Many biological patterns are formed during growth, and various modeling approaches have repeatedly shown that growth can substantially impact pattern formation. However, experimental testing of these ideas has been limited, largely due to the difficulty in precisely measuring organism growth while simultaneously tracking the dynamics of pattern formation. To address this, we turned to the skin of the oval squid. The oval squid grows rapidly, hatching with a length of approximately 16mm and reaching 90mm within 3 months. Throughout development, its skin is populated by pigment-filled cells called chromatophores. Following insertion into the skin, chromatophores do not move. This means that squid chromatophores, besides being the constitutive elements of a point pattern, can also function as reference points to precisely determine skin growth. For the more biologically-minded, I will explain how the chromatophore pattern emerges through the interplay of growth and decreasing chromatophore growth rates. For those who lean physics, I will talk about how due to the combination of volume exclusion and growth, chromatophores exhibit a scaling in which relative density fluctuations grow with spatial scale, akin to a critical system.

The National Center for Theoretical Sciences (NCTS) and the Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences Program (iTHEMS) at RIKEN have long maintained a collaborative relationship, even before the Memorandum of Understanding was signed in December, 2022. This partnership has successfully facilitated joint activities in high energy physics over recent years. As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, we are excited to announce the inaugural joint workshops focusing on condensed matter physics and (quantum) gravity. These workshops are designed to foster international collaborations and stimulate interdisciplinary research.

We are pleased to invite you to the 2024 NCTS-iTHEMS Workshop on Matters to Spacetime: Symmetries and Geometry, to be held from August 26 (Monday) to August 29 (Thursday), at the National Center for Theoretical Sciences, located on the campus of National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei, Taiwan. This workshop will feature presentations on the latest research findings, foster discussions to spark new ideas, and provide opportunities for initiating collaborative projects. While we strongly encourage in-person attendance to maximize engagement and interaction, an online platform will also be available to accommodate participants who are unable to attend physically.

This international workshop will bring together researchers worldwide to discuss and collaborate on the latest developments in quantum technologies and quantum computing. Other focus areas will be algorithms, hybrid classical - quantum computing, error mitigation, and applications in physics and chemistry. With an emphasis to galvanize the participants into future collaborations, in addition to presentations on recent trends, the workshop will dedicate time in the afternoons for facilitated brainstorming and planning sessions.

iTHEMS Cosmology Forum Workshop is a series of short workshops, each focused on an emerging topics in cosmology. The targeted audience is cosmologists, high-energy physicists and astronomers interested in learning about the subject, not just those who have already worked on the topic. The goal of the workshop is to provide working knowledge of the topic and leave dedicated time for discussions to encourage mutual interactions among participants.

The second workshop is devoted to explanations of the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB). The SGWB is a significant detection of GW from pulsar timing arrays. The origin of this background could be either supermassive black holes or primordial. Surprisingly, both of these early Universe mechanisms are not well understood. This one-day workshop gathers both the observational and theoretical aspects of this growing topic.

The workshop will be in English. The workshop venue will be either at Main Research Building #435-437 or at Okochi Hall, and we will decide and announce which one will be actually used after the registration is closed.

The workshops are organised by the iTHEMS Cosmology Forum working group, which is the successor of the Dark Matter Working Group at RIKEN iTHEMS.

Invited Speakers:
Keitaro Takahashi (Kumamoto University)
TBA

Kazuyuki Sugimura (Hokkaido University)
Supermassive black hole formation

Ryusuke Jinno (Kobe University)
First-order phase transitions and gravitational wave production in the early Univers

Yuichiro Tada (Nagoya University)
Scalar-induced gravitational waves as a cosmological phonograph

Time table:
09:00-09:30 -- Opening remarks and coffee
09:30-10:45 -- Takahashi (keynote)
10:45-11:45 -- Sugimura
11:45-13:30 -- Lunch time
13:30-14:30 -- Jinno
14:30-15:30 -- Discussion and coffee
15:30-16:30 -- Tada
16:30-17:30 -- Panel Discussion

Organisers:
Kohei Hayashi, Nagisa Hiroshima, Derek Inman, Amaury Micheli, Ryo Namba

We will have the 5th workshop on "Medicine and Math" in Kobe (hybrid style) on Sep. 29-30, 2024.
For more information and registration, please visit the related links.

Organizers:
Akihisa Yamamoto (RIKEN iTHEMS)
Tetsuo Hatsuda (RIKEN iTHEMS)
Motomu Tanaka (Heidelberg Univ. / Kyoto Univ.)
Hiroshi Suito (Tohoku Univ. / RIKEN iTHEMS)
Eiryo Kawakami (Chiba Univ. / RIKEN R-IH)
Takashi Sakajo (Kyoto Univ. / RIKEN iTHEMS)