Thu 03 Apr 16:00: 2024 Novo Nordisk Prize Lectures
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Professors Sir Shankar Balasubramanian and Sir David Klenerman
- Thursday 03 April 2025, 16:00-17:30
- Venue: Dept of Chemistry, (BMS) Bristol Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Chemistry Departmental-wide lectures; organiser: Balasubramanian-Admin.
Tue 11 Feb 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Wendelin Werner (Cambridge)
- Tuesday 11 February 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MR12.
- Series: Probability; organiser: ww295.
Wed 30 Apr 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Dr Bjarne Bergh, DAMTP, University of Cambridge
- Wednesday 30 April 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MR5, CMS Pavilion A.
- Series: Information Theory Seminar; organiser: Prof. Ramji Venkataramanan.
Wed 28 May 11:15: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Paul Goddard - University of Warwick
- Wednesday 28 May 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Mott Seminar Room (531), Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics.
- Series: Quantum Matter Seminar; organiser: Mads Fonager Hansen.
Thu 06 Feb 17:00: Formalisation of Combinatorial Optimisation in Isabelle/HOL: Network Flows
Combinatorial optimisation (CO) is a sub-area of discrete mathematics. Basic examples for CO problems are finding a shortest path or a minimum spanning tree in a graph. So-called network flows or variations of matching would be more advanced problems. There are also abstract concepts like matroids that offer an algebraic point of view and a uniform foundation for some of the more concrete problems.
Since the considered structures are finite, it is a natural aim to compute a solution efficiently. That implies an overlap with the theory of algorithms, especially running time analysis.
This talk is mainly about the Isabelle/HOL formalisation of a specific CO problem, namely, minimum cost flows, which are a subtype of network flows. Among others, this includes Orlin’s Algorithm, which is a most efficient method to compute a minimum cost flow in general networks. Also, the running time argument for this advanced algorithm and some reductions among flow problems were formalised.
- The Isabelle proof scripts can be found in this GitHub repo: https://github.com/mabdula/Isabelle-Graph-Library
- The formalisation is described in this paper: A Formal Analysis of Capacity Scaling Algorithms for Minimum Cost Flows by Mohammad Abdulaziz and Thomas Ammer, ITP 2024
=== Hybrid talk ===
Join Zoom Meeting https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/87143365195?pwd=SELTNkOcfVrIE1IppYCsbooOVqenzI.1
Meeting ID: 871 4336 5195
Passcode: 541180
- Speaker: Thomas Ammer (King's College London)
- Thursday 06 February 2025, 17:00-18:00
- Venue: MR14 Centre for Mathematical Sciences.
- Series: Formalisation of mathematics with interactive theorem provers ; organiser: Jonas Bayer.
Fri 14 Mar 10:30: TBC (Mini-course talk 2) Please note the unusual time and place.
Abstract not available
Please note the unusual time and place.
- Speaker: Jonny Evans (Lancaster)
- Friday 14 March 2025, 10:30-11:30
- Venue: CMS, MR15.
- Series: Differential Geometry and Topology Seminar; organiser: Ailsa Keating.
Thu 13 Mar 11:15: TBC (Mini-course talk 1) Please note the unusual time and place.
Abstract not available
Please note the unusual time and place.
- Speaker: Jonny Evans (Lancaster)
- Thursday 13 March 2025, 11:15-12:15
- Venue: CMS, MR14.
- Series: Differential Geometry and Topology Seminar; organiser: Ailsa Keating.
Wed 12 Mar 16:00: TBC (Geometry Colloquium)
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Jonny Evans (Lancaster)
- Wednesday 12 March 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: MR13.
- Series: Differential Geometry and Topology Seminar; organiser: Ailsa Keating.
Wed 28 May 11:15: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Paul Goddard
- Wednesday 28 May 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Mott Seminar Room (531), Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics.
- Series: Quantum Matter Seminar; organiser: Mads Fonager Hansen.
Wed 14 May 11:15: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Sven Friedemann - University of Bristol
- Wednesday 14 May 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Mott Seminar Room (531), Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics.
- Series: Quantum Matter Seminar; organiser: Mads Fonager Hansen.
Wed 19 Mar 11:15: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Marie-Aude Measson - CNRS Institut Neel
- Wednesday 19 March 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Mott Seminar Room (531), Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics.
- Series: Quantum Matter Seminar; organiser: Mads Fonager Hansen.
Wed 05 Mar 11:15: Emergent phenomena in nanosculpted devices of quantum materials
Electrons typically traverse a conductive medium in a diffusive manner, resulting in a linear relationship between the measured voltage and applied current – known as Ohm’s law. However, violations of Ohm’s law may be found when the inherent symmetries of the underlying system are broken. Examples include the sliding motion of density waves; ballistic or hydrodynamic electron transport; or the symmetry-breaking realised by lattice or magnetic order. Focused ion beam (FIB) fabrication methods enable precise nanoscale devices to be fashioned from high-quality single crystalline materials, ideal for exploring these nonlinear phenomena. Such nanoengineering offers vast potential for the investigation of both fundamental physics and the development novel quantum devices. In this talk, I will introduce three specific examples. Firstly, we will explore the current-induced sliding motion of a skyrmion lattice in Gd2PdSi3 and the resulting emergent electrodynamics, which originate from a time-dependent Berry phase. Secondly, I will highlight our latest breakthrough to develop FIB fabrication of three dimensional nanostructures, in the form of helical-shaped devices of the high-mobility Weyl magnet CoSn2S2. By breaking inversion symmetry on the length scale of the electron mean free path, we observe large nonreciprocal transport, resulting in a switchable diode effect. Finally, if time permits, I will discuss the possibility to fabricate highly symmetrical devices, which allows the probing of symmetry breaking along multiple directions of a material simultaneously – in this case exploited to study signatures of p-wave magnetism in Gd3Ru4Al12.
- Speaker: Max Birch - RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science
- Wednesday 05 March 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Mott Seminar Room (531), Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics.
- Series: Quantum Matter Seminar; organiser: Mads Fonager Hansen.
Fri 14 Feb 14:00: Anomalous fluctuations in stochastic cellular automata
Anomalous fluctuations are phenomena where hydrodynamic fluctuations in the system behave in a way that violates usual expectations, e.g. typical fluctuations that are Gaussian. It was discovered recently that certain many-body systems exhibit such fluctuations, and one of the most notable examples is the isotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain whose spin transport shows a surprising “partial” Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) physics. Such partial KPZ behaviour has been also experimentally confirmed using superconducting qubits, where it was observed that the higher spin cumulants behave in a way that is not controlled by any known KPZ sub universality class (e.g. GUE or Baik-Rains). In this talk, I will introduce a hydrodynamic framework based the ballistic macroscopic fluctuation theory to describe anomalous fluctuations and apply it to a class of stochastic cellular automata. The cellular automata, which have been solved microscopically, conserve a charge and it has been demonstrated that the charge fluctuations in these systems and the spin fluctuations in the easy-axis Heisenberg chain are both anomalous with the same non-Gaussian probability distribution function. I will show how our approach successfully reproduces the known typical and large charge fluctuations in the systems and explain how one can understand the phenomena hydrodynamically in systems with a Z_2 charge.
- Speaker: Takato Yoshimura, Oxford
- Friday 14 February 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: TCM Seminar Room.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Gaurav.
Thu 15 May 14:00: Creation of Chemical Complexity via Controlled Functionalization of Organoboron Compounds
Novel reactivities of organoboron compounds have been identified as a source for creating new chemical spaces with functional value. Previously uncharted approaches of activation including, non-covalent interactions, electrochemical redox processes, and photoexcitation have been exploited for the functionalization of organoboron compounds. Combined experimental and computational studies provide insight into the fundamental understanding of the process. Special emphasis of the research program has been devoted to the formation of products with stereochemically-enriched C(sp3) center.
References [1] Go, S. Y.; Chung, H.; Shin, S. J.; An, S.; Youn, J. H.; Im, T. Y.; Kim, J. Y.; Chung, T. D.; Lee, H. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 9149. [2] Roh, B.; Farah, A. O.; Kim, B.; Feoktistova, T.; Moller, F.; Cheong, P. H.; Lee, H. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 7075. [3] Koo, J.; Kim, W.; Jhun, B. H.; Park, S.; Song, D.; You, Y.; Lee, H. G. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 22874.
- Speaker: Prof Hong Geun Lee (Seoul National University)
- Thursday 15 May 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: Dept. of Chemistry, Pfizer Lecture Theatre.
- Series: Synthetic Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Jasmine Mitchell.
Wed 05 Feb 11:15: Emergent phenomena in nanosculpted devices of quantum materials
Electrons typically traverse a conductive medium in a diffusive manner, resulting in a linear relationship between the measured voltage and applied current – known as Ohm’s law. However, violations of Ohm’s law may be found when the inherent symmetries of the underlying system are broken. Examples include the sliding motion of density waves; ballistic or hydrodynamic electron transport; or the symmetry-breaking realised by lattice or magnetic order. Focused ion beam (FIB) fabrication methods enable precise nanoscale devices to be fashioned from high-quality single crystalline materials, ideal for exploring these nonlinear phenomena. Such nanoengineering offers vast potential for the investigation of both fundamental physics and the development novel quantum devices. In this talk, I will introduce three specific examples. Firstly, we will explore the current-induced sliding motion of a skyrmion lattice in Gd2PdSi3 and the resulting emergent electrodynamics, which originate from a time-dependent Berry phase. Secondly, I will highlight our latest breakthrough to develop FIB fabrication of three dimensional nanostructures, in the form of helical-shaped devices of the high-mobility Weyl magnet CoSn2S2. By breaking inversion symmetry on the length scale of the electron mean free path, we observe large nonreciprocal transport, resulting in a switchable diode effect. Finally, if time permits, I will discuss the possibility to fabricate highly symmetrical devices, which allows the probing of symmetry breaking along multiple directions of a material simultaneously – in this case exploited to study signatures of p-wave magnetism in Gd3Ru4Al12.
- Speaker: Max Birch - RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science
- Wednesday 05 February 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Mott Seminar Room (531), Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics.
- Series: Quantum Matter Seminar; organiser: Mads Fonager Hansen.
Fri 07 Feb 13:00: Unimodular JT gravity and de Sitter quantum cosmology
In this talk, I will show how a gauge-theoretic approach to Jackiw–Teitelboim (JT) gravity naturally yields a two-dimensional Henneaux–Teitelboim (HT) unimodular theory, applicable to both flat and curved spacetimes. Under a mini-superspace reduction, the Wheeler–DeWitt equation becomes a Schrödinger-like equation admitting a consistent, unitary quantum description. The resulting wavefunction describes a quantum distribution for the scale factor, illuminating cosmic expansion and contraction, and allowing topology change at a=0.
- Speaker: Farbod Rassouli, University of Nottingham
- Friday 07 February 2025, 13:00-14:00
- Venue: Potter room / https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/87235967698.
- Series: DAMTP Friday GR Seminar; organiser: Xi Tong.
Thu 15 May 14:00: Walter Kohn: the theoretical physicist who created DFT and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof. Sir David Clary, FRS (University of Oxford)
- Thursday 15 May 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: TCM Seminar Room.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Bo Peng.
Fri 07 Feb 16:00: Flavour Physics Beyond the Standard Model with the SMEFT Likelihood
New physics beyond the Standard Model (SM) is needed to address open questions within the SM and to explain experimental observations that the SM cannot account for. While direct searches at the Large Hadron Collider have reached their energy limit without finding particles beyond the SM (BSM), precision measurements, in particular those in flavour physics, probe energy scales far beyond the reach of direct searches. In this talk I will discuss how measurements of flavour and other precision observables, combined with Effective Field Theory (EFT) methods, can be used to indirectly search for heavy BSM particles. I will present a likelihood function in the Standard Model EFT (SMEFT) that includes a large number of flavour observables, and show how it can be applied to the flavour phenomenology of BSM models.
- Speaker: Peter Stangl (CERN)
- Friday 07 February 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: MR19 (Potter Room, Pavilion B), CMS.
- Series: HEP phenomenology joint Cavendish-DAMTP seminar; organiser: Nico Gubernari.
Tue 11 Mar 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Daniel Kious (Bath)
- Tuesday 11 March 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MR12.
- Series: Probability; organiser: ww295.
Tue 18 Mar 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Louis-Pierre Arguin (Oxford)
- Tuesday 18 March 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: MR12.
- Series: Probability; organiser: ww295.