Colloquium

Cosmic surveys offer a unique window into fundamental physics, particularly the physics of light particles such as neutrinos. As a striking example, the recent results from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) have placed surprisingly stringent constraints on the sum of neutrino masses, nearly excluding the entire range of masses consistent with neutrino oscillation measurements. In this colloquium, I will review what we have learned about cosmic neutrinos from maps of the universe. I will then discuss this confusing situation, the status possible explanations for the current data, and the implications for Beyond the Standard Model physics.

Predicting the outcome of scattering processes of elementary particles in colliders is the central achievement of relativistic quantum field theory applied to the fundamental (non-gravitational) interactions of nature. While the gravitational interactions are too minuscule to be observed in the microcosm, they dominate the interactions at large scales. As such the inspiral and merger of black holes and neutron stars in our universe are now routinely observed by gravitational wave detectors. The need for high precision theory predictions of the emitted gravitational waveforms has opened a new window for the application of perturbative quantum field theory techniques to the domain of gravity. In this talk I will show how observables in the classical scattering of black holes and neutron stars can be efficiently computed in a perturbative expansion using a world-line quantum field theory; thereby combining state-of-the-art Feynman integration technology with perturbative quantum gravity. Here, the black holes or neutron stars are modelled as point particles in an effective field theory sense. Fascinatingly, the intrinsic spin of the black holes may be captured by a supersymmetric extension of the world-line theory, enabling the computation of the far field wave-form including  spin and tidal effects to highest precision. I will review our most recent results at the fifth order in the post-Minkowskian expansion amounting to the computations of hundreds of thousands of four loop Feynman integrals.

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Presented in collaboration with Navigating Quantum and AI Career Trajectories: A Beginner’s Mini-Course on Computational Methods and their Applications

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Deeptech or science-based innovations often spend more than a decade percolating within academic and government labs before their value is recognized (Park et al., 2022). This development lag time prior to venture formation is only partly due to technological development hurdles. Because science-based inventions are often generic in nature (Maine & Garnsey, 2006), meaning that they have broad applicability across many different markets, the problem of identifying a first application requires the confluence of deep technical understanding with expert knowledge of the practice of commercialization. This process of technology-market matching is a critical aspect of the translation of science-based research out of the lab (Pokrajak 2021, Gruber and Tal, 2017; Thomas et al, 2020, Maine et al, 2015) and is often delayed by a lack of capacity to identify, prioritize and protect market opportunities. Typically, deeptech innovations can take 10-15 years of development, and tens (or even hundreds) of millions of dollars of investment to de-risk before a first commercial application (Maine & Seegopaul, 2016). Academics seeking to commercialize such inventions face the daunting challenge of competing for investment dollars in markets that are ill suited to the uncertainty and timescales of deep tech development. The time-money uncertainty challenge faced by science-based innovators is compounded by the fact that most of the scientists and engineers with the world-leading technical skills required to develop science-based inventions, lack innovation skills training, and so cannot navigate the complexities of early and pre-commercialization development critical to venture success. Some researchers, having developed a mix of technical and business expertise, have demonstrated a long-term ability to serially spin out successful ventures (Thomas et al., 2020). Entrepreneurial capabilities, which can be learned, enable scientistentrepreneurs to play formative roles in commercialising lab-based scientific inventions through the formation of well-endowed university spin-offs. (Park et al, 2022; 2024). Commercialization postdocs, when supported by well designed training, stipends, and de-risking supports, can lead the mobilization of fundamental research along multiple commercialization pathways. Recommendations are provided for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to more effectively commercialise deeptech inventions.

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Presented as part of the SciComm Collider 2 workshop.
All PI Residents are invited. 

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A colloquium featuring 2 perspectives on science communication.

Tatiana Erukhimova - Making Physics Fun and Approachable
Matthew Strassler - The Challenge of Communicating Physics Accessibly, Clearly and Accurately

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Presented as part of the SciComm Collider 2 workshop.
All PI Residents are invited. 

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While scientists and journalists have many overlapping interests and skills, they often differ in their goals, resources, and expertise. This talk covers strategies, tips, and approaches researchers can use to make their interactions with writers and journalists rewarding and enjoyable. It will also cover ideas about pitching and writing for popular science and mainstream media publications. This session will be as interactive as possible, so feel free to bring your questions, concerns, and ideas.

Speaker Bio:
Patchen Barss is a Toronto-based science journalist and author. He has designed and run many workshops and training sessions for scientists and other researchers engaging in media relations and public engagement.

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This colloquium is presented in collaboration with the Foundations of Quantum Computational Advantage conference. 

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Abstract TBA

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Ground states as well as Gibbs states of many-body quantum Hamiltonians have been studied extensively since the inception of quantum mechanics. In contrast, the landscape of many-body quantum states that are not in thermal equilibrium is relatively less explored. In this talk I will discuss some of the recent progress in understanding decohered or dissipative quantum many-body states. One of the key ideas I will employ is that of "separability", i.e., whether a mixed state can be expressed as an ensemble of short-range entangled pure states. I will discuss several quantum phase transitions in topological phases of matter subjected to Markovian environmental noise from a separability viewpoint, and argue that such a framework also subsumes our understanding of pure quantum states as well as Gibbs states. Time permitting, I will also provide a brief overview of quantum spin-systems subjected to non-Markovian noise originating from an electronic bath, and discuss a new critical phase of matter where quantum coherence coexists with dissipation.

References: 2307.13889, 2309.11879, 2310.07286

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In this talk I show how simple ideas motivated from the Swampland program, lead to concrete predictions for our universe.  These include predictions for particle physics and cosmology.  I also discuss some experimental predictions for these ideas.

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The interplay of quantum fluctuations and interactions can yield novel quantum phases of matter with fascinating properties. Understanding the physics of such systems is a very challenging problem as it requires to solve quantum many body problems—which are generically exponentially hard to solve on classical computers. In this context, universal quantum computers are potentially an ideal setting for simulating the emergent quantum many-body physics. In this talk, I will discuss two different classes of quantum phases: First, we consider symmetry protected topological (SPT) phases and show that a topological phase transitions can be simulated using shallow circuits. We then utilize quantum convolutional neural networks (QCNNs) as classifiers and introduce an efficient framework to train them. Second, we focus on the realization of topological ordered phases and simulate the braiding of anyons. Taking into account additional symmetries, we then investigate phase transitions between different symmetry enriched topological (SET) phases.

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