Sommerfeld Lecture Series (ASC)

Latest Episodes:

Theory Colloquium: Meeting Dirac’s Challenge: modern approaches to the Correlated Electron Problem Jan 15, 2026

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This talk will present an overview of recent progress towards a solution of one of the grand-challenges of modern science: understanding the properties of interacting electrons in molecules and solids. After an introduction to the physics I will argue our theoretical understanding of a basic model system, the two dimensional Hubbard model, has reached the level that we can say with confidence that its superconducting properties capture key aspect of the high-Tc superconductivity in copper-oxide materials. I will then summarize the current status of our extension of the methods to fully physically realistic systems, emphasizing the areas of theoretical uncertainty and the prospects for resolution.

Public Lecture: Superconductivity Jan 15, 2026

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Superconductivity, the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity with no resistance whatsoever, has fascinated scientists since its discovery by Kammerlingh-Onnes in 1911. While much has been understood, the question of predicting which materials will become superconducting, and at what temperatures, remains one of the grand challenges of modern materials theory. This talk will outline the evolution of our understanding as the subject has progressed from its primitive beginnings through the ''bronze age'' marked by the 1986 discovery of high temperature superconductivity in copper-oxide compounds to the present-day ''iron age'' of the Fe-As based superconducting materials. The current status of the theory of the origin of superconductivity will be described.

Fields and Strings Seminar: Duality in 2 + 1 Dimensions Jan 15, 2026

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A combination of ideas originating from Condensed Matter physics, Supersymmetric Field Theory, and AdS/CFT has led to a detailed web of conjectured dualities. These relate the long distance behavior of different short distance theories. These dualities clarify a large number of confusing and controversial issues in Condensed Matter physics and in the study of 2+1 dimensional quantum field theory.

Theory Colloquium: Symmetries, Duality, and the Unity of Physics Jan 15, 2026

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Global symmetries and gauge symmetries have played a crucial role in physics. The idea of duality demonstrates that gauge symmetries can be emergent and might not be fundamental. During the past decades it became clear that the circle of ideas about emergent gauge symmetries and duality is central in different branches of physics including Condensed Matter Physics, Quantum Field Theory, and Quantum Gravity. We will review these developments, which highlight the unity of physics.

Public Lecture: The Frontiers of Fundamental Physics Jan 15, 2026

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In recent decades, physicists and astronomers have discovered two beautiful Standard Models, one for the quantum world of extremely short distances, and one for the universe as a whole. Both models have had spectacular success, but there are also strong arguments for new physics beyond these models. In this lecture, we will review these models, their successes and their shortfalls. We will describe how experiments in the near future could point to new physics suggesting a profound conceptual revolution, which could change our view of the world.

Fields and Strings Seminar: Holographic Quantum Codes Jan 15, 2026

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Two of the most amazing ideas in physics are the holographic principle and quantum error correction. The holographic principle asserts that all the information contained in a region of space is encoded on the boundary of the region, albeit in a highly scrambled form. Quantum error correction is the foundation of our hope that large-scale quantum computer can be operated to solve hard problems. I will argue that these two ideas are closely related, and will describe quantum codes which realize the holographic principle. These codes provide simplified models of quantum spacetime, opening new directions in the study of quantum gravity, though many questions remain.

Theory Colloquium: Quantum Information and Spacetime Jan 15, 2026

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Aside from enabling revolutionary future technologies, quantum information science is providing powerful new tools for attacking deep problems in fundamental physical science. In particular, the recent convergence of quantum information and quantum gravity is sparking exciting progress on some old and very hard questions.

Public Lecture: Quantum Computing and the Entanglement Frontier Jan 15, 2026

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The quantum laws governing atoms and other tiny objects seem to defy common sense, and information encoded in quantum systems has weird properties that baffle our feeble human minds. John Preskill will explain why he loves quantum entanglement, the elusive feature making quantum information fundamentally different from information in the macroscopic world. By exploiting quantum entanglement, quantum computers should be able to solve otherwise intractable problems, with far-reaching applications to cryptology, materials, and fundamental physical science. Preskill is less weird than a quantum computer, and easier to understand.

ASC Theory Colloquium: Physics and Geometry of Morphogenesis Jan 15, 2026

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One hundred years ago, D’Arcy Thompson – a nineteenth century polymath, working at the turn of the twentieth century – wrote a beautiful monograph, “On Growth and Form”, in which he pondered the geometry of living forms and how it emerges in the process of Morphogenesis. Thompson was ahead of his time. Genetics and Developmental Biology have since come a long way in elucidating the general and particular aspects of Morphogenesis, uncovering the key genes and molecules that underlie the process in different animals and plants. Yet, Thompson’s agenda of understanding how developmental processes actually specify the geometry of tissues, limbs and organs is far from complete. A particular challenge is to bridge the gap between microscopic scales, where molecular mechanisms operate, and the macroscopic scales of animal “shape and form”. This challenge offers much for a Theoretical Physicist to think about. This talk will provide some examples, relating the study of order in the arrangement of fly wing hairs to ferromagnetism and uncovering an unexpected wealth of mechanical phenomena in the study of cellular flows in a fly embryo.

Public Lecture: On the Possibility of Evolutionary Forecasting Jan 15, 2026

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When we think about evolution, it is typically in the context of natural history, seeking an explanation for the amazing diversity of life. Yet evolution is not only the matter of the past, but an ongoing dynamical process linking the past with the future. Evolutionary dynamics is particularly apparent in rapidly mutating microbes and viruses. For example, the virus causing seasonal flu continuously evolves to escape human immunity generated by previous infections: because of this process, we get the flu again and again. Can we understand evolutionary dynamics well enough to predict the future, at least far enough to help with the flu vaccine updates? This talk will review basic mechanisms of evolutionary dynamics and discuss some of the old and new approaches to evolutionary forecasting and the challenges that they face. Surprisingly, ideas from Theoretical Physics can be helpful in understanding evolutionary dynamics.