Physikalisches Kolloquium

In this talk I will introduce infectious diseases and their sensitivity to climate variability and change. I will describe and contrast experimental evidence with empirical observations and data. In the talk I will discuss systems and interactions enabling introduction and transmission of emergent vectors, hosts, and pathogens. I will further give examples of how mathematical process-based models and machine learning approaches are used and how they can be applied to study patterns and responses to these changes. Finally, I will talk about novel applications of machine learning in surveillance and early warnings, as well as the evaluation of interventions to guide effective responses.
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Pulsars, the natural beacons of the universe, put physics to extreme test. As neutron stars, they are not only the densest objects in the observable universe, but they also serve as high-precision laboratories for testing the general theory of relativity. Pulsars not only allow the observation of predicted effects that cannot be observed by other methods, but they provide also extremely precise tests of the properties of gravitational waves. The latest results even use pulsars as galactic gravitational wave detectors, which detect a continuous "hum" of space-time. This buzz is, most likely, caused by the merging of supermassive black holes in the early universe. The talk gives an overview of the latest results and an outlook into the future.
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Sampling equilibrium ensembles of dense polymer mixtures is a paradigmatically hard problem in computational physics, even in lattice-based models. For instance, using real-space Monte Carlo to sample polymer systems becomes impractical for increasing size, rigidity, and density of the chains. In response to these challenges, we introduce and apply a formalism to recast polymer sampling as a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization (QUBO) problem [1]. Thanks to this mapping, dense systems of stiff polymers on a lattice can be efficiently sampled with classical QUBO solvers, resulting in more favourable performance scaling compared to real-space Monte Carlo [2]. Tackling the same problems with the D-Wave quantum annealer leads to further performance improvements [2]. As an application, we discuss the use of the quantum-inspired encoding on a hitherto untackled problem, namely the linking probability of equilibrated melts of ring polymers, for which we unveil counterintuitive topological effects. References [1] C.Micheletti, P. Hauke and P. Faccioli, "Polymer physics by quantum computing", Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 080501 (2021) [2] F. Slongo, P. Hauke, P. Faccioli and C. Micheletti "Quantum-inspired encoding enhances stochastic sampling of soft matter systems", Sci. Adv. 9, art. no adi0204 (2023)
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Topology, a well-established concept in mathematics, has nowadays become essential to describe condensed matter. At its core are chiral electron states on the bulk, surfaces and edges of the condensed matter systems, in which spin and momentum of the electrons are locked parallel or anti-parallel to each other. Magnetic and non-magnetic Weyl semimetals, for example, exhibit chiral bulk states that have enabled the realization of predictions from high energy and astrophysics involving the chiral quantum number, such as the chiral anomaly, the mixed axial-gravitational anomaly and axions. The potential for connecting chirality as a quantum number to other chiral phenomena across different areas of science, including the asymmetry of matter and antimatter and the homochirality of life, brings topological materials to the fore.
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Propagating, storing and processing information is key to take smart decisions – for organisms as well as for autonomous devices. In search for the minimal units that allow for complex behaviour, the slime mould Physarum polycephalum stands out by solving complex optimization problems despite its simple make-up. Physarum’s body is an interlaced network of fluid-filled tubes lacking any nervous system, in fact being a single gigantic cell. Yet, Physarum finds the shortest path through a maze. We unravel that Physarum’s complex behaviour emerges from the physics of active flows shuffling through its tubular networks. Flows transport information, information that is stored in the architecture of the network. Thus, tubular adaptation drives processing of information into complex behaviour. Taking inspiration from the mechanisms in Physarum we outline how to embed complex behaviour in active microfluidic devices and how to program human vasculature.
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Nuclear medicine is currently experiencing some major changes and developments: Lu-177 has become a standard radionuclide for patient care, in particular with Lutathera® and Pluvito®, two recently marketed drug for endocrine and prostate cancers, respectively. Those successes are but the tip of the iceberg of possibilities: with 3000 radionuclides synthesized in the laboratory, it seems unbelievable that only a handful are actually used in medical applications. This is mostly due to the absence of a supply pipeline to support research until their production is picked up by the industry. To break that paradigm, CERN has established the MEDICIS facility (MEDical Isotopes Collected from ISolde), where the techniques developed for the last 50 years on radioactive ion beams are now applied to produce medical radionuclides for research. The success of the development of non-carrier-added Sm-153 has led it to first clinical trials in 2024. At the European level, this has triggered a new consortium, federated around MEDICIS but with a larger reach, as PRISMAP, the European medical radionuclide programme.
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The recent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has revolutionized the field of exoplanet atmosphere characterization, thanks to its unprecedented sensitivity and broad wavelength coverage. In this talk, I will give a tour of the latest JWST results for transiting exoplanets, from gas giants down to rocky worlds. For the largest planets, I'll focus on the complex physical processes recently revealed in their atmospheres, including photochemistry, 3D effects, and cloud formation. Pushing down to smaller worlds, I'll share the first measurements of chemical composition for the elusive sub-Neptune population; and finally give an update on which (if any) rocky planets have atmospheres at all.
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Fusing the principles of general relativity and quantum mechanics in a consistent theoretical framework still constitutes one of the main open challenges in theoretical physics today. Over the last decades, the gravitational asymptotic safety program has taken significant steps towards achieving this goal. A central virtue, driving the success of the approach, is its conservative nature: the program builds on well-established principles of quantum field theory and extends them in a rather minimalistic way. In this talk, we will review the key developments in the program, building up to its present status. I will also attempt to give an outlook on the challenges that need to still be addressed in the future.
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