Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics

Tonight at Master Your Physics, The UvA Research Conference: The Future of Physics, by Robbert Dijkgraaf (IAS, Princeton).

‘The reports of the death of physics are greatly exaggerated. Instead, I would argue, we are living in a golden era and the best is yet to come. Not only did the past decades see some amazing breakthrough discoveries and show us the many unknowns in our current understanding, but more importantly, science in general is moving from studying 'what is’ to 'what could be.’ There will be many more fundamental laws of nature hidden within the endless number of physical systems we could fabricate out of the currently known building blocks. This demands an open mind about the concepts of unity and progress in physics.’

Starts at 19:00 PM Amsterdam Time, more info and zoom link at the Indico page https://indico.cern.ch/event/1027683/timetable/ #20210614.detailed

There is no two without three, and the same holds for learning about physics!
Wednesday is dedicated to big questions!
Again, we begin by looking at the skies. The starter will be a talk on multi-messenger astrophysics given by Teresa Montaruli, the chair of the Astro-Particle Physics European Consortium (APPEC).
Jan Zaanen will then guide us through the beautiful landscape of Quantum Supreme Matter and Strange Metals, showing us how AdS/CFT can be used to understand these unique materials.
We’ll then have an intermezzo with two Ph.D. sessions: one on the physics of life and the other one on the physics that will help us sustain life on our planet!
Towards the end, things will get groovy with David Tong. He will tell us what is real and what is not, whether you are truly reading this post right now, or whether it’s all part of a simulation!
Finally, Robert Dijkgraaf himself will teach us how to time-travel! He will take us on a journey into the future, where we’ll be able to get a glimpse of where physics is headed to.

Are you also thinking that things couldn’t get better? Stick around, ‘cause the best is yet to come!

And it’s on! Jasper van Weezel just opened the 2021 Master Your Physics, The UvA Research Conference event. First speaker is Carlo Rovelli, with a presentation on loop quantum gravity. Full schedule for this week 14-18 June on Indico, https://indico.cern.ch/event/1027683.

Next week it’s Master Your Physics, The UvA Research Conference! With some super interesting theory talks by Robbert Dijkgraaf, Leonard Susskind, David Tong, Danielle Bassett, Rick van Bijnen, Carlo Rovelli, Jan Zaanen etc. Timetable, abstracts and more on
indico.cern.ch/event/1027683/

Coming up in two weeks: Master Your Physics 2021, an online conference by master's student for master's students [https://indico.cern.ch/event/1027683/]. The conference is open for all master students in physics from Dutch universities. Among the confirmed speakers are many great names in theoretical physics such as Robbert Dijkgraaf (IAS Princeton), Leonard Susskind (Stanford University), Carlo Rovelli (CPT, Marseille), David Tong (DAMTP, Cambridge), Jan Zaanen (Leiden University). From Amsterdam are participating Jasper van Weezel (University of Amsterdam) and Evita Verheijden (University of Amsterdam).

The conference will take place from June 14-18 2021. An overview, timetable and contribution list can be found on the Indico page, https://indico.cern.ch/event/1027683/

The Master Your Physics Event is organised by master students from the University of Amsterdam, with support from Delta ITP.

https://www.facebook.com/MasterYourPhysics

Master Your Physics, The UvA Research Conference The Research conference for Dutch Masters students from all areas of Physics

Congratulations to from Utrecht University who just received a Vici grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO. Grimm tries to understand dark energy, the suspected driving force behind the expansion of the univere, in terms of quantum gravity.

The observed expansion of our universe suggests that it is filled by a substance known as dark energy. Thomas Grimm propose that the mysterious properties of dark energy, the most likely driving force behind can only be understood by using a quantum theory of gravity. This leads to a new description for the evolution of our universe

The Vici grant is a personal grant for outstanding, senior researchers who have successfully demonstrated the ability to develop their own innovative lines of research. Vici researchers are among the top ten percent in their research field. They have also proven their ability to coach young researchers.

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Coming up Friday 21 Feb: Quantum Topological Matter Triangle meeting, with: Maksym Serbyn , Rodrigo Arouca and Yaroslav Herasimenko . Location: Amsterdam.

Picture taken from Thermodynamics of a Higher-Order Topological Insulator, R. Arouca, S. N. Kempkes, Cristiane Morais Smith arXiv:1912.09159

Quantum and Topological Matter meeting - Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics Speakers: Maksym Serbyn (Vienna), Rodrigo Arouca (UU) and Yaroslav Herasimenko (Leiden). Location: Amsterdam.

Many congrats to Christoph Weniger, Amsterdam Theoretical Physics, Grappa Institute who just received a 'Big Science' grant from the Netherlands eScience Center and SURFsara for his 'DarkGenerators' proposal

With the grant, Weniger will use advanced data science methods to enhance and accelerate the interpretation of astrophysical and collider data in the search for signals of dark matter.

Christoph Weniger receives 'Big Science' grant for dark matter research - IoP - University of Amsterdam The 'DarkGenerators' proposal by UvA astrophysicist Christoph Weniger was awarded an Innovative eScience Technologies for ‘Big Science’ grant from the Netherlands eScience Center and SURFsara. With the grant, Weniger will use advanced data science methods to enhance and accelerate the interpreta...

Theoretical physicist Luca Giomia, Faculty of Science - Universiteit Leiden, receives a 2 million euro ERC Consolidator Grant for research into flowing cells in a strange hexatic phase, which is half fluid, half solid. The money will pay for three PhD students and two postdocs, and half of Giomi's own salary, for five years. 'It's time to roll up the sleeves', says Giomi. Congrats from Delta ITP, Luca!

Slowly whirling ram semen, embryos developing and cancer metastasis. It's not your standard physics subject that Luca Giomi unites in his research proposal into the hexatic phase of biological tissues. This is a special phase somewhere between the solid phase and the liquid phase, that seems to play a major role in biology. More on this strange biological stuff in the Leiden news release by Bruno van Wayenburg:

Luca Giomi wins ERC Consolidator Grant for flowing cells Theoretical physicist Luca Giomi receives a 2 million euro ERC Consolidator Grant for research into flowing cells in a strange hexatic phase, which is half fluid, half solid.

The Winter 2019 European Physical Society Emmy Noether Distinction is awarded to Prof Cristiane Morais Smith and board member of Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics “for her outstanding contributions to the theory of condensed matter systems and ultracold atoms to unveil novel quantum states of matter". On behalf of all Delta ITP researchers: congrats Cristiane! We are very proud to have you as our board member!

http://www.epsnews.eu/2019/12/the-winter-2019-eps-emmy-noether-distinction-for-women-in-physics-is-awarded-to-cristiane-morais-smith/

The Winter 2019 EPS Emmy Noether Distinction for Women in Physics is awarded to Cristiane Morais Smith | e-EPS

Coming up: Triangle meeting on Theoretical Cosmology, Fri 6 Dec, Amsterdam. With talks by Toshifumi Noumi (Kobe University) on Enlarging the scope of the cosmological collider: Beyond the positivity bounds, and Alex Cole(University of Wisconsin-Madison) will give an update on Simplices in the Sky - Constraining Cosmology with Computational Topology. More info in the link!

Upcoming Events | Amsterdam Fall 2019 | Observing the Big Bang Theoretical Cosmology meetings To actively encourage the field of theoretical cosmology and to set an informal stage for the exchange of ideas, the Dutch theoretical cosmology community organizes Friday afternoon meetings approximately 6 times a year — usually on the first Friday of the month. The...