Synthetic Lattice Systems in Circuit QED

The field of superconducting circuits has emerged as a rich platform for both quantum computation and quantum simulation. Due to the native strong qubit-photon interactions, these systems can be used to study dynamical phase transitions, many-body phenomena, and spin models in driven-dissipative systems. Temporal control can be used to implement synthetic dimensions and lattices of coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonators realize artificial photonic materials in the tight-binding limit. I will present data from two new experiments, one featuring qubits in an unconventional at-band lattice, and a second showing that static dissipation can be used to stabilize quasienergy
states of a time-periodic Floquet Hamiltonian.

Peering inside lensed galaxies with JWST

In hundreds of known cases, "gravitational lenses” deflect, distort, and magnify images of galaxies behind them. Lensing can magnify galaxies by factors of 10–100, transforming them from barely detectable smudges to bright objects that can be studied in detail. Studies of lensed galaxies push each major observatory past its normal limits of sensitivity and spatial resolution. I will summarize results from several programs conducting diagnostic spectroscopy of lensed galaxies at redshifts of z=1--5, starting with Hubble and Magellan and now using JWST. The larger goals are to determine the physical conditions of galaxies across most of cosmic time, and to understand how the processes of star formation has evolved over the last 10 billion years. JWST spectra are revealing the physical conditions inside typical star-forming galaxies (density, temperature, metallicity, abundance pattern, extinction), as well as revealing which diagnostics of star formation are trustworthy for use in deep field surveys. 

New physics in heavy quark decays? Challenges to Lepton Flavor Universality from LHCb and prospects with an upgraded detector

Since the establishment of the Standard Model (SM) many decades ago, the three types of charged leptons (electron, muon, and tau) have been seen as doppelgängers of each other in everything but their readings on the scale. That is, the SM interactions of the three lepton families with other particles differ only because of their different masses. This resulting (accidental) symmetry is known as Lepton Flavor Universality (LFU). Since 2012, however, a series of measurements of decays involving b → cτν transitions have repeatedly hinted at the possibility that lepton universality may be, in fact, violated. In this talk I will go over the current status of LFU measurements as well as their future prospects with an upgraded LHCb detector in which the UMD LHCb group played a pivotal role.  

Quantum Sensing of Quantum Matter

Important scientific discoveries often happen when scientists have new tools that let them look at complex physical problems in different ways. Recently, there have been exciting breakthroughs in the study of quantum materials. This has led scientists to create new methods for examining their basic qualities. In this talk, Yacoby will discuss some of the recent projects he's worked on to develop new local quantum sensing techniques. He will also talk about how these techniques can help us better understand quantum materials.  

Amir Yacoby is a Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University. He received his bachelor’s degree in the field of Aerospace engineering and then transitioned into Physics. Following a Master’s degree in theoretical Physics, Yacoby received his PhD in experimental condensed matter physics in 1994 from the Weizmann Institute of Science. 

Professor Yacoby is a member of the National Academy of Science, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the American Physical Society, member of the American Academy for Advancement of Science and an external member of the Max Planck Society. 

Professor Yacoby works to develop new experimental techniques to explore quantum matter and uses these techniques to obtain new insights into their underlying quantum mechanical properties.

Assessing and Advancing the Potential of Quantum Computing: A NASA Case Study

Quantum computing is one of the most enticing emerging computational paradigms. It has the potential to revolutionize diverse areas within the future of computation. While quantum computing hardware has advanced rapidly, from tiny laboratory experiments to quantum chips that can outperform even the largest supercomputers on specialized computational tasks, current processors are still too small and non-robust to be directly useful for any real-world applications today. Nevertheless, we are entering an era of unprecedented capabilities for the exploration of quantum algorithms and protocols beyond what is possible today. There is also the opportunity to map out large-scale architectures and estimate resources for early fault-tolerant quantum computing, tailored to specific applications, through codesign of algorithms, quantum error correction, and hardware. In this talk, I’ll discuss NASA’s work in assessing and advancing the potential of quantum computing, illustrating advances in algorithms, both near- and longer-term, in designing novel quantum error correction methods, in resource estimation, and in co-design. I’ll also highlight physics-inspired classical algorithms that can be used at the application scale today. The talk will conclude with a discussion of open research directions.

What JWST Reveals about the Hubble Tension 

The Hubble tension—the persistent discrepancy between local and early-Universe measurements of the Hubble constant—remains one of the most intriguing puzzles in cosmology. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) now offers a fresh perspective on this issue by allowing an independent look at the same type of stars, Cepheids, used in the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) measurements that help define our best local estimate of cosmic expansion.  I’ll show how early JWST data, although still limited in size, serves as a powerful crosscheck of the HST-based distance ladder. When comparing results across multiple techniques and research groups, we find strong consistency with the HST measurements, lending confidence to their accuracy. These comparisons suggest that the observed tension is unlikely to stem from systematic errors in HST's Cepheid distances.Though JWST’s smaller sample size limits its precision for now, it already provides valuable validation of the HST approach. As more data accumulates, JWST will play an increasingly important role in testing and refining our understanding of the expanding Universe—and perhaps help us get to the bottom of the Hubble tension.

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Simple Models of Synchronization

At this very moment, your heart is beating thanks to thousands of pacemaker cells in your sinoatrial node, all firing in near-perfect unison. Similar acts of spontaneous synchronization appear throughout nature—in fireflies flashing in unison, neurons firing together, and even in networks of pendulum clocks or metronomes. Simplified mathematical models of these self-synchronizing systems have sparked new insights in nonlinear dynamics, often yielding surprising applications far beyond their biological roots. In this talk, Prof. Strogatz will explore two case studies: (1) Charlie Peskin’s influential model of cardiac pacemaker cells, which inspired advances in communications and electrical engineering; and (2) recent progress and open questions on how the structure of a Kuramoto oscillator network influences its ability to synchronize.