Thu 19 Jun 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof. Jörg Behler (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
- Thursday 19 June 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: Seminar Room 3, RDC.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Bo Peng.
Thu 12 Jun 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Marina Filip (Oxford)
- Thursday 12 June 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: Seminar Room 3, RDC.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Bo Peng.
Thu 05 Jun 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Chris Hooley (Coventry)
- Thursday 05 June 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: Seminar Room 3, RDC.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Bo Peng.
Thu 22 May 14:00: Walter Kohn: the theoretical physicist who created DFT and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry
Density Functional Theory (DFT) has become one of the most highly cited techniques in science, widely used for simulations in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology. The modern form of DFT was invented by Walter Kohn after a remarkable personal journey which included escaping on the Kindertransport to England on almost the last train out of Vienna in August 1939, and then being interned in Canada deep in a forest miles from civilisation. Despite these disadvantages, Walter Kohn was able to have an exceptional academic career in theoretical solid state physics which culminated in DFT and the Nobel Prize (but for Chemistry, not Physics). Drawing on fresh insights from his recent biography Walter Kohn: From Kindertransport and Internment to DFT and the Nobel Prize , David Clary will describe the remarkable life, career and science of Walter Kohn.
- Speaker: Prof. Sir David Clary, FRS (University of Oxford)
- Thursday 22 May 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: Seminar Room 3, RDC.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Bo Peng.
Fri 09 May 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Mikael Rechtsman, Penn State
- Friday 09 May 2025, 14:00-15:00
- Venue: TCM Seminar Room.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Gaurav.
Thu 08 May 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof. Nikos Nikiforakis (Cambridge)
- Thursday 08 May 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: Seminar Room 3, RDC.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Bo Peng.
Thu 01 May 14:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Prof. Sarah Teichmann, FMedSci, FRS (Cambridge)
- Thursday 01 May 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: Seminar Room 3, RDC.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Bo Peng.
Thu 24 Apr 14:00: Gibbs state preparation on digital quantum simulators
State preparation is crucial for the simulation of quantum systems. In this talk, I will discuss recent advances in sampling Gibbs states through Lindbladian time evolution. I will highlight key challenges in implementing these techniques on quantum hardware and explore potential solutions. Finally, I will examine connections to driven dissipative time-dynamics, enabling implementation on near-term quantum devices.
- Speaker: Dominik Hahn, Oxford
- Thursday 24 April 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: Seminar Room 3, RDC.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Gaurav.
Thu 17 Apr 14:00: Quantum geometry effects in flat bands
By endowing the Hilbert space with a metric and a curvature, the modern theory of solids resorts to tools from differential geometry and topology to analyze the physical properties of electrons in a crystal. After introducing the concept of the quantum geometric tensor, I will explore the implications of the quantum geometry to flat bands, where the quasiparticles have zero group velocity. I will then address the possibility of using pumped light in flat Chern bands to create out-of-equilibrium excitons with finite vorticity in momentum space. Those excitons, called topological excitons, have their vorticity set by the difference between the Chern numbers in the conduction and valence bands. Topological excitons can be found optically through the non-linear Hall effect and can condense into a novel type of topological neutral superfluid with profile wavefunctions in momentum space that carry a finite vorticity.
- Speaker: Bruno Uchoa, University of Oklahoma
- Thursday 17 April 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: Seminar Room 3, RDC.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Gaurav.
Tue 27 May 11:15: JAX-powered Bayesian anomaly detection for supernovae analysis
Abstract TBC
- Speaker: Samuel Leeney (University of Cambridge)
- Tuesday 27 May 2025, 11:15-12:00
- Venue: Martin Ryle Seminar Room, Kavli Institute.
- Series: Hills Coffee Talks; organiser: Charles Walker.
Wed 07 May 14:30: Excitations with a twist
Quantum geometry allows us to quantify the distance between quantum states. It underpins numerous phenomena in condensed matter physics, from electron transport in flat band systems to topological twists of electronic wave functions. In this talk, I will give an overview of how quantum geometry can be extended to explore the excited states of materials. Focusing on excitons, bound electron-hole pairs, I will first give an overview of the possible exciton topological phases as they arise from the underlying electron and hole states. I will next describe how quantum geometry dictates that topological excitons are larger than their trivial counterparts and show how this results in enhanced exciton diffusion. I will use a family of organic semiconductors hosting topological excitons to illustrate these ideas.
- Speaker: Professor Bartomeu Monserrat, University of Cambridge
- Wednesday 07 May 2025, 14:30-15:30
- Venue: Unilever Lecture Theatre, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
- Series: Theory - Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Lisa Masters.
Fri 02 May 08:45: tbc
Chaired by Muriel Dresen and Andrew Conlan
- Speaker: Iliana Antonopoulou , Department of Veterinary Medicine
- Friday 02 May 2025, 08:45-10:00
- Venue: LT2.
- Series: Friday Morning Seminars, Dept of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.
Thu 17 Apr 14:00: Quantum geometry effects in flat bands
By endowing the Hilbert space with a metric and a curvature, the modern theory of solids resorts to tools from differential geometry and topology to analyze the physical properties of electrons in a crystal. After introducing the concept of the quantum geometric tensor, I will explore the implications of the quantum geometry to flat bands, where the quasiparticles have zero group velocity. I will then address the possibility of using pumped light in flat Chern bands to create out-of-equilibrium excitons with finite vorticity in momentum space. Those excitons, called topological excitons, have their vorticity set by the difference between the Chern numbers in the conduction and valence bands. Topological excitons can be found optically through the non-linear Hall effect and can condense into a novel type of topological neutral superfluid with profile wavefunctions in momentum space that carry a finite vorticity.
- Speaker: Bruno Uchoa, University of Oklahoma
- Thursday 17 April 2025, 14:00-15:30
- Venue: TCM Seminar Room.
- Series: Theory of Condensed Matter; organiser: Gaurav.
Fri 06 Jun 15:00: Title to be confirmed
Abstract not available
- Speaker: Catherine Arnett and Tyler Chang (EleutherAI and UC San Diego)
- Friday 06 June 2025, 15:00-16:00
- Venue: Room FW26 with Hybrid Format. Here is the Zoom link for those that wish to join online: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/4751389294?pwd=Z2ZOSDk0eG1wZldVWG1GVVhrTzFIZz09.
- Series: NLIP Seminar Series; organiser: Suchir Salhan.
Thu 17 Jul 16:00: Dr John James, Immunology, Warwick Medical School. Warwick Medical School, Warwick
This Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar will take place on Thursday 17 July 2025, starting at 4:00pm, in the Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC)
Speaker: Dr John James, Associate Professor, Immunology, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick
Title: TBC
Host: Mathilde Colombe and Tim Halim, CRUK Cambridge
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
- Speaker: Speaker to be confirmed
- Thursday 17 July 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Thu 10 Jul 16:00: Dr. Jakob Zimmermann, Department for Biomedical Research, University of Berne
This Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar will take place on Thursday 12 June 2025, starting at 4:00-5:00pm
Speaker: Jakob Zimmermann, Department for Biomedical Research, University of Berne, Germany
Title: TBC
Host: Yorgo Modis, CITIID , Cambridge
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
- Speaker: Jakob Zimmermann, Department for Biomedical Research, University of Berne
- Thursday 10 July 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Thu 12 Jun 16:00: Professor Thomas Bowden, Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford
This Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar will take place on Thursday 12 June 2025, starting at 4:00-5:00pm
Speaker: Professor Thomas Bowden, Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford
Title: TBC
Host: Yorgo Modis, CITIID , Cambridge
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
- Speaker: Professor Thomas Bowden, Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Oxford
- Thursday 12 June 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Thu 01 May 16:00: Self or non-self? Detection of nucleic acids in the endolysosome
This Cambridge Immunology and Medicine Seminar will take place on Thursday 1 May 2025, starting at 4:00pm, in the Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, MRC LMB , Francis Crick Avenue.
Speaker: Professor Veit Hornung, Gene Center and Department of Biochemistry, University of Munich
Title: ‘Self or non-self? Detection of nucleic acids in the endolysosome’
Abstract: A central function of our innate immune system is to detect microbial pathogens by the presence of their nucleic acid genomes or their transcriptional or replicative activity. In mammals, a receptor-based system – represented by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) – is primarily responsible for the detection of “non-self” nucleic acids. In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in identifying the key sensing and signaling components required for this complex task. The first group of PRRs identified as nucleic acid sensing receptors are the toll-like receptors (TLRs). TLRs are expressed as transmembrane receptors with their ligand binding domain facing either the extracellular space or the luminal compartment. A distinct evolutionary subset of TLRs is located in the endolysosomal compartment, which in the human system includes TLR7 , TLR8 and TLR9 . While TLR9 recognizes single-stranded DNA with unmethylated CG motifs, which are indeed suppressed in the host genome, TLR7 and TLR8 have evolved to recognize RNA degradation products. Although there has been considerable research on RNA -sensing TLRs, our understanding of their capability to differentiate between non-self and self-RNA remains limited, particularly considering the prevalence of self-RNA in the endolysosomal compartment. In this talk, I will provide an update on our recent work on this topic and present some novel insights into how TLR7 and TLR8 discriminate self from non-self.
Host: Felix Randow, MRC -LMB, Cambridge
Refreshments will be available following the seminar.
PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF VENUE
- Speaker: Prof. Dr. Veit Hornung, Gene Center Munich
- Thursday 01 May 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, MRC LMB, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge CB2 0QH .
- Series: Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar Series; organiser: Ruth Paton.
Fri 16 May 16:00: Maxwell’s tape measure
Tape-springs are thin, transversely curved strips, of which the carpenter’s tape measures is a familiar everyday example. When you bend a tape-spring, it initially deforms uniformly, before suddenly forming a highly curved “fold” region: an example of elastic localisation. The curvature in the fold and unfolded regions are governed by the Maxwell equal areas construction – familiar from thermodynamics – applied to the tape-spring moment-curvature relationship. In our recent work, we have introduced “tapered-springs”: tape-springs with varying cross-sectional geometry along their length. When bent, we observe novel spiral-shaped folds and “jumping” behaviour. Key to understanding this behaviour is the fact that the Maxwell equal-areas construction must be satisfied specifically on the propagating fronts of the fold
- Speaker: Jamie Clarkson, PhD student, CUED
- Friday 16 May 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: JDB Seminar Room, CUED.
- Series: Engineering - Dynamics and Vibration Tea Time Talks; organiser: div-c.
Fri 06 Jun 16:00: Unconventional nonlinear dynamics of carbon-based structures
Modern technologies rely on miniature structures that are essential to countless devices enabling communication, sensing, computation, and medical applications. Micro- and nanomechanical systems are embedded in a wide range of transduction and sensing technologies, making them nearly ubiquitous in contemporary products. Beyond their commercial impact across diverse fields, fundamental research continues to push the boundaries of their remarkable capabilities. However, the ongoing pursuit of miniaturization and improved performance makes the engineering of these devices increasingly complex, with nonlinearities playing a pivotal role in their design and operation. This talk delves into unconventional dynamical phenomena observed in one- and twodimensional carbon-based nanodevices. I will report that a carbon nanotube can exhibit nonhysteretic bistability, where self-oscillations coexist with a quiet state, a novel phenomenon previously unreported in the field of nanomechanics. Then, I will show that graphene resonators, when driven into the nonlinear regime of motion and modulated by a slow signal in the presence of noise, give rise to exotic switching dynamical paths. These newly observed dynamical regimes, along with the methods used to reveal them, are generic and applicable to a broad range of mesoscopic vibrational systems. They offer new opportunities for sensing applications and for enhancing weak signals through stochastic resonance.
- Speaker: Dr Pierpaolo Belardnelli, Universita Politecnica delle Marche
- Friday 06 June 2025, 16:00-17:00
- Venue: JDB Seminar Room, CUED.
- Series: Engineering - Dynamics and Vibration Tea Time Talks; organiser: div-c.