Physics Colloquium
Fall 2024
Location: Willamette Hall, Room 100
November 7: Leenoy Meshulam – University of Washington
Title: Bridging scales in biological systems – from octopus skin to mouse brain
Abstract: For an animal to perform any function, millions of cells in its body furiously interact with each other. Be it a simple computation or a complex behavior, all biological functions involve the concerted activity of many individual units. A theory of function must specify how to bridge different levels of description at different scales. For example, to predict the weather, it is theoretically irrelevant to follow the velocities of every molecule of air. Instead, we use coarser quantities of aggregated motion of many molecules, e.g., pressure fields. Statistical physics provides us with a theoretical framework to specify principled methods to systematically ‘move’ between descriptions of microscale quantities (air molecules) to macroscale ones (pressure fields). Can we hypothesize equivalent frameworks in living systems? How can we use descriptions at the level of cells and their connections to make precise predictions of complex phenomena? My research focuses on the theory, modeling, and analysis required to discover generalizable forms of scale bridging across species and behavioral functions. In this talk, I will present lines of previous and ongoing research that highlight the potential of this vision. I shall focus on two seemingly very different systems: mouse brain neural activity patterns, and octopus skin cells activity patterns. In the mouse, we reveal striking scaling behavior and hallmarks of a renormalization group- like fixed point governing the system. In the octopus, camouflage skin pattern activity is reliably confined to a (quasi-) defined dynamical space. Finally, I will touch upon the benefits of comparing across animals to extract principles of multiscale function in biological systems, and discuss potential avenues of investigation that could allow us to decipher how macroscale properties, such as memory or camouflage, emerge from microscale level activity of individual cells.
Host: Raghuveer Parthasarathy
November 14: Akshay Murthy – Fermilab
Title: Understanding and Eliminating Sources of Loss in Superconducting Qubits
Abstract: Superconducting qubits have emerged as a leading next-generation technology for addressing computational problems deemed intractable with classical computing. Advances in our understanding of materials has played a crucial role driving recent increases in achievable coherence times and gate fidelities in these devices. This includes identifying defects, impurities, interfaces, and surfaces present within the device geometry as well as developing and implementing new strategies to eliminate the deleterious effects introduced by these disordered regions. As part of the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems (SQMS) center, we have deployed a wide variety of unique materials characterization techniques in tandem with microwave measurements to examine sources of loss in these devices. In this talk, I will discuss our results demonstrating that the surface oxide associated with superconducting niobium metal serves as a major source of microwave loss and that this loss scales with oxygen vacancies present in this oxide region. Based on this insight, we encapsulate the surface of niobium with various metal and dielectric layers that eliminate and prevent the formation of this lossy niobium surface oxide upon exposure to air. Through this approach, we have been able to systematically achieve coherence times on the order of hundreds of microseconds. Finally, I will discuss ongoing work focused on eliminating loss associated with other device regions, such as the underlying substrate as well as the Josephson junction.
Host: Nik Zhelev
November 21: Julien Guy – Lawrence Berkley National Lab
Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA
Host: TBA
November 28: Thanksgiving Holiday – No Colloquium
December 5: Matt Graham – Oregon State University
Title: TBA
Abstract: TBA
Host: TBA
November 28: Thanksgiving Holiday – No Colloquium
Physics Colloquium Archive
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Fall 2024 |
Winter 2025 |
Spring 2025 |
| October 3 – Richard Taylor
Title: State of the Department |
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| October 10 – Dietrich Belitz
Title: Long-Range Correlations and Fluctuation-Dissipation Relations in Non-Equilibrium Fluids |
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| October 17 – David Allcock
Title: Oregon Ions – A brief history |
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| October 24 – Mark Raizen
Title: Isotopes in Medicine, and Meeting Rutherford’s Challenge |
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| October 31 – Dhiman Ray
Title: Deep Learning Augmented Simulation of Biomolecules |
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| November 7 – Leenoy Meshulam
Title: Bridging scales in biological systems – from octopus skin to mouse brain |
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| November 14 – Akshay Murthy
Title: Understanding and Eliminating Sources of Loss in Superconducting Qubits |
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| November 21 – Julien Guy
Title: TBA |
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| December 5 – Matt Graham
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Fall 2023 |
Winter 2024 |
Spring 2024 |
| September 28 – Richard Taylor
Title: State of the Department |
January 18 – Reina Maruyama
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April 4 – David Wineland
Title: Atomic Clocks and Einstein’s relativity |
| October 5 – John Toner
Title: Birth, Death, and Flocking: The Hydrodynamics of Dry Active matter |
January 25 – Mustafa Amin
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April 11 – Matthew Jemielita
Title: Antibody Design and Optimization with Generative Unconstrained Intelligent Drug Engineering |
| October 12 – Spencer Chang
Title: General New Physics Observables at Colliders |
February 1 – Leenoy Meshulam
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April 18 – Francis Halzen
Title: IceCube: The First Decade of Neutrino Astronomy |
| October 19 – Rob Phillips
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February 8 – Flip Tanedo
Title: Why we have not discovered dark matter: a theorist’s apology |
April 25 – Miranda Holmes – Cerfon
Title: Modeling particles programmed by DNA |
| October 26 – Carol Patty
Title: Exploring the Magnetosphere of an Ice Giant: Probing Uranus is No Laughing Matter |
February 14 – Tracy Slatyer
Title: Dark Matter, Cosmic Background Radiation, and the Birth of the First Stars |
May 2 – Kyle Welch
Title: Physical Review Letters: A Peek Behind the Cover |
| November 2 – Leif Karlstrom
Title: The intrinsic and extrinsic geometry of Earth surface topography |
February 22 – Herman Batelaan
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May 9 – Varda Hagh
Title: Finding order in disorder through permutation symmetry |
| November 9 – Marianna Safranova
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February 29 – Christopher Monroe
Title: Quantum Computing Systems with Individual Atoms |
May 16 – Fahad Mahmood
Title: Revealing emergent phenomena in correlated topological materials using femtosecond light |
| November 16 – Sid Nagel
Title: Disorder is different |
March 7 – Tova Holmes
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May 23 – Jessica Hoehn
Title: Embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion in our physics classes |
| November 30 – Mark Raizen
Title: Isotopes, Maxwell’s demon, and The Pointsman Foundation |
March 14 – Tien-Tien Yu
Title: Exploring the Quantum Universe: Pathways to Innovation and Discovery in Particle Physics |
May 30 – Zeb Rocklin
Title: Fundamental Physics of Flexible Structures |
| June 6 – Johannes Pollanen
Title: Hybrid quantum phononics with superconducting qubits |
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