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-85977@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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-87175@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260713T081434
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-87186@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260713T081434
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-87246@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260713T081434
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-87270@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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-87272@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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:20260713T081434
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-87144@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260713T081434
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
BEGIN:VEVENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
UID:EVENT-87483@www.ph.ed.ac.uk
DTSTAMP:20260713T081434
CREATED:20260623T174106
LAST-MODIFIED:20260623T174106
STATUS:CONFIRMED
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20260722T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20260722T140000
SUMMARY:The wild\, improbable search for natural quasicrystals
DESCRIPTION:The first known examples of quasicrystals were synthesized in 
 the laboratory over four decades ago\, but could Nature have beaten us to 
 the punch? Most thought that was impossible: how could such exotic and fra
 gile atomic arrangements arise naturally? This talk will describe the deca
 des-long effort to prove the skeptics wrong\, resulting in one of the stra
 ngest scientific stories you are ever likely to hear\, and one that contin
 ues to this day.\n\nSpeaker:\n* Paul Steinhardt (Princeton)
LOCATION:Anatomy Lecture Theatre (room 425)\, Doorway 3\, Medical School\,
  Teviot Place\, EH8 9AG
URL:https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/events/2026/87483-the-wild-improbable-search-f
 or-natural-quasicrystals
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR