Inbar Savoray
Postdoctoral Fellow
UC Berkeley & LBNL
Talk Title: A Symmetrized Approach to Learning from Particle Physics Data
Bio: I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics at UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. I am a theoretical physicist studying probes and models of particles beyond the Standard Model. I earned my PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, where I also received my MSc. I completed my undergraduate studies at Bar Ilan University double-majoring in Physics and Sociology.
Research Interests: I am interested in developing new techniques to study particle physics phenomena. My research combines exploring novel theoretical models that could explain some of the mysteries of the Standard Model, with identifying the experimental strategies that would be best suited to test them. I am particularly excited about the possible applications of rapidly-advancing technologies across fields to the study of fundamental interactions. One arena I have been studying is searches for new particles at or above the electroweak scale using particle colliders. I am interested both in future collider designs, and in innovative analysis techniques of collider data using Machine Learning. Another area of research I’m pursuing is the detection of light particles using precision measurements. In that regard, I have been studying quantum sensors and astrophysical probes that could be sensitive to elusive new interactions.
Agnes Valenti
Research Fellow
Flatiron Institute, CCQ
Talk Title: A neural-network based approach to quantum many-body physics
Bio: Currently I am a Flatiron Reserach Fellow at the Center for Computational Quantum Physics (CCQ). I joined the center in 2023, after receiving a PhD from ETH Zurich.
Research Interests: My research lies in the intersection between interlinking machine learning tools with more traditional methods such as quantum and variational Monte Carlo. Thereby I aim to push the understanding of new phenomena in condensed matter theory. In particular, I make use of neural-network based variational wave-functions to study correlated two-dimensional electron systems such as semiconductor heterostructures and emerging phases in novel van-der-Waals materials with and without a Moiré potential.
I am further interested in connecting recent advances in machine learning with applications to enhance many-body methods, and in tuning and verification of quantum devices.
Yiping Wang
Postdoctoral Fellow
Columbia University
Talk Title: A zoo of quantum phases in twisted MoTe2
Bio: Yiping Wang is a Max Planck New York center postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Xiaoyang Zhu and Prof. James Hone’ s group at Columbia University. Her work is focused on condensed matter physics, specifically light-matter interactions in quantum materials. Born and raised in China, Yiping obtained her bachelor’s degree from Physics department at Renmin University of China. Then she moved to the United States to pursue her graduate studies at Boston College and got her Ph.D. in 2022.
Research Interests: During her Ph.D., Yiping focused on using collective modes excitations to detect new emergent phases in 2D and 3D quantum materials under the supervision of Prof. Kenneth Burch. She discovered the first axial Higgs mode, a quasiparticle cousin of the Higgs boson with intrinsic momentum at room temperature. In her postdoctoral research, she is exploring a beyond equilibrium approach to uncover and control emergent phases and collective mode excitations on ultrashort timescales, specifically in 2D moiré devices. Combining high quality nanodevices and time-resolved spectroscopy, she achieved the detection the hidden fractional quantum phases, including both topological and correlated states under non-equilibrium conditions and able to track their melting dynamics.
Haocun Yu
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Vienna
Talk Title: Exploring the Unseen Landscape with Quantum Optics
Bio: Haocun Yu is a Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Vienna. She earned her Ph.D. in physics from MIT, where she worked with the LIGO group on quantum optical techniques and quantum phenomena for gravitational-wave detectors. Her research focuses on leveraging quantum techniques and precision sensing methods for exploring new physics. Her contributions have been recognized with prestigious honors, including the MIT Martin Deutsch Award, the APS Carl E. Anderson Dissertation Award, and the Boeing Quantum Creators Prize. She is passionate about continuing interdisciplinary work that advances quantum technologies and addresses intriguing fundamental questions about our world.
Research Interests: My research interests lie in using various quantum techniques and precision sensing methods for fundamental physics. During my Ph.D., I implemented quantum squeezing techniques into 4km gravitational-wave detectors, the largest quantum metrology experiment in the world. I also demonstrated the quantum correlations in LIGO detectors, showcasing 40kg human-scale macroscopic quantum phenomena.
In Vienna, I am working at the intersection of quantum mechanics and general relativity. By using photon entanglement, I set a new record for measuring the Earth's rotation rate with a 2km fiber quantum interferometer. Currently, I am building an interferometer sensitive to 1E-16 strain, which can probe the interface between gravitational fields and quantum mechanics. This work also extends to potential applications in dark matter detection.
Moving forward, I am enthusiastic about continuing interdisciplinary work that advances quantum technologies and addresses intriguing fundamental questions about our world. All my achievements pave the way to create unprecedented quantum optical states, offering a novel platform not only for precision quantum measurements to address fundamental questions about our universe, but also for expanding the Hilbert space of quantum information processing.
Carolyn Zhang
Junior Fellow
Harvard University
Talk Title: Anyons in 2D materials: hierarchy construction and superconductivity
Bio: Carolyn graduated from Yale University in 2017. She then completed her PhD under the supervision of Michael Levin at U Chicago, with the support of the NSF GRFP and the Bloomenthal Fellowship. Since fall of 2023, she has been a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Carolyn loves all activities related to mountains, including running, climbing, and hiking.
Research Interests: I am broadly interested in quantum phases of matter, in and out of equilibrium, and transitions between them. I particularly enjoy using simple toy models and physical intuition to understand seemingly complex many-body phenomena, and using general arguments involving ideas from generalized symmetries. More recently, I have been exploring the interplay between decoherence, measurement, and unitary dynamics with an eye toward applications in (1) quantum error correction (2) inherently dynamical phases and phase transitions, and (3) efficient classical algorithms for quantum simulation. My work shares close ties with aspects of quantum information theory, high energy theory, and mathematical physics.