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X-WR-CALDESC:School of Physics & Astronomy Events
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CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/London
X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
DTSTART:19810329T010000
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TZNAME:BST
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TZOFFSETTO:+0000
DTSTART:19961027T020000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-85717@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250508T134751
LAST-MODIFIED:20250605T101209
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250610T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250610T113000
SUMMARY:Making the most of science communications
DESCRIPTION:Curious about crafting compelling stories that captivate your 
 audience and help raise your profile?\n\nThis event will include:\n\n\n Wh
 at makes an engaging news story?\n How research\, innovation and local suc
 cesses are shared across the School\, University\, the media and beyond.\n
  Who to contact when you have a story to share.\n\n\nPresenters will also 
 give an overview of the media cycle\, the channels used to share School ne
 ws\, tips on giving interviews\, and guidance on how to create compelling 
 stories which resonate with your audiences.\n\nPresenters:\n\n\n Rhona Cra
 wford and Corin Campbell (PR & Media Managers\, based in the Research Comm
 unications team\, Communications & Marketing)\n Megan Welford (Senior Comm
 unications Manager\, Edinburgh Innovations)\n Caroline Keir (Publicity and
  Communications Officer\, School of Physics and Astronomy)\n\n\nEvent deta
 ils:\n\nTuesday 10 June 2025\, 10am – 11.30am\n\nThe event will be hybri
 d and recorded:\n\n- in person at Larch Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building
 \, KB\n\n- online via Teams - meeting link\n\nThere will be the opportunit
 y to ask questions.
LOCATION:Larch Lecture Theatre\, The Nucleus Building
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85717-making-the-most-of-science-c
 ommunications
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-85699@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250501T110139
LAST-MODIFIED:20250501T110322
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250731
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250801
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
SUMMARY:Ice\, Ice\, Maybe? Life in the Cold Universe
DESCRIPTION:UKCA Harding Essay Competition 2025\n\nThe UK Centre for Astro
 biology (UKCA) at the University of Edinburgh has officially launched the 
 2025 UKCA Harding Essay Competition\, inviting undergraduate and postgradu
 ate students across the UK to take part.\n\nThis annual competition offers
  a unique platform for students to explore topics that connect science\, c
 ulture\, and philosophy. Participants are encouraged to share their insigh
 ts and original ideas\, with the opportunity to have their work published 
 on the UKCA website and win exciting prizes.\n\nThe competition is open to
  students from all disciplines — whether aspiring journalists\, scientis
 ts\, or creative writers. "This is a chance for students to make their voi
 ces heard and engage with some of the biggest questions about life\, the u
 niverse\, and our place within it\," the organisers said.\n\nDeadline and 
 further information\n\nDeadline to submit: 31 July 2025\n\nSubmission ema
 il: UKCA-info [at] ed.ac.uk\n\nFull details\, including competition guidel
 ines are available on the UKCA webpage: Competitions | UK Centre for Astro
 biology.
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85699-ice-ice-maybe-life-in-the-co
 ld-universe
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-85977@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250815T113611
LAST-MODIFIED:20250912T162400
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250916T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250916T140000
SUMMARY:Colloquium with Kavan Modi
DESCRIPTION:More to be announced soon...\n\nSpeaker:\n* Kavan Modi (Monash
  University)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre\, Room 4305\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85977-colloquium-with-kavan-modi
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86134@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250916T122258
LAST-MODIFIED:20250917T123405
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250918T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250918T180000
SUMMARY:Learning physics in the age of Generative AI
DESCRIPTION:All students and staff welcome.\n\nSpeaker\n\nProf Ross Gallow
 ay\, School of Physics and Astronomy.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Professor Ross Gallow
 ay FInstP FRAS (School of Physics & Astronomy\, University of Edinburgh)
LOCATION:Alder Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building\, King's Buildings
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86134-learning-physics-in-the-age-
 of-generative-ai
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86157@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250923T105148
LAST-MODIFIED:20250923T105148
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250925T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250925T180000
SUMMARY:Biological droplets: physics and disease
DESCRIPTION:All students and staff welcome.\n\nSpeaker\n\nDr Willem Vander
 lindent\, based in the School's Physics of Living Matter group.\n\nRefresh
 ments\n\nMeet at 16.30 in the Nucleus Building foyer for tea and cakes pri
 or to the talk.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Dr Willem Vanderlinden (School of Physics &
  Astronomy\, University of Edinburgh)
LOCATION:Elm Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building\, King's Buildings
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86157-biological-droplets-physics-
 and-disease
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86138@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250917T153822
LAST-MODIFIED:20250919T100709
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250927
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250929
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
SUMMARY:Doors Open Day
DESCRIPTION:Undertake fun physics and astronomy activities during Doors Op
 en Day 2025.\n\nPhysics\n\nCome and build a LEGO Mars rover and find out h
 ow this relates to the quest for finding the most mysterious and unknown m
 atter of the Universe: dark matter.\n\nDate: Saturday 27 September 2025\n\
 nTime: 10:00 – 17:00\n\nVenue: McEwan Hall\, Central Campus\n\nLink to a
 ll University of Edinburgh Doors Open Day events: Physics at Doors Open Da
 y\n\nAstronomy\n\nA chance to discover the ‘out of this world’. Activi
 ties include speaking to astronomers and engineers\, crafts and handling m
 eteorites. \n\nPLEASE NOTE: Due to essential repairs\, the rooftop and Vi
 ctorian telescope dome at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh will be closed. 
 There are still lots of other areas to see on the site.\n\nDate: Saturday 
 27 & Sunday 28 September 2025\n\nTime: 10:00 – 17:00 (last entry 15.45)\
 n\nVenue: Royal Observatory Edinburgh\, Blackford Hill\n\nLink to further 
 information and tickets: Astronomy at Doors Open Day
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86138-doors-open-day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-85979@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250815T113758
LAST-MODIFIED:20250918T110425
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251003T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251003T140000
SUMMARY:Analogue Simulation with Quantum Nano-Electronic Circuits
DESCRIPTION:Analogue simulation provides a way to solve hard computational
  problems by building physical devices that mimic those problems. The hist
 ory of such devices goes back at least 2000 years to the intricate clockwo
 rk mechanisms used to make complex astronomical predictions\, before the a
 dvent of all-purpose digital computers. But today there remain many import
 ant problems that are intractable\, even for the fastest supercomputers. A
 n important class of such problems relates to simulating fundamental model
 s of quantum matter\, which underpin our understanding of nanoscale proces
 ses and bulk materials. Since universal quantum computers capable of tackl
 ing such problems are still far off\, an emerging paradigm is to sacrifice
  generality for power by constructing devices with quantum components to p
 erform analogue quantum simulation.\n\nIn this Colloquium I will give an i
 ntroduction to the field of analogue simulation\, and present results from
  a recent experiment-theory collaboration in which a bespoke nano-electron
 ics circuit was used to solve a complex quantum many-body model. The quant
 um device realizes a new quantum impurity model that supports a novel "non
 -Fermi liquid" quantum critical point and hosts so-called 'anyons' -- exot
 ic emergent quasiparticles that are neither fermionic nor bosonic in natur
 e. Finally\, I discuss recent progress in developing methods to measure th
 e fractional entropy associated with such anyons.\n\nBio: Andrew Mitchell 
 is an Associate Professor of theoretical physicist at University College D
 ublin in Ireland\, and Director of the UCD Centre for Quantum Engineering\
 , Science\, and Technology (C-QuEST). His research in quantum condensed ma
 tter focuses on strongly correlated electron problems\, as applied to the 
 theory and simulation of quantum nanoelectronics devices. He was awarded a
  PhD from Oxford University in 2010 and did postdoctoral fellowships in Co
 logne\, Oxford and Utrecht before taking up a faculty position at UCD in 2
 017.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Andrew Mitchell (University College Dublin)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85979-analogue-simulation-with-qua
 ntum-nano-electronic-circuits
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86208@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20251006T125615
LAST-MODIFIED:20251006T125659
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251016T171500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251016T190000
SUMMARY:Professor John Loveday Inaugural Lecture: Some things you can do w
 ith a Paris Edinburgh cell
DESCRIPTION:About this Lecture\n\nThe development of the Paris-Edinburgh c
 ell established neutron diffraction as a viable high-pressure technique an
 d transformed understanding of high-pressure phenomena which can only be s
 tudied by neutron diffraction. In my talk\, I will describe the cell and i
 ts development\, and illustrate it's impact with examples from my work.\n\
 nBiography\n\nJohn Loveday graduated in Chemical Physics at Bristol in 198
 4. After PhD studies in low-temperature physics again at Bristol he joined
  the then Department of Physics at Edinburgh in 1987 as a postdoc.\n\nInit
 ially he worked on the structures of superconductors at high pressure but 
 in 1988 he become one of the founding members of the team which developed 
 the Paris-Edinburgh pressure cell for neutron don diffraction.\n\nFrom 199
 2-2003 he was based at the ISIS neutron source in Oxfordshire and in 2003 
 he moved back to Edinburgh to take up a readership. As a founding member o
 f the Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions (CSEC) He has led programme
 s of research into the properties of ices (ammonia\, methane\, and water-i
 ce) and ice mixtures at high pressure. These programmes are focussed on un
 derstanding the fundamental properties of the ices and on understanding ho
 w these properties determines the behaviour of bodies in the Outer Solar S
 ystem like Uranus\, Neptune\, and Titan.\n\nRefreshments\n\nThe lecture wi
 ll be followed by a reception in the foyer\, Nucleus Building.\n\nPlease r
 egister your interest via the Eventbrite Link\n\nSpeaker:\n* Professor Joh
 n Loveday (School of Physics & Astronomy\, University of Edinburgh)
LOCATION:The Alder Lecture Theatre\, The Nucleus
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86208-professor-john-loveday-inaug
 ural-lecture-some-things-you-can-do-with-a-paris-edinburgh-cell
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86140@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250918T110708
LAST-MODIFIED:20250918T110708
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251017T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251017T140000
SUMMARY:The trouble with free energy landscapes
DESCRIPTION:In Kramers’ theory of chemical reaction rates\, classical nu
 cleation theory\, phase field modeling\, and the modeling of biomolecular 
 kinetics\, the dynamics of coarse-grained variables is treated as a stocha
 stic process driven by the gradient of a thermodynamic potential. We will 
 discuss how these models can be motivated based on the physics of the unde
 rlying microscopic processes. We will show which (often uncontrolled) assu
 mptions need to be made to arrive at stochastic dynamics in a free energy 
 landscape and we will discuss common misperceptions regarding the fluctuat
 ion dissipation theorem.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Tanja Schilling (University of Fre
 iburg)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86140-the-trouble-with-free-energy
 -landscapes
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86268@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20251021T095011
LAST-MODIFIED:20251021T095011
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251023T180000
SUMMARY:What has particle physics ever done for me?
DESCRIPTION:All students and staff welcome.\n\nSpeaker\n\nProfessor Pippa 
 Wells\, Deputy Director CERN\n\nRefreshments\n\nMeet at 16.30 in the Nucle
 us Building foyer for tea and cakes prior to the talk.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Prof
 essor Pippa Wells (CERN)
LOCATION:Alder Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building\, King's Buildings
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86268-what-has-particle-physics-ev
 er-done-for-me
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-85981@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250815T114013
LAST-MODIFIED:20251021T100224
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251024T140000
SUMMARY:Battle of the Big Bang: New Tales of our Cosmic Origins
DESCRIPTION:For more than half a century\, the Big Bang has stood as the s
 tandard story of cosmic origins: a universe born from an almost unimaginab
 le explosion of space and time. Yet\, as our observational reach has expan
 ded and theoretical puzzles have deepened\, cracks have begun to appear in
  this seemingly solid narrative. In Battle of the Big Bang—a new book co
 -authored with Phil Halper—I explore the competing visions now reshaping
  our understanding of where the cosmos comes from and where it may be head
 ed. This colloquium will take the audience on a guided tour through the fr
 ontier of modern cosmology: from black holes and gravitational waves\, to 
 the strange physics of quantum spacetime\, to radical proposals that chall
 enge the very idea of a singular beginning. Along the way\, I will highlig
 ht how scientific debates are not merely technical disputes\, but part of 
 a broader human struggle to make sense of existence—one that connects ma
 thematics\, philosophy with religion and culture. By weaving together the 
 latest results in astronomy and theoretical physics with the drama of comp
 eting ideas and their champions\, I hope to share both the excitement and 
 the stakes of this new cosmic conversation and how it will shape the futur
 e of our humanity.\n\nThis talk will be aimed at a broad audience: undergr
 aduates welcome!\n\nProf Afshordi’s new book “Battle of the Big Bangs:
  The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins” will also be available for purchas
 e before and after the talk.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Niayesh Afshordi (Perimeter In
 stitute )
LOCATION:Elm Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85981-battle-of-the-big-bang-new-t
 ales-of-our-cosmic-origins
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86222@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20251015T155012
LAST-MODIFIED:20251021T105728
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251030T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251030T190000
SUMMARY:Higgs Halloween Lecture - A Dangerous Shade of Green
DESCRIPTION:Please come along to our delightfully poisonous Halloween Lect
 ure that is full of spooky fun for the entire family\, on Thursday the 30t
 h of October at 5:30pm. Join guest speaker Drew Rosen\, as he speaks about
  how we see colour\, how we measure colour and why one particular shade of
  green was both enticing and deadly.\n\nThis event is perfect for the fami
 ly\, we recommend 10+ but everyone is welcome. We encourage you to dress u
 p. There will be a prize for best costume and best joke!\n\nMore informati
 on about the Location:\n\nThe entrance to the Medical School is accessible
  through Teviot Place\, it is Doorway 3. The entrance into the building is
  directly is across from the restaurant Mezcal. The lecture will be help i
 n the Anatomy Lecture Theatre (room 425). Once you are in the building the
 re will be direction signs point you up to the room\n\nSpeaker:\n* Rosen D
 rew (University of Edinburgh )
LOCATION:Anatomy Lecture Theatre (room 425)\, Medical School\, Teviot Plac
 e\, Edinburgh EH8 9AG
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86222-higgs-halloween-lecture-a-da
 ngerous-shade-of-green
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86593@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20251104T083706
LAST-MODIFIED:20251106T141932
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251106T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251106T180000
SUMMARY:Interested in applying for a PhD?
DESCRIPTION:All students and staff welcome.\n\nSpeaker\n\nDr Tyler Shendru
 k and Dr Pascal Reiter (School of Physics and Astronomy\, University of Ed
 inburgh)\n\nRefreshments\n\nMeet at 16.30 in the Nucleus Building foyer fo
 r tea and cakes prior to the talk.\n\nSpeakers:\n* Dr. Tyler Shendruk (Sch
 ool of Physics & Astronomy\, University of Edinburgh)\n* Dr Moritz Pascal 
 Reiter (School of Physics & Astronomy\, University of Edinburgh)
LOCATION:Alder Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building\, King's Buildings
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86593-interested-in-applying-for-a
 -phd
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-85983@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250815T114233
LAST-MODIFIED:20251031T152941
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251114T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251114T140000
SUMMARY:The modern legacy of Tait’s knot theory
DESCRIPTION:Following Lord Kelvin’s attempt to establish a vortex atom t
 heory of matter (a proper topological field ‘theory of everything’ ant
 e litteram)\, Peter Guthrie Tait undertook the immense task of studying an
 d classifying knots and links\, thus contributing to the origin of the mat
 hematics of knot theory. His work remained little known until its re-disco
 very by J.H. Conway in the ‘70s and the subsequent work on the derivatio
 n of knot polynomial invariants culminated with the Fields Medal to V.F.R.
  Jones (1990). Meanwhile\, a new form of theory of everything emerged with
  the work (crowned also by a Fields Medal in 1990) by E. Witten\, encapsul
 ating the Jones polynomials into the Chern-Simons theory of strings\, that
  led to the modern topological quantum field theory. But it is only in the
  last decades that knot theory has permeated the real world. First\, with 
 the topological interpration of helicity (a conserved quantity of ideal fl
 uid mechanics) by H.K. Moffatt (1969)\, where vortex dynamics and plasma p
 hysics become the playground of knotted fields\, paving the way to the rec
 ent realisation and observation of optical knots\, superfluid knots\, Hopf
 ions\, Skyrmions and all sorts of knotted defects in liquid crystals and c
 ondensates (work that has ramified into DNA topology\, polymer physics and
  quantum computation). Tait’s abstract world is every day more real and 
 alive all around us\, in our physical world.\n\n\n [1] Ricca\, R.L. & Liu\
 , X. (Eds.) 2024 Knotted Fields. Lecture Notes in Mathematics 2344. Spring
 er-Nature\, Switzerland.\n [2] Tubiana\, L. et al. (2024) Topology in soft
  and biological matter. Physics Reports 1075\, 1-137.\n [3] Ricca\, R.L 20
 25 Topological fluid dynamics and knotted fields. In Encyclopedia of Mathe
 matical Physics (ed. R. Szabo & M. Bojowald) 4\, pp. 245-255. Academic Pre
 ss (2nd edition).\n\nSpeaker:\n* Renzo Ricca (University of Milano-Bicocca
  (UniMiB))
LOCATION:Higgs Centre\, Room 4305\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85983-the-modern-legacy-of-taits-k
 not-theory
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-85960@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250811T123014
LAST-MODIFIED:20250811T123014
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251120
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251121
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
SUMMARY:Postgraduate Open Day
DESCRIPTION:Learn more about postgraduate degrees at the School of Physics
  and Astronomy. \n\nDetails will follow in due course.\n\nAll University 
 of Edinburgh postgraduate open day information: Postgraduate Open Days
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85960-postgraduate-open-day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86142@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250918T110939
LAST-MODIFIED:20251117T141110
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251121T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251121T140000
SUMMARY:Beyond the Geometry of Music
DESCRIPTION:More to be announced soon.....\n\nSpeaker:\n* Dmitri Tymoczko 
 (Princeton University)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86142-beyond-the-geometry-of-music
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-85985@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250815T114552
LAST-MODIFIED:20250815T114552
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251126T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251126T170000
SUMMARY:Elizabeth Gardner Lecture 2025
DESCRIPTION:More to be announce soon...\n\nSpeaker:\n* Ada Altieri (Univer
 sité Paris Cité)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre\, Room 4305\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85985-elizabeth-gardner-lecture-20
 25
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86271@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20251021T104409
LAST-MODIFIED:20251021T104409
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251128T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251128T140000
SUMMARY:Colloquium with Alexandra Olaya-Castro
DESCRIPTION:More to be announced soon...\n\nSpeaker:\n* Alexandra Olaya-Ca
 stro (University College London)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre Seminar Room (4305\, JCMB)
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/86271-colloquium-with-alexandra-ol
 aya-castro
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-85946@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20250804T141608
LAST-MODIFIED:20250804T141608
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260106
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260110
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
SUMMARY:New Directions in Theoretical Physics 5 Conference
DESCRIPTION:New Directions in Theoretical Physics is a series of internati
 onal conferences organised by the Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics\, 
 aiming to highlight the outstanding issues and stimulate an exchange of id
 eas across all areas of contemporary theoretical physics. All talks are pl
 enary reviews aimed at a broad audience of theoretical physicists\, intend
 ed to inspire and to promote valuable cross-disciplinary interactions. The
 re will also be a poster session for attendees with flash talks to introdu
 ce them.\n\nThe January 2026 meeting is the fifth meeting in the series\, 
 following highly successful meetings in 2023\, 2019\, 2017 and 2014. 
 Among other things\, the meeting will celebrate 100 years of quantum mecha
 nics and look forward to the next 100 years!\n\nThe 2026 meeting will focu
 s on nonlinear physics across the scales and have sessions covering topics
  of great societal and intellectual importance:\n\nAstrophysics\, High Ene
 rgy Physics\, The Physics of Climate\, The Physics of Energy\, Biophysics\
 , Fluid Dynamics\, and The Next 100 years of Quantum Physics.\n\nThe confe
 rence venue is The Appleton Tower in Edinburgh city centre. The formal con
 ference will run from Tuesday 6th - Friday 9th January\, including 40 min
 ute review talks and time for posters and discussion. In the evening of th
 e first day (Tuesday\, 6 Jan) there will be a drinks reception followed by
  a public lecture\, delivered by Sir Steven Cowley. On the Wednesday eveni
 ng (7 Jan) all participants will be hosted for a conference dinner at the 
 Playfair Library.
LOCATION:Lecture 4\, Appleton Tower
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/85946-new-directions-in-theoretica
 l-physics-5-conference
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86649@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20251117T141432
LAST-MODIFIED:20251117T141445
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260106T174500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260106T203000
SUMMARY:Public Lecture by Sir Steven Cowley - "Fusion energy: when?"
DESCRIPTION:Please join us at 50 George Square for a drinks reception foll
 owed by a Public Lecture by Sir Steven Cowley (PPPL)\, the talk is called 
 "Fusion energy: when?". The drinks reception will be from 5:45pm and the l
 ecture will begin at 6:30pm.\n\nThis talk will be about\, how during a rem
 arkable 1920 lecture\, Arthur Eddington speculated that fusion might becom
 e the ultimate long-term energy source. Indeed\, the realization of that v
 ision will be revolutionary. More than a century later\, we are approachin
 g the milestone of generating net electricity from fusion for the first ti
 me. The UK’s STEP device\, for example\, aims to have a net-positive fus
 ion plant operational before 2040. While this is an ambitious goal\, recen
 t breakthroughs in both magnetic and inertial fusion—combined with a sur
 ge of private-sector investment—suggest success may be within reach. Thi
 s talk will outline the progress made and the critical challenges that rem
 ain.\n\nWhether you are a student\, researcher or curious about this subje
 ct\, this event is for you.\n\nAbout Sir Steven Cowley:\n\nSir Steven Cowl
 ey is a theoretical physicist and international authority on fusion energy
 . He’s laboratory director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeto
 n Plasma Physics Laboratory\, which is managed by Princeton University whe
 re Cowley is also professor of astrophysical sciences. He’s also chair o
 f the Board of Trustees for the Faraday Institution.\n\nPrior to his curre
 nt positions\, Cowley was president of Corpus Christi College and professo
 r of physics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Cowley pre
 viously was chief executive officer of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Au
 thority and head of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Si
 r Steven Cowley (PPPL)
LOCATION:G.03\, 50 George Square\, Edinburgh\, EH8 9LH
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/86649-public-lecture-by-sir-steven
 -cowley-fusion-energy-when
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86852@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260114T152600
LAST-MODIFIED:20260126T095135
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260130T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260130T140000
SUMMARY:Energy correlations: from QCD to gravity
DESCRIPTION:Energy correlations are infrared-safe observables that measure
  the flux of energy deposited in calorimeters located at different points 
 on the celestial sphere\, thereby encoding detailed information about the 
 dynamics of the underlying theory. Originally introduced to characterize h
 adronic final states in $e^+e^-$ annihilation\, they play a central role i
 n the study of jet substructure and precision QCD collider phenomenology.\
 n I will review the modern reformulation of energy correlations as correla
 tion functions of asymptotic detector operators---defined as light-ray ope
 rators acting at null infinity---and show how this framework naturally ext
 ends to perturbative quantum gravity in asymptotically flat spacetimes. In
  the gravitational setting\, the corresponding detector operators probe th
 e angular distribution of outgoing graviton radiation and define gravitati
 onal analogues of the energy correlations familiar from QCD. Using these t
 ools\, I will present the computation of energy correlators in perturbativ
 e quantum gravity at leading nontrivial order in the gravitational couplin
 g.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Gregory Korchemsky ((Institut de Physique Théorique\, C
 EA SaclayNational Centre for Scientific Research))
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/86852-energy-correlations-from-qcd
 -to-gravity
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86905@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260126T152621
LAST-MODIFIED:20260126T152621
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260206T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260206T140000
SUMMARY:Understanding the High Energy Limit of Quantum field Theory
DESCRIPTION:Quantum field theory has proven to be the most powerful and su
 ccessful tool in physics\, yet despite a century of progress many problems
  remain open. Some of these problems are just coming to light\, e.g. non-F
 ermi liquids\, while others have been around a while but are still open\, 
 such as the one I will discuss in this talk. Namely\, the high energy limi
 t\, which is the regime where the center of mass energy is hierarchily lar
 ger than the momentum exchange. This limit is of particular interest in Ya
 ng-Mills and gravity where it plays an important role both phenomenlogical
 ly\, and formally. In YM theory this limit dominates the cross section at 
 colliders\, while in gravity it leads to black hole formation. In both the
 ories our understanding of this Regge” limit is still lacking\, as naiv
 e calculations seem to lead to a breakdown of unitarity. In this talk i wi
 ll discuss how recent progress in effective field theory has led to new in
 sights and results.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Ira Rothstein (Carnegie Mellon Universi
 ty)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/86905-understanding-the-high-energ
 y-limit-of-quantum-field-theory
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86854@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260114T152739
LAST-MODIFIED:20260114T152739
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260220T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260220T140000
SUMMARY:A whistle-stop tour of quantum thermodynamics
DESCRIPTION:The steady interest in understanding the thermodynamics of qua
 ntum systems has led to several approaches to defining work and heat in a 
 quantum mechanically consistent way (at least almost consistent!). Quantum
  thermodynamics as a subfield has grown steadily in the last 15 years\, re
 vealing the impact that coherence can have on the energetics of quantum sy
 stems. In the first part of this talk\, I will initially aim to provide an
  overview of some of the major lines of inquiry in the field\, briefly dis
 cussing commonly employed definitions of quantum work\, its experimental m
 easurement\, and some proof-of-principle demonstrations of nano-scale quan
 tum heat engines. I will then discuss the interesting insights that can be
  derived by exploring in detail the quantum work statistics for many-body 
 quantum systems which are host to critical phenomena including quantum and
  localisation phase transitions.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Steve Campbell (University
  College Dublin)
LOCATION:Elm Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/86854-a-whistle-stop-tour-of-quant
 um-thermodynamics
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87015@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260213T092241
LAST-MODIFIED:20260213T092241
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260226T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260226T120000
SUMMARY:Alumni Career Talk with Eoin Ó Raghallaigh
DESCRIPTION:Eoin moved to Edinburgh from Ireland in 2016 for a PhD in Theo
 retical and Computational Physics with Richard Blythe and Martin Evans\, s
 tudying the differential equations behind bird flocking and how flocks tur
 n. He also co-lead outreach activities for his Centre for Doctoral Trainin
 g\, developing skills that have helped him during his later career. During
  his PhD\, he interned at the Scottish Government\, reviewing and updating
  a workforce planning model for post-graduate teacher education places. Wh
 en his PhD ended\, he returned to the Scottish Government as an Assistant 
 Statistician working on workforce diversity statistics and now works as a 
 Statistician leading on workforce analytics.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Eoin Ó Raghal
 laigh
LOCATION:Higgs Centre
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87015-alumni-career-talk-with-eoin
 -o-raghallaigh
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87110@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260304T091018
LAST-MODIFIED:20260310T133222
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260306T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260306T130000
SUMMARY:Facilitating student learning in the Physics Teaching Laboratory -
  Imperial College London
DESCRIPTION:All students and staff welcome.\n\nSpeaker\n\nDr Michael Fox (
 Department of Physics\, Imperial College London)\n\nAbstract\n\nIn this ta
 lk Dr Michael Fox will give an overview of the experimental physics progra
 mme for undergraduate physics students at Imperial College London before e
 xplaining how a handful of simple changes in the last few years have made 
 a dramatic improvement to the student and staff experience of the second-y
 ear lab course.\n\nThese changes include updating how reports are graded t
 o align with what they want students to learn\; how they assess student la
 b notebooks and professional skills in the lab\; and how the staff and gra
 duate teaching assistants in the lab are trained.\n\nDr Michael Fox will p
 resent a case study rather than a research report\, as the effect of indiv
 idual changes on overall outcomes or student sentiment cannot be separated
 . He hopes to provide the audience with some examples that may be of pract
 ical use when considering how to design or alter their own courses.\n\nRef
 reshments\n\nMeet at 11.45 level 6 corridor for tea and cakes prior to the
  talk.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Dr Michael Fox (Imperial College London )
LOCATION:Room 6206\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87110-facilitating-student-learnin
 g-in-the-physics-teaching-laboratory-imperial-college-london
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86901@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260126T123654
LAST-MODIFIED:20260126T123654
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260306T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260306T140000
SUMMARY:Aperiodic tilings in self-assembled soft-matter quasicrystals
DESCRIPTION:Aperiodic (quasicrystalline) tilings\, such as Penrose's tilin
 g\, can be built up from (for example) kites and darts\, squares and trian
 gles\, rhombi or shield-shaped tiles and can have a variety of different s
 ymmetries. However\, almost all quasicrystals occurring in soft matter are
  of the dodecagonal (12-fold rotation symmetry) type\, and many can be des
 cribed in terms of square and equilateral triangular tiles. Here\, we expl
 ore what contributes to the thermodynamic stability of soft-matter quasicr
 ystals\, both in two dimensions and in three\, and how the details of how 
 soft-matter particles interact leads to different kinds of aperiodic tilin
 gs. Although dodecagonal quasicrystals are the most common\, this work poi
 nts to how more general (beyond dodecagonal) quasicrystals can be designed
  in soft matter.\n\nAlastair Rucklidge Brief bio:\n\nAfter an education in
  engineering and theoretical physics and a PhD from Cambridge in Applied M
 athematics in 1992\, Alastair Rucklidge has made his career in the School 
 of Mathematics at the University of Leeds. The overall aim of his research
  is to understand why different patterns are found in different circumstan
 ces: what are the mechanisms that are responsible for stabilising complex 
 or disordered patterns in physical and chemical systems? At the simplest l
 evel\, the question is "why do zebras have stripes and leopards have spots
 ?" but there are more complex versions of this question in (for example) f
 luid dynamics\, soft matter crystalisation and reaction-diffusion systems.
  In recent years he has focussed on understanding properties of quasicryst
 als\, so named because they have symmetries (e.g.\, 12-fold rotation symme
 try) that were\, until the 1980s\, thought to be forbidden.\n\nSpeaker:\n*
  Alastair Rucklidge (University of Leeds )
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/86901-aperiodic-tilings-in-self-as
 sembled-soft-matter-quasicrystals
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87145@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260310T131539
LAST-MODIFIED:20260310T131539
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260312T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260312T180000
SUMMARY:How pipe flow becomes unstable or why turbulence is physics?
DESCRIPTION:All students and staff welcome.\n\nSpeaker\n\nProf Alexander M
 orozov (School of Physics and Astronomy)\n\nAbstract\n\nProf Morozov will
  give an overview of what is currently known about transition to turbulenc
 e in straight pipes and channels. He will review the existing experimenta
 l results for such flows\, discuss how they are interpreted in mathematica
 l terms\, and argue that this problem belongs to the realm of non-equilib
 rium statistical mechanics.\n\nRefreshments\n\nMeet at 16.30 outside the l
 ecture theatre for tea and cakes prior to the talk.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Profess
 or Alexander Morozov (School of Physics & Astronomy\, University of Edinbu
 rgh)
LOCATION:Elm Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building\, King's Buildings
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87145-how-pipe-flow-becomes-unstab
 le-or-why-turbulence-is-physics
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86856@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260114T152938
LAST-MODIFIED:20260311T120312
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260320T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260320T140000
SUMMARY:Rethinking Bar Formation in Disk Galaxies
DESCRIPTION:Stellar bars are ubiquitous in disk galaxies\, yet despite dec
 ades of theoretical and numerical work\, a predictive understanding of whe
 n disks become bar unstable remains elusive. Classical approaches based on
  local stability criteria or idealized global arguments often fail to capt
 ure the behavior of realistic disks embedded in external potentials.\n\nIn
  this seminar\, I will present results from a suite of high-resolution N-b
 ody simulations that point to a new organizing principle for bar formation
 . Rather than being regulated by local conditions at a specific radius\, d
 isks arrange themselves within a global stability landscape defined by the
 ir overall dynamical state. Within this framework\, disks occupy well-defi
 ned regions of stability and instability\, naturally explaining why some d
 ynamically cold disks remain stable while others rapidly develop strong ba
 rs\, and why central mass concentrations play a decisive stabilizing role.
 \n\nI will then apply this global perspective to the recent discovery of a
  barred galaxy at z~3 in JWST data\, showing how the existence of a bar at
  such early cosmic times can be naturally understood within this stability
  landscape. Finally\, I will discuss how this criterion is scale-free and 
 extends to disks on much smaller scales\, offering a unified view of globa
 l m=2 stability from compact disks to galaxies across cosmic time.\n\nSpea
 ker:\n* Elena D'Onghia ( University of Wisconsin-Madison)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/86856-rethinking-bar-formation-in-
 disk-galaxies
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86938@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260203T093912
LAST-MODIFIED:20260203T110551
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260323T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260323T200000
SUMMARY:The Higgs boson and our life - Higgs Lecture 2026
DESCRIPTION:Please come along to our annual Higgs Lecture to listen to Fab
 iola Gianotti (CERN) talk about The Higgs Boson and our life.\n\nPlease jo
 in us on the 23rd of March at 6pm in the Large Events Space (Room 0.01) in
  the Edinburgh Future's Institute\, to hear Fabiola Gianotti's Higgs Lectu
 re 'The Higgs boson and our life'.\n\nThe talk will discuss CERN\, the Eur
 opean Laboratory for Particle Physics based in Geneva\, which is the world
 ’s leading research center for high-energy particle physics. Over its 70
 -year history\, the Organization has achieved groundbreaking discoveries 
 — notably the Higgs boson in 2012 — which have significantly advanced 
 humankind’s understanding of the fundamental constituents and laws of na
 ture\, as well as the structure and evolution of the Universe. This presen
 tation highlights the importance of the Higgs boson discovery and its impa
 ct on our lives\, CERN’s future plans\, and the Organization’s mission
  in all its facets: scientific research\, development of innovative techno
 logies\, education and training\, and collaboration across borders.\n\nThe
  Lecture will be followed by a drinks reception\, where you will have the 
 chance to view Professor Higgs' Nobel Medal\, that he was awarded in 2013 
 for the discovery of the Higgs Boson.\n\nWhether you are a student\, resea
 rcher or curious about this subject\, this event is for you.\n\nPlease not
 e photo's will be taken during this event\, please get in contact with hct
 p [at] ed.ac.uk if you do not want to be included in the photos.\n\nVenue 
 Details:\n\nPlease come in through the south entrance on Porters Walk.\n\n
 About Fabiola Gianotti:\n\nFabiola Gianotti was the Director-General of CE
 RN from 2016-2025. She is the first woman to have held this role\, and the
  first Director-General to be reappointed for a full second term. She has 
 received 15 honorary doctoral degrees from Universities across the world a
 nd is a foreign member of eight academies of science worldwide.\n\nFabiola
  Gianotti joined CERN as a research physicist in 1994. From 2009 to 2013\,
  she was the head (“spokesperson”) of the ATLAS experiment at the Larg
 e Hadron Collider (LHC). It was during this period that the ATLAS and CMS 
 experiments announced the discovery of the Higgs boson.\n\nAny questions\,
  please get in contact with hctp [at] ed.ac.uk.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Fabiola Gia
 notti (CERN )
LOCATION:Large Events Space\, Room 0.01\, Edinburgh Futures Institute
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/86938-the-higgs-boson-and-our-life
 -higgs-lecture-2026
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87175@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260313T083713
LAST-MODIFIED:20260313T083713
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260324T120000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260324T130000
SUMMARY:Machine learning the Hohenberg–Kohn functional: breathing life i
 nto a 60-year-old dream
DESCRIPTION:In 1964\, Hohenberg and Kohn proved that the ground state of a
 n interacting electron system is completely determined by its electron den
 sity. In principle\, this result promises a dramatic simplification of ele
 ctronic structure theory: instead of solving for a many-electron wave func
 tion in a 3N-dimensional space\, one could obtain the ground state by mini
 mizing an energy functional of the three-dimensional electron density.\n\n
 In practice\, this vision has remained unrealized\, because the key ingred
 ient—the kinetic-energy functional of the density—is unknown for real 
 molecular systems. Modern Kohn-Sham density functional theory circumvents 
 this obstacle by introducing auxiliary orbitals\, but at the price of cubi
 c scaling with system size.\n\nIn this talk I will show that the missing f
 unctional can be learned to sufficient accuracy for increasingly complex c
 hemistry using rotation equivariant machine learning models. A key ingredi
 ent is the generation of training data by perturbing external potentials\,
  exposing the model to physically meaningful density variations.\n\nThese 
 results suggest that machine learning may finally enable a practical reali
 zation of the Hohenberg–Kohn program\, opening an orbital-free density f
 unctional theory route to chemically accurate electronic-structure calcula
 tions for large systems\, complementing both linear-scaling density functi
 onal theory and machine-learned interatomic potentials.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Fre
 d Hamprecht (Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) and D
 ept. of Physics and Astronomy Heidelberg University)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87175-machine-learning-the-hohenbe
 rg-kohn-functional-breathing-life-into-a-60-year-old-dream
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87217@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260325T164454
LAST-MODIFIED:20260325T164454
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260326T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260326T180000
SUMMARY:What’s in the box\, and does it matter?
DESCRIPTION:All students and staff welcome.\n\nSpeaker\n\nProf Ross Gallow
 ay (School of Physics and Astronomy)\n\nTalk\n\nWhat’s in the box\, and 
 does it matter?: 'Black box' experiments to promote exploratory thinking.\
 n\nRefreshments\n\nMeet at 16.30 outside the lecture theatre for tea and c
 akes prior to the talk.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Professor Ross Galloway FInstP FRAS
  (School of Physics & Astronomy\, University of Edinburgh)
LOCATION:Elm Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building\, King's Buildings
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87217-whats-in-the-box-and-does-it
 -matter
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87186@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260316T132612
LAST-MODIFIED:20260316T132612
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260327T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260327T140000
SUMMARY:Engineering Gravity via Conformal Field Theory
DESCRIPTION:Holography posits a radical way to quantify gravitational phys
 ics. It claims that all information of a gravitational theory in a region 
 of space can be encoded by a quantum field theory at the boundary of this 
 region. Here I will discuss quantum gravity from this perspective. We will
  see how one can engineer—i.e.\, design and build—gravity through this
  relationship\, using possible quantum theories on the boundary as materia
 ls for the undertaking. I will discuss how overcoming the challenging obst
 acles to this engineering task is paramount for deciphering mysterious pro
 perties of black holes and understanding fundamental aspects of quantum gr
 avity.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Alejandra Castro (University of Cambridge)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87186-engineering-gravity-via-conf
 ormal-field-theory
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87018@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260213T122713
LAST-MODIFIED:20260304T165123
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260402
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260420
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
SUMMARY:Physics and Astronomy at the Edinburgh Science Festival
DESCRIPTION:Edinburgh Science Festival takes place Saturday 4 – Sunday 1
 9 April 2026 and our staff and students are involved in a number of events
 :\n\nOpening Gala: First Women of Science\n\nThursday 2 April\n\nScotland'
 s past is filled with amazing women who changed the scientific path of his
 tory forever.\n\nHowever\, they were rarely recognised in their time. Miss
 ing from the pages of their own research\, denied the roles that were righ
 tfully theirs and their ideas claimed by others.\n\nNow Scotland feels lik
 e it is thriving\, women have stepped into the role of First Minister\, As
 tronomer Royal for Scotland\, and President of the Royal College of Surgeo
 ns of Edinburgh. How proud the Edinburgh Seven\, the first women to try to
  study medicine in Edinburgh\, would be of the progress that has been made
 .\n\nBut has that progress been enough? Hear from those who have been ‘t
 he first women’ in Scotland as they discuss what it truly means to be th
 e heard voices in a history of hidden voices. Has society really changed t
 hat much?\n\nHosted by former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in conversa
 tion with a panel including Astronomer Royal for Scotland Prof Catherine 
 Heymans and author of The Edinburgh Seven Janey Jones.\n\nOpening Gala:
  First Women of Science - Edinburgh Science\n\nEdinburgh Theoretical Physi
 cs Walking Tour\n\nSaturday 4 – Sunday 19 April\n\nDiscover Edinburgh’
 s storied history of theoretical physics.\n\nThis tour will guide you thro
 ugh the nooks and crannies of beautiful Edinburgh\, highlighting places as
 sociated with extraordinary physicists who have called the Scottish capita
 l home. You’ll learn personal anecdotes about physicists whose names you
 ’ll recognise\, as well as others who are less famous but no less intere
 sting. Hear about their fascinating life stories and world-changing scienc
 e in small groups led by physics lecturers and PhD researchers from the Un
 iversity.\n\nEdinburgh Theoretical Physics Walking Tour - Edinburgh Scienc
 e\n\nUniversity of Edinburgh: 7 Days\, 100 Scientists\n\nTuesday 7 – Mon
 day 13 April\n\nMeet the University of Edinburgh scientists working to bet
 ter understand our world and how to tackle the greatest challenges of our 
 time. From the microscopic to the vastness of the Universe\, medicine to r
 obotics and supercomputing\, there is something for everyone.\n\nUniversit
 y of Edinburgh: 7 Days\, 100 Scientists - Edinburgh Science\n\nInteracting
  (with) Galaxies\n\nFriday 17 April\n\nDespite the vastness of space\, mos
 t galaxies will experience collisions.\n\nThese mergers are complicated an
 d understanding them benefits from new approaches to data representation. 
 With the opportunity to interact with galaxies using several senses\, we w
 ill hear\, touch\, and see models and measurements of interacting galaxies
 .\n\nLearn about the technology that is powering this discovery space by w
 orking with data experts and engineers to improve representations of galax
 ies\, enabling a fuller understanding of the important stage of galactic e
 volution.\n\nInteracting (with) Galaxies - Edinburgh Science
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87018-physics-and-astronomy-at-the
 -edinburgh-science-festival
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87246@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260330T092519
LAST-MODIFIED:20260330T092604
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260410T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260410T140000
SUMMARY:Transport and Equilibration in Hot Quantum Chromodynamics Abstract
DESCRIPTION:Heavy ion collisions are a laboratory to explore the strong in
 teractions - QCD - under extremes of temperature and density. I will give 
 a theorist's-eye view of heavy ion collisions and the role of nonequilibri
 um physics. I will discuss the role of viscous hydrodynamics\, and the att
 empts and obstacles to first-principles calculations of the shear viscosit
 y and other transport coefficients\, including a novel approach to tunneli
 ng phenomena.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Guy Moore (Technische Universität Darmstadt)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87246-transport-and-equilibration-
 in-hot-quantum-chromodynamics-abstract
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87247@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260331T132147
LAST-MODIFIED:20260403T112933
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260410T170000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260410T183000
SUMMARY:Particles with Purpose – How Fundamental Physics Benefits Societ
 y
DESCRIPTION:Join acclaimed comedian Robin Ince as he chairs a lively and e
 ngaging discussion exploring how particle physics and fundamental science 
 shape our everyday lives.\n\nPanel scientists:\n\n\n Dr Harry Cliff (Cambr
 idge)\n Dr Kirsty Duffy (Oxford)\n Prof Jenni Smilie (Edinburgh)\n Dr Matj
 az Vidmar (Edinburgh)\n Dr Estifa'a Zaid (Liverpool)\n\n\nFeel free to bri
 ng in drinks from the Royal Dick pub or MF Coffee shop (both located insid
 e Summerhall).\n\nOpen to the public – friends and family welcome! \n\n
 This event is free\, but book your place on eventbrite: tickets\n\nSponsor
 ed by the Institute of Physics\, Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics\, th
 e Carla Fendi Foundation\, and the Science and Technology Facilities Counc
 il.
LOCATION:Main Hall\, Summerhall\, 1 Summerhall\, Edinburgh\, EH9 1PL
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87247-particles-with-purpose-how-f
 undamental-physics-benefits-society
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87270@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260407T095622
LAST-MODIFIED:20260407T095622
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260417T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260417T140000
SUMMARY:Exotic Phase Transitions in Open Quantum Systems
DESCRIPTION:In this talk I will show how phase transitions in open quantum
  systems can be richer than their equilibrium counterparts. To do this I w
 ill give two examples. The first shows how ideas of parity-time (PT) symme
 try breaking can be generalised to quantum mechanical systems. After intro
 ducing some simple examples I will show how this effect can compete with t
 he presence of a non-linear Hamiltonian to produce a very rich phase diagr
 am. The second example considers a paradigmatic model for light-matter int
 eractions\, the Dicke model\, generalised to include 2-photon interactions
 . I will show how\, for this model\, the behaviour is drastically altered 
 by the presence of different dissipation mechanisms\, removing an instabil
 ity in the Hamiltonian.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Peter Kirton (University of Strathc
 lyde)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87270-exotic-phase-transitions-in-
 open-quantum-systems
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87268@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260406T085854
LAST-MODIFIED:20260406T085854
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260424T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260424T140000
SUMMARY:Overlaps in spin glasses and models of evolution
DESCRIPTION:A measure of similarity or overlap between different configura
 tions or individuals appears in many complex systems such as spin glasses\
 , evolving populations\, optimization problems and neural networks. In the
  context of spin glasses\, the concept was introduced by Edwards and Ander
 son 50 years ago and gives a measure of similarity between pairs of spin c
 onfigurations. In the context of evolving populations\, the overlap measur
 es the similarity between genomes of individuals. In general the overlaps 
 fluctuate and have non-trivial statistics. Giorgio Parisi's replica theory
  of mean field spin glasses predicted a universal form for the overlap sta
 tistics. In this talk I will compare these predictions with the statistics
  for different models of disordered systems and for evolving populations.\
 n\nSpeaker:\n* Bernard Derrida (College de France)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87268-overlaps-in-spin-glasses-and
 -models-of-evolution
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87017@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260213T092747
LAST-MODIFIED:20260213T092747
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260430T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260430T120000
SUMMARY:Alumni Career Talk with Bokyoung Kim
DESCRIPTION:I was a postdoctoral research associate working with Dr Sergey
  Koposov at the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) from 2021 to 2024. My projec
 t was to analyse the kinematics and chemical properties of a few million s
 tars in the Solar neighbourhood using the DESI Milky Way Survey data compi
 led with Gaia. Beyond my research\, I was involved in teaching and supervi
 sing undergraduate students\, mentoring a PhD student at the University of
  Portsmouth\, and participating in outreach and DEI activities. After buil
 ding my research experience at IfA\, I joined the editorial team at Nature
  Astronomy in 2025\, currently working as an associate editor. With my exp
 ertise in stellar and Galactic astronomy\, I am covering almost all the to
 pics within the Milky Way\, including solar physics\, stellar astronomy\, 
 star formation and interstellar medium\, and Galactic astronomy and dynami
 cs.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Bokyoung Kim
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87017-alumni-career-talk-with-boky
 oung-kim
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87272@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260408T124813
LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T124813
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260508T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260508T140000
SUMMARY:The return of the WIMP: Onium in the Sky with Loops
DESCRIPTION:An electroweak weakly interacting particle (WIMP) with TeV sca
 le mass constitutes a minimalistic dark matter candidate. Extensive work i
 n recent years has uncovered physical effects which -- despite the intrins
 ic weak interaction strength -- can dramatically change the signatures of 
 dark matter annihilation. Owing to the large dark-matter mass\, the releva
 nt electroweak interactions exhibit many features more familiar from onium
  bound states and jets of the strong colour interaction. In this colloquiu
 m I discuss the diverse physical and field theoretical phenomena associate
 d with TeV mass WIMPs approaching them with effective field theory and res
 ummation methods better known from QCD.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Martin Beneke (Tech
 nical University of Munich)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87272-the-return-of-the-wimp-onium
 -in-the-sky-with-loops
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-86858@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260114T153141
LAST-MODIFIED:20260316T102803
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260513T143000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260513T153000
SUMMARY:Demystifying lattice QCD computations of alpha_s
DESCRIPTION:Lattice QCD permits the strong coupling constant alpha_s to be
  determined from the masses and decay constants of the light hadrons. The 
 precision achieved in these computations is competitive with the one of th
 e world average of the experimental measurements of the coupling and is li
 kely to improve in the coming years. In this colloquium\, the aim is to ex
 plain\, in terms that do not assume any expert knowledge of lattice QCD\, 
 how exactly the hadronic regime of QCD is connected to high-energy collide
 r physics and how the lattice calculations of alpha_s proceed.\n\nSpeaker:
 \n* Martin Lüscher (CERN Theory Department)
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre B\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/86858-demystifying-lattice-qcd-com
 putations-of-alphas
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87387@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260513T171554
LAST-MODIFIED:20260513T171626
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260520T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260520T140000
SUMMARY:Gravitational waves and phase transitions in the early Universe
DESCRIPTION:NOTE! This is on Wednesday! and in LTB!\n\nFuture gravitationa
 l wave detectors\, such as the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) s
 atellite mission\, will give us a unique window to the very early Universe
 . As opposed to electromagnetic radiation\, the Universe was transparent t
 o gravitational waves from the beginning\, and with sufficiently sensitive
  instruments it may be possible to observe the relic gravitational wave si
 gnal from processess which produced gravitational waves. These processes i
 nclude first order phase transitions. While the Standard Model of particle
  physics does not have first order phase transitions\, these exist in many
  beyond-the-standard-model extensions. Thus\, observation of primordial gr
 avitational waves from phase transitions would be a direct signal of beyon
 d-the-standard-model physics\, possibly at energy scales beyond the reach 
 of planned particle accelerators. In this talk I review the gravitational 
 wave generation in phase transitions and how computer simulations are used
  to accurately calculate the resulting gravitational wave spectrum.\n\nSpe
 aker:\n* Kari Rummukainen (University of Helsinki)
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre B\, JCMB and online
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87387-gravitational-waves-and-phas
 e-transitions-in-the-early-universe
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87366@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260505T191348
LAST-MODIFIED:20260526T143819
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260601T121000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260601T130000
SUMMARY:The arts and crafts\, life\, loves and dogs of James Clerk Maxwell
DESCRIPTION:As physicists know\, James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) was one o
 f the greatest scientists who ever lived. To him we owe the most significa
 nt discovery of our age - the theory of electromagnetism\, laying the foun
 dations for Hertz’s discovery of radio waves. He is rightly acclaimed as
  the founder of modern physics. In Maxwell’s equations lay the origins o
 f our understanding of electromagnetism and field theory.\n\nEinstein is q
 uoted as saying\, reflecting the development of Maxwellian realities:\n\n
 ‘One scientific epoch ended and another began with James Clerk Maxwell
 ’\n\nThe legacy left to us continues\; as recently as 2007 Freeman Dyson
  said:\n\n‘We may hope that a deep understanding of Maxwell’s theory w
 ill result in the dispersal of the fog of misunderstanding that still surr
 ounds the interpretation of quantum mechanics [and] … will help to lead 
 the way towards further triumphs of physics in the twenty-first century.'\
 n\nThis is a rare chance to learn more from three knowledgeable speakers a
 bout this strange and wonderful human being who navigated the politics of 
 science with wit\, grace and kindness\, supported by a family who loved hi
 m.\n\nDr Kate Macdonald on his early life\, art and craft\; Dr Alan Walker
  on his career and achievements\; Dr Howie Firth on the legacy of the conc
 ept of a field\; and why Maxwell is not well known\, reflecting on how the
  21st-century scientific culture is shaped by what happened in the latter 
 half of the 19th century – effectively writing James Clerk Maxwell out o
 f popular scientific history.\n\nWe thank our friends at IOP Scotland for 
 seed funding for Clerk Maxwell @ 200 project\, and providing funding for t
 eas and coffees.  \n\nSpeakers:\n* Dr Kate Macdonald (Institute of Physi
 cs Scotland)\n* Dr Howie Firth (Orkney Science Festival)\n* Dr Alan Walker
  MBE\, D.hc\, FInstP\, BSc\, ARCS (School of Physics & Astronomy\, Univers
 ity of Edinburgh)
LOCATION:Elm Lecture Theatre\, Nucleus Building
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87366-the-arts-and-crafts-life-lov
 es-and-dogs-of-james-clerk-maxwell
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87144@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260609T175110
CREATED:20260309T160354
LAST-MODIFIED:20260309T160354
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260605T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260605T140000
SUMMARY:Lessons of the effective field theory of quantum gravity
DESCRIPTION:General Relativity is naturally treated as a quantum field the
 ory using the techniques of effective field theory. In this colloquium\, I
  will review the simple ideas behind this treatment and provide examples. 
 This will lead to a discussion of the lessons learned and the limits of th
 e theory. Overall I will make the case that quantum General Relativity app
 ears in our present core theory in much the same way as the other gauge in
 teractions of the Standard Model.\n\nSpeaker:\n* John Donoghue (University
  of Massachusetts)
LOCATION:Higgs Centre (Room 4305)\, JCMB
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87144-lessons-of-the-effective-fie
 ld-theory-of-quantum-gravity
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR