During 2024–25, the CMSA will host a seminar on Quantum Matter in Mathematics and Physics, organized by Ahsan Khan, Robert Moscrop, and Sunghyuk Park.
This seminar will take place on Fridays at 9:00–10:30 am (Eastern Time) through October. In November, seminars will be held from 10:00–11:30 am. To learn how to attend this seminar, please fill out this form.
The schedule will be updated as talks are confirmed.
Videos are available at the Quantum Matter in Mathematics and Physics Youtube Playlist
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Yichen Huang (Harvard) Title: Quantum entropy thermalization Abstract: In an isolated quantum many-body system undergoing unitary evolution, the entropy of a subsystem (smaller than half the system size) thermalizes if at long times, it is to leading order equal to the thermodynamic entropy of the subsystem at the same energy. We […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Andreas Bauer (Freie Universität Berlin) Title: Tensorial TQFT and disentangling modular Walker-Wang models Abstract: I will introduce simple "tensorial" definitions for many algebraic and categorical structures appearing in the classification of topological phases of matter. Such "tensorial TQFTs" will be defined as maps that associate tensors to geometric/topological objects of some […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Alexander Zlokapa, MIT Title: Traversable wormhole dynamics on a quantum processor Abstract: The holographic principle, theorized to be a property of quantum gravity, postulates that the description of a volume of space can be encoded on a lower-dimensional boundary. The anti-de Sitter (AdS)/conformal field theory correspondence or duality is the principal example […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Nishad Maskara (Harvard) Title: Enhancing Detection of Topological Order by Local Error Correction Abstract: The exploration of topologically-ordered states of matter is a long-standing goal at the interface of several subfields of the physical sciences. Such states feature intriguing physical properties such as long-range entanglement, emergent gauge fields and non-local correlations, and can […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Guanyu Zhu (IBM Quantum, T. J. Watson Research Center) Title: Fault-tolerant quantum computation via topological order on fractals and emergent symmetries Abstract: Topological quantum error correcting codes in integer spatial dimensions have been widely studied in the field of quantum information. A remaining major challenge is to reduce the space-time overhead […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Prof. Subir Sachdev (Harvard) Title: A model of the cuprates: from the pseudogap metal to d-wave superconductivity and charge order Abstract: Soon after the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates, Anderson proposed a connection to quantum spin liquids. But observations since then have shown that the low-temperature phase diagram is […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Title: Fracton Self-Statistics Speaker: Hao Song (ITP-CAS) Abstract: Fracton order describes novel quantum phases of matter that host quasiparticles with restricted mobility, and thus lies beyond the existing paradigm of topological order. In particular, excitations that cannot move without creating other excitations are called fractons. Here we address a fundamental open question […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Sona Najafi (IBM Quantum) Title: Detecting central charge in a superconducting quantum processor Abstract: Physical systems at the continuous phase transition point exhibit conformal symmetry rendering local scaling invariance. In two dimensions, the conformal group possesses infinite generators described by Virasoro algebra with an essential parameter known as a central charge. While […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Carolyn Zhang (U Chicago) Title: Anomalies of (1+1)D categorical symmetries Abstract: We present a general approach for detecting when a fusion category symmetry is anomalous, based on the existence of a special kind of Lagrangian algebra of the corresponding Drinfeld center. The Drinfeld center of a fusion category $A$ describes a […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speakers: Gerald Höhn (Kansas State University) & Sven Möller (University of Hamburg) Title: Classification of Self-Dual Vertex Operator Superalgebras of Central Charge at Most 24 Abstract: We discuss the classfication of self-dual vertex operator superalgebras (SVOAs) of central charge 24, or in physics parlance the purely chiral 2-dimensional fermionic conformal field theories […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Speaker: Brandon C. Rayhaun (C. N. Yang ITP, Stony Brook University) Title: Small Bosonic CFTs, Chiral Fermionization, and Symmetry/Subalgebra Duality Abstract: Conformal field theories in (1+1)D are key actors in many dramas of physics and mathematics. Their classification has therefore been an important and long-standing problem. In this talk, I will explain […]
Quantum Matter Seminar Title: Chiral fermionic CFTs of central charge ≤ 16 Abstract: We classified all chiral fermionic CFTs of central charge ≤ 16 using Kac's theorem and bosonization/fermionization. This talk will discuss the derivation of this result, its application to the classification of non-supersymmetric heterotic string theories, and along the way we'll address some […]