Volume 277

iTHEMS Weekly News Letter

Seminar Report

iTHEMS Math Seminar by Möller Sven on September 19, 2023

2023-11-13

He gave a talk on classification of holomorphic vertex operator superalgebra with central charge 24 using the method of adjacency graphs.

Reported by Yuto Moriwaki

Seminar Report

iTHEMS Biology Seminar by José Said Gutiérrez-Ortega on November 7, 2023

2023-11-09

In Nov 7, our colleague Dr. José Said Gutiérrez-Ortega gave a fantastic talk about the most conspicuous pattern of correlation between environment/geography and biodiversity. For many species, including birds and mammals, it has been known that biodiversity is higher in the tropics and lower in the areas with high latitude, but we do not why. In his talk, José addressed this big biodiversity problem using his accurate and various data of a plant, called fern (i.e. “shida” in Japanese) throughout the American continent which is the ideal system to study the problem according to him. During and after the talk, there were lively discussions about this interesting pattern, which may be the seed of future collaboration. Thank you, Jose for the great talk!

Reported by Gen Kurosawa

Upcoming Events

Workshop

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6th QGG Intensive Lectures: Introduction to thermalization in isolated quantum systems

November 20 (Mon) - 21 (Tue), 2023

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

This is the sixth event by the Quantum Gravity Gatherings (QGG) Study Group at RIKEN iTHEMS. For this event we have invited Professor Ryusuke Hamazaki from RIKEN, to deliver pedagogical lectures on the thermalization in isolated quantum systems. This topic describes how a non-equilibrium quantum state relaxes to thermal equilibrium through a unitary time evolution. This theme has applications not only in statistical physics but also in many areas of physics. In particular, in the context of quantum gravity, understanding thermalization via a unitary time evolution is anticipated to be a key to resolving the information loss problem of black holes. In addition, the notion of typicality and thermalization is important in the AdS/CFT correspondence to understand black hole physics. We expect this event to provide insights to researchers in related fields. Ryusuke Hamazaki is a leading expert in this subject. It is our enormous pleasure to have the opportunity to learn from him the idea of thermalization and its applications related to realistic systems.

This intensive lecture series is designed to be an interactive event. The intensive talk will be given in a face-to-face blackboard style (in English, no online streaming) to encourage informal and lively Q&A discussions. The program will also include short talk sessions, where participants can present a 5-minute talk on a topic of their choice, which could be about their own research, reviews of specific works, or future study interests.

Venue: #435-437, Main Research Building, RIKEN

Event Official Language: English

Colloquium

The 24th MACS Colloquium thumbnail
Maskawa Building for Education and Research venue photo

MACS ColloquiumSupported by iTHEMS

The 24th MACS Colloquium

November 20 (Mon) at 14:45 - 18:00, 2023

Satoshi Horike (Professor, Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University)
Yoshihiro Morishita (Team Leader, Laboratory for Developmental Morphogeometry, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (BDR))

14:45-15:00 Teatime discussion

15:00-16:00 Talk by Dr. Satoshi Horike (Professor, Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University)
Title: Material science of new glasses of metal-molecular architectures
Abstract: The three major materials - ceramics, metals and organic polymers - all form glass phases and underpin our daily lives and industry. Unlike crystals, glasses have a random structure and designing their molecular structures and properties is still a major challenge. In this talk, I will present research on new glasses made of metals and molecules. It will discuss how the glasses are designed and synthesised, as well as the unique glass structures and functions that result from the metal-molecule chemical bonds.

16:15-17:15 Talk by Prof. Yoshihiro Morishita (RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, Team leader)
Title: Optimal coding design of positional information and an appropriate spacetime coordinate system to capture an archetype of organ morphogenetic dynamics
Abstract: We are engaged in developmental biology research at the intersection of experimentation and theory, driven by a curiosity to understand the laws governing organogenesis. Ideally, we aim to mathematically represent these laws and find commonalities across species and organs. In this seminar, I will present research on a coding design of spatial information within developing tissues, as well as propose spacetime coordinates to directly and quantitatively compare the morphogenetic dynamics of homologous organs across species with different sizes and developmental rates. Furthermore, we will introduce results suggesting the existence of speceis-independent morphogenetic dynamics (a kind of archetype) achieved by applying these methods to biological data.

17:15-18:00 Discussion

Venue: Maskawa Hall, 1F, Maskawa Building for Education and Research, North Campus, Kyoto University

Event Official Language: Japanese

Colloquium

iTHEMS Colloquium

Bridging physics and society: A case study of collective memory dynamics by socio-econophysics approach

November 20 (Mon) at 15:00 - 16:30, 2023

Yukie Sano (Associate Professor, Institute of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba)

The movements of individuals with free will are unpredictable, complex, and, needless to say, fundamentally distinct from the movements of matter. Furthermore, studying society, which forms collectives while engaging in intricate individual interactions, using mathematical models seems incredibly daunting. However, when analyzing empirical data, relatively simple mathematics often emerge in the distribution and dynamics of society at the level of collective behavior. Additionally, such mathematics often share commonalities with physical phenomena. With this background, research is progressing by applying ideas from physics to social-economic phenomena, a field known as socio-econophysics. In this presentation, I will introduce a mathematical model that addresses the decay of collective memory using access logs on the web as an example of research in socio-econophysics.

Venue: Okochi Hall, 1F Laser Science Laboratory, RIKEN / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Seminar

Quantum Gravity Gatherings

Volume complexity of de Sitter bubbles

November 22 (Wed) at 16:00 - 17:30, 2023

Nicolò Zenoni (Project Researcher, Department of Physics, Osaka University)

Holographic complexity is conjectured to probe the evolution of spacetime. For black holes in anti-de Sitter (AdS) spacetime the growth rate of complexity approaches a constant value at late times, while in de Sitter (dS) spacetime it diverges at a finite critical time. In this talk, we consider geometries interpolating between AdS and dS. In particular, we discuss the evolution of volume complexity in a class of three-dimensional asymptotically anti-de Sitter geometries including dynamical bubbles of de Sitter in their interior. According to the dynamics of the bubble, complexity qualitatively behaves either as in the AdS black hole or as in the dS case. We conclude with some remarks about the possible dual interpretation.

Venue: Seminar Room #359, 3F Main Research Building, RIKEN / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Seminar

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ABBL-iTHEMS Joint Astro Seminar

Early Formation of Dark Matter Halos

November 24 (Fri) at 14:00 - 15:15, 2023

Derek Beattie Inman (Research Scientist, iTHEMS)

Cosmological observations have led to an extremely precise understanding of the large-scale structure of the Universe. A common assumption is to extrapolate large-scale properties to smaller scales; however, whether this is correct or not is unknown and many well-motivated early Universe scenarios predict substantially different structure formation histories. In this seminar I will discuss two scenarios where nonlinear structures form much earlier than is typically assumed. In the first case, the initial fluctuations are enhanced on small scales leading to either primordial black holes clusters or WIMP minihalos right after matter-radiation equality. In the second, I will show that an additional attractive dark force leads to structure formation even in the radiation dominated Universe. I will furthermore discuss possible observations of such early structure formation including changes to the cosmic microwave background, dark matter annihilation, and when the first galaxies form.

Venue: Seminar Room #359, 3F Main Research Building, RIKEN / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Workshop

Joint RIKEN/N3AS Workshop on Multi-Messenger Astrophysics

November 26 (Sun) at 9:00 - 19:00, 2023

RIKEN iTHEMS and NSF Physics Frontier Center N3AS will jointly organize a workshop on "Multi-Messenger Astrophysics" on Sunday, November 26, at the Hilton Waikoloa Village, in conjunction with the JPS/ APS DNP meeting.

For the program and registration form, please visit the workshop website at the related links.

The workshop is open to all and there is no registration fee. However, we ask those wishing to attend to register, to help us plan. The workshop will conclude with an early evening poster session that will combine science with an opportunity for JPS and APS participants to socialize.

Organizers:
Tetsuo Hatsuda(RIKEN iTHEMS)
Wick Haxton (UC Berkaley, N3AS)
Baha Balentekin (UW-Madison, N3AS)

Venue: Hilton Waikoloa Village, Waikoloa, Hawaii

Event Official Language: English

Seminar

iTHEMS Theoretical Physics Seminar

Breaking down the magnonic Wiedemann-Franz law in the hydrodynamic regime

December 4 (Mon) at 15:00 - 16:30, 2023

Ryotaro Sano (Ph.D. Student, Division of Physics and Astronomy, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University)

Quantum transport has attracted a profound growth of interest owing to its fundamental importance and many applications in condensed matter physics. Recent significant developments in experimental techniques have further boosted the study of quantum transport. Notably in ultraclean systems, strong interactions between quasi-particles drastically affect the transport properties, resulting in an emergent hydrodynamic behavior.
Recent experiments on ultrapure ferromagnetic insulators have opened up new pathways for magnon hydrodynamics. Hydrodynamic magnon transport implies exhibiting extraordinary features and has a potential for innovative functionalities beyond the conventional non-interacting magnon picture. However, the direct observation of magnon fluids remains an open issue due to the lack of probes to access the time and length scales characteristics of this regime.
In this work, we derive a set of coupled hydrodynamic equations for a magnon fluid and study the spin and thermal conductivities by focusing on the most dominant time scales [1]. As a hallmark of the hydrodynamic regime, we reveal that the ratio between the two conductivities shows a large deviation from the so-called magnonic WF law. We also identify an origin of the drastic breakdown of the magnonic WF law as the difference in relaxation processes between spin and heat currents, which is unique to the hydrodynamic regime. Therefore, our results will become key evidence for an emergent hydrodynamic magnon behavior and lead to the direct observation of magnon fluids.

Reference

  1. Ryotaro Sano and Mamoru Matsuo, Breaking Down the Magnonic Wiedemann-Franz Law in the Hydrodynamic Regime, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 166210 (2023), doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.166201, arXiv: 2208.14458

Venue: Hybrid Format (3F #359 and Zoom), Main Research Building, RIKEN

Event Official Language: English

Seminar

iTHEMS Seminar

Cosection localization via shifted symplectic geometry

December 6 (Wed) at 10:00 - 11:30, 2023

Young-Hoon Kiem (Professor, School of Mathematics, Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), Republic of Korea)

Modern enumerative invariants are defined as integrals of cohomology classes against virtual fundamental classes constructed by Li-Tian and Behrend-Fantechi. When the obstruction sheaf admits a cosection, the virtual fundamental class is localized to the zero locus of the cosection. When the cosection is furthermore enhanced to a (-1)-shifted closed 1-form, the zero locus admits a (-2)-shifted symplectic structure and thus we have another virtual fundamental class by the Oh-Thomas construction. An obvious question is whether these two virtual fundamental classes coincide or not. In this talk, we will see that (-1)-shifted closed 1-forms arise naturally as an analogue of the Lagrange multiplier method. Furthermore, a proof of the equality of the two virtual fundamental classes and its applications will be discussed. Based on a joint work with Hyeonjun Park.

Venue: Seminar Room #359, 3F Main Research Building, RIKEN

Event Official Language: English

Seminar

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ABBL-iTHEMS Joint Astro Seminar

Exploring material strengths of dust aggregates in planet formation by numerical simulations

December 8 (Fri) at 14:00 - 15:15, 2023

Misako Tatsuuma (Research Scientist, iTHEMS)

The planet formation process is the growth from sub-micrometer-sized cosmic dust grains to thousand-kilometer-sized planets. This growth process has broadly two phases: the growth from dust grains to kilometer-sized planetesimals, mainly driven by intermolecular forces like van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds, and the subsequent growth from planetesimals to planets, governed by gravitational forces. However, the planetesimal formation process encounters various challenges, including fragmentation and bouncing resulting from collisions among dust aggregates. To gain insights into the planetesimal formation process and how to avoid these obstacles, I have been focused on measuring and formulating the material strengths of dust aggregates using grain simulations. In this talk, I will introduce my works on the material strengths of dust aggregates and their applications to kilometer-sized bodies in the solar system, such as comets and asteroids.

Venue: Seminar Room #359, 3F Main Research Building, RIKEN / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Lecture

Academic-Industrial Innovation LectureCo-hosted by RIKEN SUURI CORPORATION

Transforming Industries and Society: The Power of Advanced Math and AI Technologies

December 12 (Tue) at 16:30 - 18:00, 2023

Hirokazu Anai (Principal Research Director, FUJITSU RESEARCH, FUJITSU Ltd.)

In this talk, we will review the history and the latest trends in artificial intelligence (AI) and mathematical technologies in recent years. We will also introduce various real-world problem-solving efforts that utilize state-of-the-art mathematics and artificial intelligence technology. Additionally, we will explore the role of mathematical and AI technologies and the social value they bring, while providing examples of their applications in a wide range of fields, such as manufacturing, disaster prevention, medical care, and institutional design in society. Furthermore, we will consider the thinking and skills required to address industrial and social issues using mathematical and AI technologies. The technologies that will be discussed in this talk include the following keywords: mathematical modeling, simulation, optimization, deep learning, topological data analysis, causal discovery, game theory, matching theory, and social mathematics.

Venue: Okochi Hall, 1F Laser Science Laboratory, RIKEN / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Workshop

Integrated Innovation Building (IIB) venue photo

Second Workshop on Fundamentals in Density Functional Theory (DFT2024)

February 20 (Tue) - 22 (Thu), 2024

The density functional theory (DFT) is one of the powerful methods to solve quantum many-body problems, which, in principle, gives the exact energy and density of the ground state. The accuracy of DFT is, in practice, determined by the accuracy of an energy density functional (EDF) since the exact EDF is still unknown. Currently, DFT has been used in many communities, including nuclear physics, quantum chemistry, and condensed matter physics, while the fundamental study of DFT, such as the first principle derivations of an accurate EDF and methods to calculate many observables from obtained densities and excited states. However, there has been little opportunity to have interdisciplinary communication.

On December 2022, we had the first workshop on this series (DFT2022) at Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, and several interdisiplinary discussions and collaborationd were started. To share such progresses and extend collaborations, we organize the second workshop. In this workshop, the current status and issues of each discipline will be shared towards solving these problems by meeting together among researchers in mathematics, nuclear physics, quantum chemistry, and condensed matter physics.

This workshop mainly comprises lectures/seminars on cutting-edge topics and discussion, while a half-day session composed of contributed talks is also planned.

This workshop is partially supported by iTHEMS-phys Study Group. This workshop is a part of the RIKEN Symposium Series.

The detailed information can be found in the workshop website.

Venue: 8F, Integrated Innovation Building (IIB), Kobe Campus, RIKEN / via Zoom

Event Official Language: English

Person of the Week

Dongwook Ghim thumbnail

Self-introduction: Dongwook Ghim

2023-11-16

I am a theoretical physicist working on high-energy physics, HEP-TH. More precisely, I am interested in the spectral problems of strongly coupled gauge theory. The infamous quark confinement of Quantum Chromodynamics and the mass gap generation of Yang-Mills theory are the most well-known spectral problems involving strongly coupled gauge theory. I mainly use two orthogonal toolkits to tackle such problems; supersymmetry and quantum simulation.
I have worked on the computation of the twisted partition function of supersymmetric gauge theories, which appear in the string theory context, showing a strong relation with the geometry of Calabi-Yau manifolds. Simultaneously, I am eager to develop a quantum algorithm that can capture the spectra of gauge theories, without the aid of supersymmetry. The latter targets low-dimensional lattice gauge theory in practice. But I dream of capturing the physics of three- or four-dimensional gauge theory on the quantum processor near future. I look forward to a fruitful collaboration with people in iTHEMS, RIKEN.

Paper of the Week

Week 3, November 2023

2023-11-16

Title: Magnetic-coupled electronic landscape in bilayer-distorted titanium-based kagome metals
Author: Yong Hu, Congcong Le, Long Chen, Hanbin Deng, Ying Zhou, Nicholas C. Plumb, Milan Radovic, Ronny Thomale, Andreas P. Schnyder, Jia-Xin Yin, Gang Wang, Xianxin Wu, Ming Shi
arXiv: http://arxiv.org/abs/2311.07747v1

Title: The phylogenetic reconstruction of the Neotropical cycad genus Ceratozamia (Zamiaceae) reveals disparate patterns of niche evolution
Author: José Said Gutiérrez-Ortega, Miguel Angel Pérez-Farrera, Ayumi Matsuo, Mitsuhiko P. Sato, Yoshihisa Suyama, Michael Calonje, Andrew P. Vovides, Tadashi Kajita, Yasuyuki Watano
Journal Reference: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107960

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