Talks

coffee, tea, cookies at 16:00 in the main hall
Monday 16:30-17:30
Seminar room 1+2
- monthly seminars -
Seminar room 4
- weekly seminars -
Monday 11:00-12:00
Seminar room 4
Wednesday 16:30 - 17:30
Seminar room 1D1
Thursday 14:00-15:00
Seminar room 4

 

 

Talks in chronological order

04 Nov 2024
04:30 PM

Topology for spatio-temporal systems

Prof. Heather Harrington (MPI-CBG)

Many processes in the life sciences are inherently multi-scale and dynamic. Spatial structures and patterns vary across levels of organisation, from molecular to multi-cellular to multi-species. With more sophisticated mechanistic models and data available, quantitative tools are needed to study their evolution in space and time. Topological data analysis (TDA) provides a multi-scale summary of data. We review the main tools in topological data analysis and how single and multi-parameter persistent homology provide insights to complex systems.

Seminarroom 1+2+3 iCal Event
06 Nov 2024
02:00 PM

From Entangled Polymer-like Worms to Soft Robotic Chains

Antoine Deblais (University of Amsterdam)

Recently, there has been growing interest in studying long, slender living worms due to their unique ability to form highly entangled physical structures and exhibit emergent behaviors. These polymer-like organisms can move and assemble into an active three-dimensional soft entity, known as the "blob," which displays both solid-like and liquid-like properties. The blob can respond to external stimuli, such as oxygen concentration, by moving or changing shape. In this talk, I will illustrate how these living worms provide a fascinating experimental platform for exploring the physics of active, polymer-like entities. The combination of activity, long aspect ratios, and entanglement in these systems gives rise to a wide range of emergent behaviors. By investigating both the individual dynamics and the collective behavior of these worm blobs, we can stimulate further research into the physics of entangled active polymers and potentially inform the development of synthetic topological active matter and bioinspired soft robotic collectives.

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
07 Nov 2024
03:00 PM

Towards a theory of phase transitions in quantum control landscapes"

Nicolò Beato (MPI-PKS)

Control landscape phase transitions (CLPTs) occur as abrupt changes in the cost function landscape upon varying a control parameter, and can be revealed by non-analytic points in statistical order parameters. A prime example are quantum speed limits (QSL) which mark the onset of controllability as the protocol duration is increased. Here we lay the foundations of an analytical theory for CLPTs by developing Dyson, Magnus, and cumulant expansions for the cost function that capture the behavior of CLPTs with a controlled precision. Using linear and quadratic stability analysis, we reveal that CLPTs can be associated with different types of instabilities of the optimal protocol. This allows us to explicitly relate CLPTs to critical structural rearrangements in the extrema of the control landscape: utilizing path integral methods from statistical field theory, we trace back the critical scaling of the order parameter at the QSL to the topological and geometric properties of the set of optimal protocols, such as the number of connected components and its dimensionality. We verify our predictions by introducing a numerical sampling algorithm designed to explore this optimal set via a homotopic stochastic update rule. We apply this new toolbox explicitly to analyze CLPTs in the single- and two-qubit control problems whose landscapes are analytically tractable, and compare the landscapes for bang-bang and continuous protocols. Our work provides the first steps towards a systematic theory of CLPTs and paves the way for utilizing statistical field theory techniques for generic complex control landscapes.

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
08 Nov 2024
05:00 PM

CondMat for Dummies: Luttinger Liquids

Archi Banerjee (MPI-PKS)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
13 Nov 2024
02:00 PM

Title t. b. a.

Gianluca Teza (MPI-PKS)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
13 Nov 2024
04:45 PM

IMPRS Seminar

Ondrej Tichacek (IOCB Prague)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
15 Nov 2024
05:00 PM

CondMat for Dummies: tba

Federico Balducci (MPI-PKS)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
25 Nov 2024
12:00 AM

ATOM24

Seminarroom 1+2+3 iCal Event
26 Nov 2024
12:00 AM

ATOM24

Seminarroom 1+2+3 iCal Event
27 Nov 2024
12:00 AM

ATOM24

Seminarroom 1+2+3 iCal Event
27 Nov 2024
02:00 PM

Title t. b. a.

Dongliang Zhang (MPI-PKS)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
28 Nov 2024
12:00 AM

ATOM24

Seminarroom 1+2+3 iCal Event
29 Nov 2024
12:00 AM

ATOM24

Seminarroom 1+2+3 iCal Event
04 Dec 2024
02:00 PM

Title t. b. a.

Anupam Sengupta (University of Luxembourg)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
11 Dec 2024
02:00 PM

Title t. b. a.

Michael Hinczewski (Case Western Reserve University)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
11 Dec 2024
03:30 PM

IMPRS Seminar

tba (tba)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
11 Dec 2024
04:45 PM

IMPRS Seminar

Beck, Hubert (Charles University Prague)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
18 Dec 2024
02:00 PM

Title t. b. a.

Julia Eckert (University of Queensland)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event
08 Jan 2025
02:00 PM

Title t. b. a.

Sarah Loos (University of Cambridge)

Seminarroom 4 iCal Event