a data science position at LinkedIn. If anyone from iTHEMS is curious or has interest in transitioning to some industry position especially around the Bay Area, feel free to reach out to me. I will be more than happy to help with the process and introduce the person to the right recruiters as well. I believe I can convince LinkedIn to let me continue research in quantum algorithms for around 1 day / week as well. So perhaps in the end, I am not going away as far as one might think. The world is quite small after all. My direct manager at LinkedIn was Aida’s postdoc when I was her graduate student. One never knows which doors life decides to open. Kind Regards, Jason
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2021-11-04
ホットトピックCan social issues be solved by mathematical science? -attempts and challenges
On Oct.26, the symposium "Can social issues be solved by mathematical science? -attempts and challenges" was held under the leadership of Takashi Sakajo (Kyoto Univ.) and Shingo Iwami (Nagoya Univ.) who are also iTHEMS colleagues. The symposium was held in a hybrid matter with more than 220 participants. After the presentations on various approaches to bridge the academia and industry, there were lively discussions on how to cross the valley between the mathematical science and social needs.
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2021-10-28
ホットトピック森重文特別顧問が文化勲章に選出されました
この度、京都大学高等研究院院長で理研iTHEMSの特別顧問でもある森重文さんが、「数学、とりわけ代数幾何学の分野において、代数多様体の極小モデル理論である「森理論」を創造し、数理科学の広範な分野に大きな影響を与える顕著な業績を上げ、斯学の発展に多大な貢献をした」功績を認められ、文化勲章を授与されることになりました。森重文さんのご専門は数学、特に代数幾何学です。当該分野の中心的テーマである「代数多様体の分類問題」における大きな業績により1990年の国際数学者会議でフィールズ賞を受賞された後も、関連領域の研究を精力的に牽引し続けてこられました。 代数多様体とは、大雑把には、代数方程式の解集合として表される幾何学的な対象(の一般化)です。例えば、x2 + y2 = 1という代数方程式の(実数範囲での)零点集合は原点を中心とする単位円ですが、これは代数多様体の一種です。代数多様体を考えることで、代数に関する問題を幾何学の問題に変換することができます。 代数多様体の性質を調べることは代数幾何学の重要な使命ですが、一つ一つの代数多様体について逐一調べていてはきりがありません。そこで、よく似ている代数多様体は同じ「生物種」と見なして、それを「生物図鑑」のように分類しようというのが「代数多様体の分類問題」です。ここで「よく似ている」とは、「双有理変換」と呼ばれる操作によって互いに移りあうことを意味します。双有理変換とは、代数多様体の低次元の部分のみを変形する操作です。双有理変換を行っても、代数多様体のほとんどの部分は変わらないので、この操作でうつりあうものは自然に同じ種類と思うことができます。 では、そのような「生物種」の中で、一体どの「個体」を図鑑の中に代表例として載せるべきでしょうか?こういう時「可能な限りシンプルな代表例」を持ってきたいというのが数学者の考えることです。そのような「可能な限りシンプルな代表例」のことを代数多様体の「極小モデル」と呼びます。 例えば、1次元の代数多様体(曲線)は一般には特異点を持ちますが、双有理変換により、特異点のない曲線に変換できます(そして、同じ「生物種」の中に特異点のない曲線はただ1つしかありません)。これが曲線の場合の極小モデルです。2次元の代数多様体(曲面)も、やはり双有理変換により特異点のない滑らかな曲面に変換できますが、実はこの場合には、同じ「生物種」の中に、特異点のない曲面が無数に存在します。そこで、曲面の中に存在する「(-1)-曲線」と呼ばれる余分な膨らみを次々に潰していくと、それ以上は小さくできない滑らかな曲面に到達します。こうして得られた最も無駄のない曲面、すなわち極小モデルを、「生物種」の代表例とするわけです。 では、3次元以上の、高次元の代数多様体についてはどうでしょうか?この場合にも、双有理変換により特異点のない滑らかな代数多様体に変換できます(これは同じくフィールズ賞受賞者である広中平祐氏の重要な業績です)。しかし、3次元以上の場合には、代数多様体の中の余分な膨らみを潰していく過程で、どうしても特異点が出現してしまうケースを排除できないため、問題がより難しくなります。しかし森さんは「端末特異点」と呼ばれる緩やかな特異点のみを許せば、3次元の代数多様体の極小モデルを構成できることを証明しました。特異点の悪さを最小限に抑えつつ、余分な膨らみを潰し切ることは大変難しいのですが、森さんはそれを可能にする理論を構築したのです。森さんが2次元と3次元の間の分厚い壁を突破したことにより、現在では4次元以上の分類理論も大きく進展しています。また最近では、整数論などへの応用も広がりつつあり、これからもますます目が離せません。 森重文さんの偉大な業績のごく一部をご紹介させていただきました。 森さんの受賞と高次元極小モデル理論の進展をお慶び申し上げるとともに、森理論の更なる進展と数理科学振興へのますますのご活躍をiTHEMS一同祈念しております。 宮﨑弘安 (iTHEMSを代表して)
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2021-10-25
ホットトピック小谷元子客員主管研究員が国際学術会議の次期会長に選出されました
10月14日に開催された国際学術会議(ISC:International Science Council)総会で、小谷元子客員主管研究員が、国際学術会議の次期会長(President-elect)に選出されました。任期は2024年から3年間です。 詳細は、関連リンクをご覧ください。
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2021-09-22
ホットトピック数学と物理 ―トポロジーと絶縁体と私の研究生活
小澤知己客員研究員が「数理女子」サイトでトポロジカル絶縁体や研究生活、日常生活などについて執筆しています。記事は関連リンクからご覧ください。
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2021-08-27
ホットトピックRIKEN-Vancouver Joint Workshop on Quantum Computing was held on August 24-25, 2021
RIKEN-Vancouver Joint Workshop on Quantum Computing was held online on August 24-25. The main aim of this workshop is that the quantum people in RIKEN (iTHEMS and RQC) and Vancouver (Quantum BC) get together online to discuss scientific activities and explore future collaborations. There were altogether 164 registrations (90 from Japan, 62 from Canada and 12 from other countries). 12 scientific talks were presented together with 3 introduction to iTHEMS, RQC and Quantum BC. From iTHEMS, Jason Chang, Etsuko Itou, and Takumi Doi gave talks respectively on the Schroedinger equation, the U(1) gauge theory and combinatorial optimization. After each session, there were one-hour breakout sessions, so that people can ask further questions to the speakers, which worked very well. The workshop was an excellent first step toward a close tie between RIKEN quantum activities and Vancouver quantum activities.
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2021-08-23
ホットトピック日本経済新聞朝刊: 量子の威力、併用で生かす
入江 広隆 客員研究員(企業)のインタビュー記事が日本経済新聞のテクノロジストの時代に掲載されました。 従来のコンピューターと量子コンピューターの良いところを組み合わせた「ハイブリッド型」について答えています。 詳細は関連リンクをご覧下さい。
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2021-07-15
ホットトピックiTHEMS Science Outreach Workshop 2021 was held on July 11-12, 2021
On July 11 and 12, we had Journalist in Residence Workshop 2021 on Zoom. This year as last year, Tambara Institute of Mathematical Sciences of the University of Tokyo is closed because of COVID-19 and we again organized it on Zoom. The participants included more than 20 journalists, more than 20 participants from RIKEN and 10 from universities. 9 iTHEMS members mainly explained their working field and recent important achievements to the nonspecialists. There were 24 talks in total in a variety of fields. The discussion among the participants continued with joy in the evening of July 11 in ZOOM. We hope to organize it next year, in principle face to face and including remote participants by online.
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2021-06-01
ホットトピックThe work of a research group, including Dr. Maria Dainotti and Enrico Rinaldi, has been featured in several institutional press releases and websites
The work of a research group, including Dr. Maria Dainotti and Enrico Rinaldi, has been featured in several institutional press releases and websites. One of the most famous open problems of modern cosmology is the Hubble constant (H0) tension. This consists in the discrepancy (>4 sigma) between the values of H0 measured with the late universe local probes, namely the Supernovae Ia (SNe Ia), and the early universe observations, the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. With our investigation we found that a slow evolution with redshift is present in this constant thus allowing to alleviate this discrepancy. The study is published in ApJ. The investigation started when Dr. Maria Dainotti (now Assistant Professor at NAOJ) and Enrico Rinaldi (now Research Fellow at Michigan University) were Senior Research Scientist and Visiting Scientist both at iTHEMS, respectively. See related links for details.
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2021-05-19
ホットトピック『「役に立たない」研究の未来』刊行記念イベント
2021年4月28日、下北沢の本屋B&Bにて、オンラインイベント≪西田藍×初田哲男×隠岐さや香×柴藤亮介「研究者と市民との幸福な関係のために、いま私たちが話しておきたいこと」≫がおこなわれました。4月14日に発売となった『「役に立たない」研究の未来』の刊行を記念したものです。 詳細は関連リンクをご覧ください。
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2021-04-19
ホットトピックiTHEMS x academist online public event was held on April 18, 2021
Following last year’s precedent, iTHEMS held an online lecture event for the general public with the help of Academist Inc., on April 18th, 2021. The event was planned as an alternative for the lectures at RIKEN’s annual open house. The event was started by Kanato Goto with his talk on Blackhole and its information problem. His compelling narrative evoked a lot of questions from high school students; some of them were very sharp. Next, Jeffery Fawcett talked about genome science. Among other topics he studied, he also mentioned the mutation of COVID-19 virus. During the lunch break, Program Director Hatsuda talked with Mr. Shibato from Academist about related books, the exhibition of Black Hole Recorder at Miraikan, and the attempts with RIKEN SUURI. In the afternoon, Sugiura-san talked about the supercomputers and the analysis of subatomic physics, followed by Naomi Tsuji's talk on supernovae and their remnants. The talk included several polls from the audience. Keita Mikami concluded the event with his talk on Mathematics, in particular inequality and differential equations. All the talks were compered by Ms. Michibayashi from Academist; Her facilitation with a wit kept the talks accessible even to high school students. The event was viewed by as many as more than three hundred audiences at one time.
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2021-04-15
ホットトピックiTHEMS Starter Meeting for FY 2021 on April 9, 2021
iTHEMS officially kicked off its activity for FY 2021 by the iTHEMS Starter Meeting for FY 2021, on April 9th 2021. The meeting was held over Zoom as last year's meeting. Over sixty iTHEMS members gathered together as well as several frequent visitors and colleagues from other institute, and introduced themselves to other members.
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2021-04-02
ホットトピックNew faces in April 2021
April is the season when we have new faces. Yesterday, 10 people have joined us. Welcome to iTHEMS and let's have fun in science together!
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2021-03-26
ホットトピックMessage from the Director at the end of FY2020
I would like to thank all the iTHEMS members and iTHEMS supporting staff for your great efforts to keep iTHEMS very active during FY2020 even under the Covid-19. Our iTHEMS mission is very simple. Good science under the environment of interdisciplinary interactions: "A+B --> A*, A+ B --> B*, A+B --> C" are all in line with this mission. We will have many newcomers joining iTHEMS from FY2021, and let us keep moving forward without boundaries. Now, I would like to congratulate the two iTHEMS students: Toshihiro Ota (student trainee from Osaka Univ.) and Keisuke Fujii (student trainee from Tokyo Institute of Technology) who successfully defended their Ph.D. and are going to graduate from their Universities and from iTHEMS. I hope you have enjoyed your stay in iTHEMS and let us keep in touch for further interactions. Last but not the least, I would like to thank our assistant Izumi Nagasawa who has made tremendous support for the web page, seminars, colloquiums etc and is leaving iTHEMS at the end of this March. Although we could not see her so frequently in person under Covid-19 situation, she has been really helping our activities from behind. We send her our heartfelt gratitude.
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2021-03-25
ホットトピックExhibition of "Black Hole Recorder"
At the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan) located in Tokyo, iTHEMS exhibition of "Black Hole Recorder" was held last week (March 14-15, March 17-21). Details of this outreach activity (Black Hole Recorder) and the general concept behind (UselessPrototyping Studio) can be seen from the URLs below.
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2021-03-12
ホットトピックiTHEMS NOW & NEXT FY2020 was held on March 11, 2021
The annual in-house gathering entitled iTHEMS NOW and NEXT FY2020 was held on March 11th via zoom. The gathering is the occasion we share the current status and future perspectives on our research and organization. In the morning, keynote overview talks were given by Takashi Okada, Hiroyasu Miyazaki, Akinori Tanaka, and Ching-Kai Chiu, followed by the interdisciplinary talk which Don Warren and Catherine Beauchemin jointly presented. During subsequent lunchtime, a special session on the proper practices in conducting scientific researches was taken place. In the session, the participants discussed their research practices in small groups and later shared their discussions with all. The afternoon session was devoted to the progress reports from the working groups and the study groups. This time, we observed a moment of silence in honor of those affected by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami during these presentations since it just marked precisely ten years from the calamity. Program Director Hatsuda's remarks concluded the gathering.
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2021-03-02
ホットトピックBiology and mathematics: What it would be like to be crazy about both
Dr. Ryosuke Iritani (Research Scientist, iTHEMS) writes frankly on the website SURI-JOSHI about why he chose his current field. Don't miss it!
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2021-03-02
ホットトピックオンライン座談会「『役に立たない』科学が役に立つ」開催レポート
昨年8月22日、アカデミストと理化学研究所数理創造プログラムは、これからの基礎研究のありかたについて議論することを目的に「初田哲男×大隅良典×隠岐さや香 オンライン座談会 ~「役に立たない」科学が役に立つ~」を開催しました。当日のオンライン座談会の様子は関連リンクをご参照ください。
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2021-01-15
ホットトピック小澤准教授のインタビュー記事がイスラエルの雑誌「Epoch」に掲載
AIMRジュニア主任研究者の小澤知己准教授のインタビュー記事が、イスラエルの一般向け雑誌「Epoch」の2020年12月号に掲載されました。 記事では、小澤准教授が進めている「人工次元」に関する研究が詳しく紹介されています。私たちは3次元空間に住んでいますが、最近通常の次元とは違って人工的に次元に相当するものを作り出し、それに関する実験・研究ができるようになってきました。 小澤准教授は原子のふるまいであるスピンを例に挙げて説明しています。スピンが取る状態を次元とみなせば、4次元量子ホール効果など高次元空間に関する物理現象などを実験的に研究できるようになるとの見解を述べています。 記事は高次元に関する最新の研究を、SFのような並行宇宙(パラレル・ユニバース)などとも関連させて解説した一般向けの内容ですが、人工次元という新しい概念もわかりやすく解説されており、非常に興味深い内容となっています。人工次元に関する研究が物性物理から素粒子物理まで様々な分野に影響を与えることが期待されます。
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2020-12-14
ホットトピックSeason's Greetings from Dr. Tetsuo Hatsuda, iTHEMS Director
Season's Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year Thank you very much for sharing the joys of excellent science as well as your patience under COVID-19 during 2020. We wish you a good holiday season and a safe new year 2021 with happiness, prosperity, and novel scientific perspectives. Tetsuo Hatsuda, iTHEMS Director
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2020-12-11
ホットトピック「君は本当にブラックホールを知っているか?」が12月6日開催されました
アカデミスト主催イベント「君は本当にブラックホールを知っているか?」が12月6日YouTubeを通して開催され、iTHEMSに所属する長瀧 重博(副プログラムディレクター)、井上 芳幸(客員主管研究員)、横倉 祐貴(上級研究員)が、ブラックホールの生まれ方、ブラックホールの探し方、ブラックホールの内側について、2020年のノーベル物理学賞の業績にも触れながらわかりやすく解説しています。関連リンクより、配信動画をぜひご覧ください。
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2020-12-03
ホットトピックFarewell message from Dr. Martin Skrodzki
When my scholarship program first notified me that I would be able to spend a year, working in the RIKEN iTHEMS program, I was extremely happy for this great interdisciplinary and intercultural opportunity. Now, this year has ended and I will return to Germany to continue my research there and possibly at other locations in Europe. I arrived at RIKEN iTHEMS on January 20. While I expected the year to be very exciting, I did not at all imagine what 2020 had in store for all of us. After my first talk in the math seminar, we went to an Izakaya and had a Nomikai there. From the current perspective, this appears quite unreal to me. The Covid-19 pandemic caused this year to be run quite different from any other year. We all had to get used to working from home, working online, and even enjoying each other’s company during online coffee as well as online parties. Despite these restrictions, I tremendously enjoyed my stay in Wako and in Japan in general. Several aspects at iTHEMS contribute to a very friendly and positive atmosphere in the program. For instance, the coffee afternoons were a great way throughout my first couple of weeks to get to know many members of the workgroup. Also the all-hands coffee meetings on Friday are a great installment to stay in touch with each other. Furthermore, the dedicated math seminars were great for me to get new input, learn new mathematics, and chat with the colleagues. The organizers of the math seminar, but also all other chairs and the speakers, made the seminars very enjoyable events. Aside from these events, I was very happy to pursue my own research projects. As I am in the first phase of my postdoctoral career, this was a great opportunity to sharpen my research foci. Thus, I would like to close by thanking everyone for making my stay at RIKEN iTHEMS as enjoyable as it was. Once the global situation has settled down, I would love to return for a short visit or even another extended research stay. Let’s stay in touch!
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2020-10-22
ホットトピックCoffee Meeting on October 9, 2020
At the weekly coffee meeting on October 9th (Fri.), Dr. Jeremy Riousset (Florida Institute of Technology) gave a nice description on the properties of "Planetary lightning". After his talk, Dr. Shigehiro Nagataki (Deputy Program Director, iTHEMS) gave an explanation on this year's Nobel Prize in Physics "the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity”.
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2020-09-30
ホットトピックFarewell message from Dr. Genki Ouchi
Hello. I am Genki Ouchi, a special postdoctoral researcher in iTHEMS. I am leaving iTHEMS and moving to graduate school of mathematics, Nagoya university as an assistant professor. I joined iTHEMS on April 2018. Since then, it has been two and a half years. I learned a lot of things from iTHEMS. Before I came to iTHEMS, I was just an “algebraic geometer”. I studied only algebraic geometry and related topics. After joining iTHEMS, I got opportunities to learn other topics in mathematical science. Especially, I study network science with mathematicians, physicists and network scientists now. With an experience at iTHEMS, I become a “mathematician”. I wish that interdisciplinary activities in iTHEMS bear fruit over the long run. I would like to thank all iTHEMS members for your kind support and help. I am looking forward to seeing you again.
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2020-09-30
ホットトピックFarewell message from Dr. Kenta Sato
Hello. I am Kenta Sato, a Special Postdoctral Resercher at iTHEMS. I am moving to Kyusyu University as an assistant professor. It is a great pleasure for me to spend one and a half years at iTHEMS because I have been stimulated by the open atmosphere of iTHEMS and by the energetic activities of each member. It helps me to broaden my perspective. I would like to say thanks to everyone in iTHEMS. I am looking forward to seeing the successful development of iTHEMS in the future.
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2020-09-10
ホットトピックFarewell message from Dr. Yoshiyuki Inoue
Hello colleagues. I am Yoshiyuki Inoue, a senior research scientist here at iTHEMS. I am leaving iTHEMS and joining Osaka University as an associate professor. It has been almost three years since I came here. I would like to thank all the iTHEMS friends for your kind support and help, especially Hatsuda-san, Tada-san, and assistants. The open research atmosphere allowed me to expand my research area a lot, e.g., collaboration with other RIKEN researchers. I believe the interdisciplinary and academic freedom mind in iTHEMS is essential for future research. I will bring and spread this iTHEMS spirit in Osaka. Even after moving to Osaka, I will keep visiting our precious research place, iTHEMS (the coffee room, maybe?). I wish future success of iTHEMS research activity.
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2020-09-02
ホットトピックDr. Jason Chang was ranked in the list of the most downloaded physics papers published in Scientific Reports in 2019
It is our great pleasure to inform you that the paper on quantum annealing by our iTHEMS colleague, Jason Chang, was ranked No.14 of the most downloaded physics papers published in Scientific Reports in 2019.
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2020-08-28
ホットトピックAnew Calculation of Penguin Pooing Pressure by Hiroyuki Tajima
As posted in the Ig Nobel Prize web page, our iTHEMS friend Hiroyuki Tajima (Kochi Univ., former member of RIKEN Nishina Center) has published an interesting work "Projectile Trajectory of Penguin’s Faeces and Rectal Pressure Revisited" with Fumiya Fujisawa (Katsurahama Aquarium). Find how the gauge/gravity duality in particle physics is useful to find out the incredible power of penguin’s rectum!
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2020-07-27
ホットトピックiTHEMS Science Outreach Workshop 2020 was held on July 3 and 4
On July 3 and 4, we had Journalist in Residence Workshop 2020 on Zoom. It had been planned to be held at Tambara Institute of Mathematical Sciences of the University of Tokyo as in a same way as May 31 - June 3 of the last year 2019. This year, Tambara Institute is closed because of COVID-19 but we organized it on Zoom. There were in fact much more participants than last year and those living in US also participated in the meeting. The participants included 14 journalists and 17 participants from RIKEN, 9 from universities and 2 from others. 7 iTHEMS members mainly explained their working field and recent important achievements to the nonspecialists. There were 24 talks in total in a variety of fields. The discussion among the participants continued with joy in the evening of July 3 even in ZOOM. If we organize next year, it will be necessary to include online participants.
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2020-04-21
ホットトピックiTHEMS x academist Online open to the public "Mathematical science world" on April 18, 2020
The open house for RIKEN was scheduled on April 18th, but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation. But that did not stop Dr. Yokokura and the other lecturers, Dr. Iritani, Dr. Irie, Dr. Hiroshima, Dr. Miyazaki and Dr. Tanaka. In defiance of the difficulties, they gave the same public lecture on-line with the help by Academist. Dr. Yokokura and other lecturers worked very hard preparing the event; their effort was rewarded by the spectacular success, with as many as over 900 viewers. Some of the positive response can be seen on Twitter.
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2020-04-06
ホットトピック育成と共創の現状--イノベーション人材に必要な研究者的思考と技術とは
2月19日に開催されたCNET Japan Live 2020は「企業成長に欠かせないイノベーションの起こし方」をテーマに、各種公演が行われた。その中で、イノベーターを生み出して育て、企業との共創に取り組もうとするG’s ACADEMYの児玉浩康氏と理化学研究所 数理創造プログラム(iTHEMS)の多田司氏の二人を迎え、「アカデミー視点から議論する『イノベーターの育成と共創』」と題したパネルディスカッションが行われた。
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2020-04-03
ホットトピックCoffee Meeting with zoom streaming on April 3, 2020
At the weekly coffee meeting on April.3 (Fri.), Haoning He (ABBL) gave a nice explanation of "Multi-meesenger Search for sources of high energy neutrino". Almost 40 member of iTHEMS accessed on the virtual meeting.
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2020-04-01
ホットトピックCoffee Meeting with zoom streaming on March 27, 2020
On March 27 (the last Friday in FY2019), the first zoom coffee meeting in iTHEMS was held. Many iTHEMS colleagues have connected virtually to the iTHEMS common room. Takemasa Miyoshi gave a 15 min. talk on SIR model of epidemics followed by 1 min. farewell speeches by the people who graduated iTHEMS and/or QHP lab. at the end of FY2019. From FY2020, all the iTHEMS coffee meetings and colloquiums will be held only through zoom for a while to suppress the physical interactions among researchers and at the same time to increase their virtual interactions.
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2020-03-31
ホットトピックFarewell messages to the colleagues leaving iTHEMS from Tetsuo Hatsuda
I would like to congratulate iTHEMS colleagues who are moving to other places from April 1, 2020. Masato Taki (-> Rikkyo Univ.) Yosuke Kubota (-> Shinshu Univ.) Susumu Inoue (-> RIKEN ABBL) Hokuto Konno (-> Univ. Tokyo) Yoshimasa Hidaka (-> KEK) Koya Sakakibara (-> Okayama U. of Science) Shinya Gongyo (-> DENSO IT Lab.). Also I would like to thank Atsushi Mochizuki (Kyoto Univ.), who is one of the founding members of iTHEMS, for his long standing contributions. He will step down as an iTHEMS Deputy Director and will serve for iTHEMS Senior Research Scientist from FY2020. Last but not the least, I would like to thank Motoko Kotani (RIKEN Executive Director) who has served for iTHEMS Scientific Advisor and will move to Tohoku Univ. from April 1, 2020. I wish you all have great success in new places! with best regards, Tetsuo
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2020-02-04
ホットトピックWorkshop on Communication for Interdisciplinary Collaboration
On January 28th, iTHEMS member Don Warren co-hosted a workshop on Communication for Interdisciplinary Collaboration. The goals of this workshop were (1) to learn how to communicate with people who do not study the same topic you do, and (2) to practice explaining your work so that a non-expert can decide if they want to join your project. The workshop was open to all RIKEN staff in all fields and positions, and turnout was very good: scientists from multiple centers attended, as did several non-research staff. Everyone who attended learned two key points to make cross-discipline communication easier and more productive. First, listen actively when someone is talking about their work to you; don’t fixate on the first interesting thing and stop listening to the rest of their explanation. Second, K.I.S.S.—keep it short and simple! (It is easy to talk about what to do, but it was much harder to practice it during the workshop.) The workshop facilitator was Christiane Brew, a performer and trainer who uses techniques from improvisation to encourage open discussion, deep listening, and clear “pitching”. This was the second of two workshops organized in FY2019 by Don and Amanda Alvarez of CBS. Support for the workshop came from the RIKEN Collaboration Seed fund. If this workshop is repeated next year, please consider joining and practicing your communication skills so you will be ready to start on your next interdisciplinary collaboration.
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2020-01-31
ホットトピックSummary of interdisciplinary workshop "Present and Future of the Quantum Computing (QC)"
Interdisciplinary workshop "Present and Future of the Quantum Computing (QC)" hosted by MEXT and sponsored by iTHEMS and CEMS was held on Jan.29, 2020 at RIKEN Suzuki Umetaro Hall. There were more than 170 people got together from academia, industries and publishers. For the people who could not enter the hall, the talks were also broadcasted to the iTHEMS room 160. The scientific session was started with a review talk on the history of quantum-bit researches by Yasunobu Nakamura (CEMS). It was then followed by 11 talks which covered wide topics ranging from the QC architecture development to QC algorithms. The very last talk was given by our iTHEMS colleague, Jason Chang (iTHEMS/UCB), who discussed the adiabatic quantum computing and possible near-term engineering applications on the basis of his recent QC works. A poster session with about 30 posters from many different areas of science was also held with very lively discussions, especially among young researchers. Since the meeting was so successful to provide a platform for the researchers interested in this growing field of QC, we will definitely have the 2nd meeting in the near future.
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2020-01-30
ホットトピックFarewell note from Dr. Tomoki Ozawa
Hello. My name is Tomoki Ozawa. I am a senior research scientist at RIKEN iTHEMS. As of February, I am leaving iTHEMS and moving to Advanced Institute for Materials Science (AIMR) in Tohoku University, Sendai, to start my own group as an associate professor. I joined iTHEMS on April 2018; I cannot believe that it has already been almost two years. Time really flies like an arrow. Before joining iTHEMS, my research career has been developed abroad (US, Italy, Belgium), and although I am a native of Japan, iTHEMS is the first Japanese affiliation I obtained as a researcher. Before coming back to Japan, I had always been worried if I could be accepted to the Japanese academic community. After joining iTHEMS, I learned that my worries were needless. I was surprised by the welcoming atmosphere of iTHEMS, and even though I was the only condensed matter physicist in iTHEMS, I could easily find somebody to discuss in the iTHEMS coffee room. What helped me even more to place myself in Japan were the various satellite offices of iTHEMS in (and also outside) Japan. These satellite offices made it easy for me to visit and know what is going on in various other places in Japan. After spending almost two years in iTHEMS, although I am still constantly surprised by cultural differences between Japan and other places I have been, I feel that I have comfortably become a part of the academic community in Japan. In terms of research, what was great being in iTHEMS was that I could do whatever research I wanted to do, without any pressure on the selection of topic or to report what I am doing to my boss. I really appreciated the academic freedom here. I am also starting to build collaborations in Japan. The new collaborations I am building are quite interdisciplinary (including atomic physics, photonics, and even biophysics), thanks to the wide scope of interests of people in iTHEMS. It has been a real pleasure to spend time in the beginning period of iTHEMS, and I am sure that iTHEMS will flourish even more in the coming years. AIMR has a satellite office of iTHEMS, and I expect to maintain active interactions with iTHEMS after I move to AIMR. I will also most likely come to iTHEMS offices (perhaps the coffee room in Wako) from time to time, and I am looking forward to seeing the successful development of iTHEMS in the future.
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2020-01-27
ホットトピックSearch for gamma-ray signals from dark matter annihilations in extended dwarf spheroidal galaxies, article on the Astronomical Herald
The importance of the dark matter density distribution in target galaxies is discussed under realistic settings of the future gamma-ray experiment.
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2019-12-19
ホットトピックiTHEMS end-of-the-year party, farewell party, and birthday party !
iTHEMS end-of-the-year party + farewell party for Nagisa Hiroshima + birthday party for members who was born in December was held from 15:30- on Dec.13, 2019. Before the start of the party, Nagisa who is leaving iTHEMS to become an assistant prof. at Toyama Univ. gave a 15 min. talk on the current status of Dark Matter (DM) Search and also on the activities of the iTHEMS DM Working Group. Her final conclusion was that DM would be a key scientific problem related to all iTHEMS Research Cells, i.e. Extreme Universe, Life & Evolution, Future Geometry, and Mathematics & AI. The room was full of researchers who are interested not only in dark matter but also in beautiful cakes, fruits, foods and in interesting conversations. Many thanks for iTHEMS secretaries who prepared for the wonderful party and thanks also to the people who brought sweets from all over the world!
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2019-12-19
ホットトピックReport of Young Researcher Association for Biological Rhythms 2019
Young Researcher Association for Biological Rhythms 2019, supported by RIKEN iTHEMS, was held at Kyushu University on December 7-8. In biology, there are many rhythmic phenomena, such as, circadian clocks, cell cycles, metabolic oscillations and so on. This research workshop has been a good opportunity for young researchers to get together and discuss wide field of biological rhythms. There were 6 invited lectures. The invited lectures contained various topics on biological rhythms: insulin oscillations, circadian clocks of insects, chronopharmacology, methylation cycles, mathematical biology, and cyanobacterial circadian clocks. Because these research topics attracted many participants, we enjoyed active discussions until late at night.
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2019-11-29
ホットトピックAll-RIKEN Workshop on Virtual Reality holds second session
The first All-RIKEN Workshop on Virtual Reality held an introductory session in October. Many visitors came to try out VR and assess whether they could use it for their own research. On Tuesday, November 26, the second session of the workshop took place. iTHEMS members Don Warren and Gilles Ferrand hosted the all-day, hands-on event. The two primary goals were (1) to teach attendees how to use Unity, the engine Gilles and Don use for their own VR demo, and (2) to let them get their own data into a 3-D visualization. In the first part of the day, participants created their own computer game, entirely from scratch. (If you know someone who attended, ask to play their game!) This introduction to game design showed people how Unity works, and prepared everyone for the second half of the schedule. In the second half, they learned about what kinds of data can be visualized in 3-D and in VR. They also got to use a basic visualization kit (developed by Gilles) to explore their own data in 3-D. There was a lot of good discussion about how to present data in a way that works for 3-D and VR -- some formats that work very well on paper do not translate well to 3-D space! By the end of the workshop, attendees had the tools needed to start exploring their own data. Gilles and Don hope that they will continue to think about this, to develop their skills in Unity, and to form a 3-D and VR visualization community at RIKEN.
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2019-11-25
ホットトピックIntroduction of Hallatschek group and daily activities: Berkeley Report from Dr. T. Okada
Hi, everyone! In this short article, I will write self-introductiton, also about the laboratory I am belonging to at UC Berkeley and also write my daily activities there. My research interest is theoretical biology, including biochemical reactions, biological networks, evolutionary dynamics etc. I am currently working at Hallatschek laboratory as a long-term visitor, and mainly researching on theoretical aspects of evolutionary dynamics there. As a theorist, one of ultimate goals is to predict outcomes of evolution. Since evolutionary processes are very complicated even under well-controlled conditions, this project is very difficult, but, at the same time, very attracting theoretically. Hallatschek lab studies evolutionary biology both experimentally and theoretically. There are approximately 10 members (students and postdocs) in total, and a half of us do evolutionary experiments using microorganisms, such as yeast and E. coli, and a half of us (including me) study theoretical stuff. For now, I have three meetings in the group every week. The attached photo is one of the weekly meeting which I am doing with Jonas (postdoc, left) and Stephan (graduate student, right). I am very satisfied with the scientific atmosphere here, and I really appreciate the support by iTHEMS. Also, I think that in evolutionary biology, there are many topics that are interesting for many mathematicians and physicist, and I am looking forward to interacting iTHEMS members when I come back to Japan.
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2019-11-19
ホットトピックInternational WS "Collaborative Meeting on Supernova Remnants between Japan and USA" was held at RIKEN Wako campus and SUURI-COOL Kyoto
An international WS "Collaborative Meeting on Supernova Remnants between Japan and USA" was held at RIKEN Wako campus (Nov. 7-8, 2019) and SUURI-COOL Kyoto (Nov. 11-12, 2019) with Masaomi Ono (ABBL/iTHEMS), Shiu-Hang Lee (Kyoto Univ.) and Shigehiro Nagataki (ABBL/iTHEMS) as organizers. The aim of this workshop was to bring together experts including young researchers on supernova remnants and other related topics, such as supernovae, progenitor stars, and neutron stars, for active discussion and to initiate possible collaborations among the participants. In both 1st and 2nd weeks, there were about forty participants. Experts from USA mainly on supernova remnants gave excellent talks from both aspects of theories and observations. Not only supernova remnants but also many other related topics were presented by participants from Japan and Taiwan including students. During the workshop, many possible future collaborations were intensively discussed.
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2019-11-08
ホットトピックiTHEMS Coffee Meeting continues
Every Friday, we have iTHEMS coffee meeting from 12:30, where somebody is asked to give a 15 min. lecture on a specific topic for non-experts by using our jumbo blackboard. On Oct.25, 2019, Ivan Kostov (CEA-Saclay) gave a 15 min. lecture on integrability in quantum field theory by drawing s multi-particle scattering diagram for elementary particles living in 2 space-time dimensions. On Nov.1, 2019, Pascal Naidon (RIKEN Nishina Center) gave a 15 min. lecture on the quantum physics of Efimov effect by using his handmade Borromean rings (three entangled ribbons which is a classical analogue of the Efimov effect).
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2019-10-25
ホットトピックKUIAS-Heidelberg-iTHEMS joint WS was held at SUURI-COOL Kyoto
KUIAS-Heidelberg-iTHEMS joint WS "Mathematical Sciences and Medicine" was held at SUURI-COOL Kyoto on Oct. 10, 2019 with Motomu Tanaka (Heidelberg/KUIAS) and Tetsuo Hatsuda (iTHEMS) as organizers. The main aim of this workshop was to exchange ideas to create new paradigm in clinical medicine with the help of physicists, mathematicians and biologists. After the welcome address by Shigefumi Mori (Director General of KUIAS, Kyoto Univ. and Science Advisor of iTHEMS), there were 10 talks by the physicists, mathematicians and biologists from Heidelberg Univ., Kyoto Univ., Doshisha Univ. and RIKEN. Each talk was very stimulating and created lively discussions under relaxed atmosphere of SUURI-COOL Kyoto Office. To continue the discussions, we decided to have another meeting in the near future with active participation of medical doctors in Kyoto and Heidelberg.
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