BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//SoPA UoE//Event Calendar//EN X-WR-CALNAME:Higgs Centre Colloquia X-WR-CALDESC:Higgs Centre Colloquia X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT12H CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 DTSTART:19810329T010000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 DTSTART:19961027T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU TZNAME:GMT END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CLASS:PUBLIC UID:EVENT-85374@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 CREATED:20250123T112502 LAST-MODIFIED:20250123T112502 STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250328T130000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250328T140000 SUMMARY:Colloquium with Iain Stewart DESCRIPTION:Abstract TBC \n\nSpeaker:\n* Iain Stewart (MIT) LOCATION:Higgs Centre Seminar Room\, Room 4305\, James Clerk Maxwell Build ing (JCMB) URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85374-colloquium-with-iain-stewart END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT CLASS:PUBLIC UID:EVENT-85225@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 CREATED:20241202T154019 LAST-MODIFIED:20241202T154019 STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250606T130000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250606T140000 SUMMARY:Colloquium with Omar Saleh DESCRIPTION:Abstract TBC...\n\nSpeaker:\n* Omar Saleh (University of Calif ornia Santa Barbara) LOCATION:Higgs Centre Seminar Room\, Room 4305\, James Clerk Maxwell Build ing (JCMB) URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2025/85225-colloquium-with-omar-saleh END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT CLASS:PUBLIC UID:EVENT-85977@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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-85979@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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-86140@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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-85981@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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-85983@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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-86142@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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-86271@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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-86852@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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:20260312T113118 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:20260312T113118 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-86901@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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-86856@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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-86858@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 CREATED:20260114T153141 LAST-MODIFIED:20260311T122512 STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260513T130000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260513T140000 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-87144@www.ph.ed.ac.uk DTSTAMP:20260312T113118 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