BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Vienna BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260329T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:CEST END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20261025T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYMONTH=10 TZNAME:CET END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1772447400@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260302T113000 DTEND:20260302T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Ramin Golestanian\nhosted by Andela Saric\nAbstract: N on-reciprocal interactions (NRIs) are quite natural among higher organisms including humans\, as we all know that the way two humans act towards eac h other does not derive from a mutual translationally symmetric “interac tion potential” that gives rise to action=-reaction. It is\, however\, a remarkably surprising that NRIs can exist at the microscopic scale among brain-less particles\, in particular enzymes\, when they are catalytically or metabolically active\, i.e. under non-equilibrium conditions. In this Colloquium\, I will introduce the topic and discuss some of its non-trivia l consequences\, following the developments in the field over the last dec ade. In particular\, we discuss how non-reciprocal active matter can provi de a paradigm within which we can understand how it may have been possible to form self-organized metabolic cycles at the early stages of life forma tion in a fast and robust manner. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.gruber@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Ramin Golestanian: Non-reciprocal Active Matter URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5696 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:691214567bfbd513487778@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260302T160000 DTEND:20260302T170000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Yujin Kim\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös & Jan Maas\nAbstrac t: Gaussian multiplicative chaos (GMC) is a well-studied random measure ap pearing as a universal object in the study of Gaussian or approximately Ga ussian log-correlated fields. On the other hand\, no general framework exi sts for the study of multiplicative chaos associated to non-Gaussian log-c orrelated fields. In this talk\, we examine a canonical model: the log-cor related random Fourier series\, or random wave model\, with i.i.d. random coefficients taken from a general class of distributions. The associated m ultiplicative chaos measure was shown to be non-degenerate when the invers e temperature is subcritical ($\\gamma < \\sqrt{2d}$) by Junnila. The resu lting chaos is easily seen to not be a GMC in general\, leaving open the q uestion of what properties are shared between this non-Gaussian chaos and GMC. We answer this question through the lens of absolute continuity\, sho wing that there exists a coupling between this chaos and a GMC such that t he two are almost surely mutually absolutely continuous. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:birgit.oosthuizen-noczil@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Yujin Kim: Absolute continuity of non-Gaussian and Gaussian multipl icative chaos measures URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6323 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69a187fcbb1eb211020820@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260302T170000 DTEND:20260302T180000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Tom Hutchcroft\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös & Jan Maas\nAb stract: It is conjectured that many models of statistical mechanics have a rich\, fractal-like behaviour at and near their points of phase transitio n\, with power-law scaling governed by critical exponents that are expecte d to depend on the dimension but not on the small-scale details of the mod el such as the choice of lattice. This is now reasonably well understood i n two dimensions and in high dimensions\, but remains poorly understood in intermediate dimensions (e.g. d=3). I will overview the conjectures aroun d this area and describe recent progress on related problems for models wi th long-range interactions. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Tom Hutchcroft: Critical long-range percolation URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6324 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1772532000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260303T110000 DTEND:20260303T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Lincoln Carr\nhosted by Maksym Serbyn\nAbstract: Abstr act: One-dimensional Quantum cellular automata (QCA) in quantum circuits provide an experimentally realizable quantum computing testbed for quantum entangled dynamics\, spanning both integrable and quantum many-body chaot ic extremes.  In this work\, we establish a quantum many-body Kolmogorov- Arnold-Moser (KAM) framework in 1D QCA\, characterizing the breakdown of i ntegrability through a state-dependent hierarchy of conservation laws. Sta rting from the integrable limit of Goldilocks rules that map exactly onto free-fermion dynamics\, we introduce controlled\, locality-preserving pert urbations via symmetric Strang splitting. We investigate the breakdown of integrability by tracking the deformation of the first 13 local conserved charges directly within the native discrete-time circuit dynamics.Our cent ral finding in the circuit picture is the emergence of a stability hierarc hy of charges  determined by the algebraic structure of the perturbation generator\, classified into three distinct tiers: (i) robust invariants wh ich remain exactly conserved independent of perturbation strength\; (ii) r esonant actions which drift immediately at first order\; and (iii) KAM-lik e candidates\, in particular . We identify  as weakly non-resonant: it ex hibits anomalous super-delayed deformation under general initial condition s but remains conserved when initialized in an eigenstate of a specific Ab elian charge subset.Complementing this study of quantum circuits in discre te time\, we demonstrate rigorously that the associated continuous-time QC A Hamiltonian --- constructed via projector embeddings --- defines a funda mentally distinct dynamical system\, conserving only an Abelian subclass o f the 13 first charges from Goldilocks QCA.  Within this QCA-like Hamilto nian model\, we characterize the broader phenomenology of the integrabilit y-to-chaos crossover. We observe a universal transition from Poisson to Wi gner-Dyson spectral statistics and analyze the power-law growth of out-of- time-ordered correlators. Furthermore\, using Hamiltonian-based charge aut ocorrelators\, we map the stability of  to a regime of “confined chaos\ ,” where algebraic symmetries shield specific Hilbert space sectors from rapid thermalization\, providing a continuous-time counter-part of the KA M stability observed in the discrete circuit.References: Marc Andrew Valde z\, Daniel Jaschke\, David L. Vargas and Lincoln D. Carr\, “Quantifying Complexity in Quantum Phase Transitions via Mutual Information Complex Net works\,” Phys. Rev. Lett.\, v. 119\, p. 225301 (2017)Bhuvanesh Sundar\, Marc Andrew Valdez\, Lincoln D. Carr\, and Kaden R. A. Hazzard\, “A comp lex network description of thermal quantum states in the Ising spin chain\ ,” Phys. Rev. A\, v. 97\, p. 052320 (2018)Bhuvanesh Sundar\, Mattia Wals chaers\, Valentina Parigi\, and Lincoln D Carr\, “Response of quantum sp in networks to attacks\,” J. Phys. Complexity\, v.2\, p. 035008 (2021)LE Hillberry\, MT Jones\, DL Vargas\, P Rall\, N Yunger Halpern\, N Bao\, S Notarnicola\, S Montangero\, LD Carr\, “Entangled quantum cellular autom ata\, physical complexity\, and Goldilocks rules\,” Quantum Science and Technology\, v. 6\, p. 045017 (2021)EB Jones\, LE Hillberry\, MT Jones\, M Fasihi\, P Roushan\, Z Jiang\, A Ho\, C Neill\, E Ostby\, P Graf\, E Kapi t\, and LD Carr\, “Small-world complex network generation on a digital q uantum processor\,” Nature Communications v. 13\, p. 4483 (2022)Mattia W alschaers\, Nicholas Treps\, Bhuvanesh Sundar\, Lincoln D Carr\, and Valen tina Parigi\, “Emergent complex quantum networks in continuous-variables non-Gaussian states\,” Quantum Science and Technology\, v. 8\, p. 03500 9 (2023)LE Hillberry\, M Fasihi\, L Piroli\, N Yunger Halpern\, T Prosen\, and LD Carr\, “Classical simulability\, thermodynamics\, and integrabil ity of Goldilocks quantum cellular automata\,” Quantum Science and Techn ology\, under review\, arXiv:2404.02994 (2024)P Patnaik\, LE Hilberry\, T Prosen\, and LD Carr\, “Entanglement Dynamics of Integrable and Chaotic Quantum Cellular Automata: Towards a Quantum Many-body Kolmogorov-Arnold-M oser Theory\,” In preparation (2026)  LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Lincoln Carr: Entanglement Dynamics of Integrable and Chaotic Quant um Cellular Automata: Towards a Quantum Many-body Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser Theory URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6131 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1772542800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260303T140000 DTEND:20260303T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Thomas Werner\nhosted by Matthew Kwan\nAbstract: In th is thesis\, I investigate superconducting quantum circuits as a platform f or both fundamental tests of quantum mechanics and scalable quantum inform ation processing. Superconducting qubits are engineered electrical circuit s that exhibit discrete\, atom-like energy levels. Unlike natural atoms\, their spectra can be designed and fabricated\, enabling flexible control a t the cost of device-to-device variability. These systems operate below 10 0 mK to suppress thermal noise at their characteristic microwave frequenci es (~10 GHz). In contrast\, optical photons (~193 THz) are robust against room-temperature thermal noise and are ideal carriers of quantum informati on over long distances. Bridging these frequency regimes is therefore esse ntial for connecting superconducting quantum processors to optical quantum networks. To address this challenge\, we develop electro-optic transducer s. These devices convert single photons between the microwave and the opti cal domain. I demonstrate two proof-of-principle experiments: all-optical readout of a superconducting qubit state and upconversion of single microw ave photons to optical frequencies. These results establish a pathway towa rd integrating superconducting qubits with large-scale quantum communicati on networks. LOCATION:Sunstone Bldg / Ground floor / Big Seminar Room B (I23.EG.102) \, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Thomas Werner: Thesis Defense: Interfacing superconducting qubits w ith optical photons URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6316 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:699c1168a3e99368223411@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260305T113000 DTEND:20260305T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Joel Daniel Andersson\nAbstract: We study differential ly-private statistics in the fully dynamic continual observation model\, w here many updates can arrive at each time step\, and updates to a stream c an involve both insertions and deletions of an item. Earlier work (e.g.\, Jain et al.\, NeurIPS 2023 for counting distinct elements\; Raskhodnikova & Steiner\, PODS 2025 for triangle counting with edge updates) reduced the respective cardinality estimation problem to continual counting on the di fference stream associated with the true function values on the input stre am.In such reductions\, a change in the original stream can cause many cha nges in the difference stream.This poses a challenge for applying private continual counting algorithms to obtain optimal error bounds.Our work impr oves the accuracy of several such reductions by studying the induced neigh boring relation more closely.The improvement stems from tight analysis of known factorization mechanisms for the prefix-sum matrix in this setting. In particular\, we show how the square-root factorization (Henzinger et al .\, SODA 2023\; Fichtenberger et al.\, ICML 2023) can be employed to give concrete improvements in accuracy over past work based on the binary tree mechanism.We instantiate our framework for the problems of counting distin ct elements\, estimating degree histograms\, and estimating triangle count s (under a slightly relaxed privacy model)\, showing improved accuracy for a large range of parameters.Based on joint work with Palak Jain and Satch it Sivakumar (https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.02257). LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room G (I24.EG.030g)\, IST A ORGANIZER:achaturv@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Joel Daniel Andersson: Improved Accuracy for Private Continual Card inality Estimation in Fully Dynamic Streams via Matrix Factorization URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6318 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca8cda4207092114@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260305T130000 DTEND:20260305T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Elsa Maneval\nhosted by Tamas Hausel\nAbstract: I will first introduce the moduli spaces of Higgs bundles that appear in the Hau sel-Thaddeus topological mirror symmetry conjecture\, present the context\ , the different proofs and possible generalisations. In particular I will explain the p-adic integration approach of Groechenig\, Wyss and Ziegler. Finally\, I will present my result\, which is a generalisation beyond the coprime case of the key intermediate step of this approach\, which we call a non-archimedean topological mirror symmetry. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Elsa Maneval: Mirror symmetry for Higgs bundles URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6270 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6977627f37ed3194820186@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260306T110000 DTEND:20260306T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Kin Fai Mak\nhosted by Hryhoriy Polshyn\nAbstract: The strong Coulomb interactions between many electrons in solids can induce m any fascinating phenomena\, such as magnetism\, high-temperature supercond uctivity\, and electron fractionalization. In 1963\, physicists developed a model\, known as the Hubbard model\, to describe such interactions in a highly simplified manner. The deceptively simple model is\, however\, diff icult to solve accurately even with modern-day supercomputers. The physica l realizations and thus simulations of the Hubbard model therefore have a vital role to play in solving this important problem. Moir materials\, met amaterials built on artificial moir atoms\, have emerged as a promising Hu bbard model simulator in recent years. In this talk\, I will discuss recen t efforts on simulating the Hubbard model in moir semiconductors\, with a particular focus on the problem of high-temperature superconductivity. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:sdolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Kin Fai Mak: Simulating Hubbard model physics in moire semiconducto rs URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6278 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1773052200@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260309T113000 DTEND:20260309T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Ole Kiehn\nhosted by Maximilian Jösch\nAbstract: Abst ract:Movement is the output of almost all brain functions. Among movement\ , locomotion is one of the most fundamental and universal to animals and h umans. Locomotion is organised at many levels of the nervous system\, with brainstem circuits acting as the gate between brain areas regulating inna te\, emotional\, or motivational locomotion and the executing spinal motor circuits. To be executed\, locomotion requires dynamic initiation and ter mination and appropriate directionally.This lecture will focus on recent a dvances that have elucidated the functional organization of brainstem comm and circuits in mammals needed to perform these roles. The lecture will pr ovide a new framework for how basal ganglia circuits are acting via these brainstem circuits to elicit self-paced locomotion and how brainstem motor circuits may be used to define brain-wide networks involved in high-level behaviors. I will also discuss how locomotor disturbances following e.g. basal ganglia disorders may be alleviated by targeted activation of brai nstem and basal ganglia circuits. Biography:Ole Kiehn is Professor in Int egrative Neuroscience at the Department of Neuroscience\, University of Co penhagen\, and Professor in Neurophysiology at the Department of Neuroscie nce\, Karolinska Institutet. Ole Kiehn earned his medical degree from the University of Copenhagen in and his Doctorate of Science from the same ins titution. He conducted his postdoctoral work at Cornell University before returning to the University of Copenhagen as a group leader at the Institu te of Neurophysiology. In 2001\, he was recruited to Karolinska Institutet \, where he became a professor in 2004. Since 2017\, he has held a positio n as a professor at the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Co penhagen.Kiehn’s published more than 120 papers in journals including Na ture\, Nature Neuroscience\, Cell\, PNAS\, Science and Neuron among others . His research focuses on understanding the molecular\, cellular\, and fun ctional organization of motor circuitries in mammals. His work has uncover ed spinal circuits in mammals that control the ability to produce and coor dinate locomotor movements\, as well as brainstem command pathways that re gulate the expression of movement in a context-dependent manner. His work links these brainstem circuits to motor circuits in the basal ganglia\, an d higher brain area. It provides novel insights into the role of brain cir cuits in the manifestation of motor disorders\, like Parkinsons Disease.Ki ehn has served or serve on distinguished evaluation committees\, including the Nobel Committee in Physiology or Medicine\, the Brain Prize Committee and The Novo Nordisk Prize Committee. He is the currently the President o f the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies. His research has been recognized with numerous honors\, including the Torsten and Ragnar Söder berg's Professorship\, The Novo Nordisk Laureate Program\, The Lundbeck Fo undation Professorship\, Advanced ERC grants\, the Schellenberg Prize\, th e Kirsten and Freddy Johansen Preclinical Prize\, and the Brain Prize 2022 . He is an elected member of Academia Europaea\, EMBO\, the Royal Swedish Academy of Science\, and The Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.gruber@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Ole Kiehn: Unraveling Circuits for Movement: Insights into Gait Mot or Control and Implications for Treatment for Parkinsonian Gait Disorders URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5794 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1773154800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260310T160000 DTEND:20260310T170000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: János Pach\nhosted by Matthew Kwan\nAbstract: The cro ssing number cr(G) of a graph G\, is defined as the smallest number of crossing points between the edges of G in the best drawing of G in the plane. There is another\, equally natural\, parameter: the pair-crossing number\, denoted by pair-cr(G). This is the smallest number of crossing p airs of edges in an optimal drawing. Obviously\, we have pair-cr(G)≤cr( G)\, for every graph G. But are these two numbers always equal?  LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:János Pach: The crossing number conundrum URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6332 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1773158400@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260310T170000 DTEND:20260310T180000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Matthew Jenssen\nhosted by Matthew Kwan\nAbstract: Abs tract:The classical sphere packing problem asks: what is the densest possi ble arrangement of identical\, non-overlapping spheres in Euclidean space? Over the past century\, sphere packings have been intensely studied by ma thematicians\, physicists and computer scientists alike. The interaction b etween these perspectives has been remarkably fruitful\, yielding new insi ghts into the nature of packings and many related problems. In this talk I will survey these viewpoints\, discuss recent advances\, and highlight co nnections to combinatorics along the way.  LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Matthew Jenssen: Perspectives on Sphere Packing URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6310 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6993268eef1f6760206996@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260311T110000 DTEND:20260311T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Matthijs de Jong\nhosted by Johannes Fink\nAbstract: T he Casimir force follows from quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field and yields a nonlinear attractive force between closely spaced condu ctive objects. Its magnitude depends on the conductivity of the objects up to optical frequencies. Measuring the Casimir force between superconducto rs should allow to isolate frequency-specific contributions to the Casimir effect\, as frequencies below the superconducting gap energy are expected to contribute differently than those above it. There is significant inter est in this contribution as it is suspected to contribute to an unexplaine d discrepancy between predictions and measurements of the Casimir force be tween normal metals\, which questions the basic principles on which estima tes of the magnitude are based. We have observed the Casimir force between superconducting objects through the nonlinear dynamics it imparts to a su perconducting drum resonator in a microwave optomechanical system. There i s excellent agreement between the experiment and Casimir force magnitude f or this device across three orders of magnitude of displacement. Furthermo re\, the Casimir nonlinearity is intense enough that\, with a modified des ign\, this device type should operate in the single-phonon nonlinear regim e. Accessing this regime has been a long-standing goal that would greatly facilitate quantum operations of mechanical resonators. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:swiddman@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Matthijs de Jong: Measurement of the Casimir force between supercon ductors URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6294 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca8de8d819167394@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260312T130000 DTEND:20260312T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Xujia Chen\nhosted by Tamas Hausel\nAbstract: I will g ive an introduction of what the Fulton-MacPherson compactified configurati on spaces are\, and how people use them to study embedding spaces between manifolds (for example\, the space of knots\, or diffeomorphism groups). In the second part\, I will talk about some generalization of configuratio n spaces.  LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Xujia Chen: Configuration spaces\, their usage\, and a generalizati on URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6340 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69a04ff97f19f809141205@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260312T133000 DTEND:20260312T143000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Antoine El-Hayek\nAbstract: In population protocols\, n different agents\, which one can think of as tiny mobile computers with limited memory\, run an algorithm to try and solve a particular problem\, using pairwise interactions. Consider the relative majority problem: each agent is given an opinion among k many\, the agents have to compute the op inion that is the most represented. In this talk\, we will run an algorith m that solves the relative majority problem: I will ask each of you to pla y the role of an agent\, and we will run the algorithm collectively and ch aotically. Expect to move around\, interact with each other\, and not do a lot of sitting down. This will show how stable this surprising algorithm is to different parameters\, including human error. LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room G (I24.EG.030g)\, IST A ORGANIZER:achaturv@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Antoine El-Hayek: Interactive TCS Seminar URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6339 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1773657000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260316T113000 DTEND:20260316T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Sergiu Pasca\nhosted by Simon Hippenmeyer\nAbstract: A critical challenge in understanding the programs underlying the developme nt\, assembly and dysfunction of the human brain is the lack of direct acc ess to intact\, functioning human brain tissue for direct investigation an d manipulation. In this talk\, I will describe efforts in my laboratory to build functional cellular models and to capture previously inaccessible a spects of human brain development and dysfunction. To achieve this\, we ha ve pioneered the use of instructive signals to derive\, from pluripotent  stem cells\, self-organizing 3D tissue structures called regionalized neu ral organoids that resembles domains of the developing central nervous sys tem. We have shown that these cultures\, such as the ones resembling the c erebral cortex\, thalamus or spinal cord\, recapitulate many features of n eural development\, can be derived with high reliability across dozens of cell lines and experiments\, and can be maintained for years in vitro to c apture advanced stages of neural and glial maturation and function. To mod el complex cell-cell interactions\, we developed assembloids and demonst rated their use in modeling cell migration\, formation of neural circuits  and disease processes. To advance maturation and circuit integration of organoids\, we introduced a transplantation paradigm and demonstrated that engrafted human neurons can respond to sensory stimulation in the animal and can drive reward-seeking behavior therefore enabling behavioral readou ts from patient-derived cells. Lastly\, I will illustrate how these metho ds can be combined with modern neuroscience tools to study neuropsychiatri c disorders and develop therapeutics. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.gruber@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Sergiu Pasca: Putting the Pieces Together: Inception of Human Neura l Circuits in Assembloids URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5960 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1773738000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260317T100000 DTEND:20260317T110000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Mirza Baig\nhosted by Julia Reisenbauer\nAbstract: Blo ckchains enable distributed consensus in permissionless settings\, where p articipants are unknown\, dynamically changing\, and do not trust each oth er. While Bitcoin\, based on Proof-of-Work (PoW)\, was the first protocol in this model\, significant research has focused on permissionless protoco ls using alternative physical resources\, specifically Proof-of-Space (PoS pace) and Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs). This thesis investigates the theoretical limits and design space of longest-chain protocols in the full y permissionless and dynamically available settings using these three reso urces. First\, we address the feasibility of blockchains relying solely on storage as a resource. We prove a fundamental impossibility result: there exists no secure longest-chain protocol based exclusively on Proof-of-Spa ce in the fully permissionless or dynamically available settings. Further\ , we quantify the adversarial capabilities required to execute a double-sp end attack. Our result formally justifies the necessity of coupling PoSpac e with time-dependent primitives (such as VDFs) or to move to less permiss ive settings (quasi-permissionless or permissioned) to ensure security.Sec ond\, we generalize Nakamoto-like heaviest chain consensus to protocols ut ilizing combinations of multiple physical resources. We analyze chain sele ction rules governed by a weight function Γ(S\, V\,W)\, which assigns wei ght to blocks based on recorded Space (S)\, VDF speed (V )\, and Work (W). We provide a complete classification of secure weight functions\, proving that a weight function is secure against private double-spend attacks if and only if it is homogeneous in the timed resources (V\,W) and sub-homoge neous in S. This framework unifies existing protocols like Bitcoin and Chi a under a single theoretical model and provides a powerful tool for design ing new longest-chain blockchains from a mix of physical resources. LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room C (I24.EG.030c) and Z oom\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Mirza Baig: Thesis Defense: On Secure Chain Selection Rules from Ph ysical Resources in a Permissionless Setting URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6331 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1773741600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260317T110000 DTEND:20260317T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Selim Jochim\nhosted by Julian Léonard\nAbstract: Sta rting from a highly degenerate Fermi gas of atoms\, we distill quantum sta tes of few atoms by exquisite control of the number of bound states in an optical tweezer potential. In this way we obtain close to pure quantum sta tes of up to 42 atoms. While such systems have a lot of similarities with the electrons in an atom\, or nucleons in a nucleus\, the tunability of g eometry and interactions\, combined with versatile manipulation and detect ion capabilities offer unprecedented insights. For example\, measuring all momenta or positions of the atoms in a spin resolved way allows us to det ermine correlations\, such as those that define Cooper pairs. In our ques t to gain better control and diagnostics\, were are currently working on n ew manipulation techniques that respect the symmetry of our systems: As fi rst steps\, we learned how to manipulate angular momentum eigenstates\, an d could engineer correlated states of two atoms that are described by the Laughlin wave function.It is our vision to be able to measure and manipula te the motional state of each atom\, including the angular momentum.As fur ther progress is pushing the frontiers of our experimental capabilities\, we have designed a new modular platform that allows to quickly exchange in dividual building blocks. Each module can be characterized and validated o ffline on a test bench. We will report our first experience with this new setup.  LOCATION:Office Building West/Ground Floor/Heinzel Seminar Room\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Selim Jochim: "Manipulating and probing many-body quantum states - atom by atom" URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6138 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6687bf08e3e62490445508@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260317T161500 DTEND:20260317T171500 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Diwakar Naidu\nhosted by Robert Seiringer\nAbstract: I will talk about the momentum distribution of an interacting Fermi gas on a three dimensional torus in mean field regime in a trial state that repro duces the Gell-Mann-Brueckner prediction for the correlation energy for Co ulomb potential. We show that the momentum distribution is a step function corrected by the random phase approximation as predicted by Bohm-Pines fo r a class of potentials including the Coulomb potential. The key tool for deriving the distribution is a rigorous bosonization method. The expressio n for the momentum distribution contains the contributions of collective e xcitations above the Fermi-surface going beyond the precision of Hartree-F ock theory. This improves the result by Benedikter-Lill by being valid a l arger class of potentials and for momenta closer to the Fermi surface.  LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Diwakar Naidu: Momentum distribution of a Fermi gas with Coulomb in teraction in Random Phase approximation URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6289 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68de4989513e0953257350@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260318T123000 DTEND:20260318T141500 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Guanchen Peng\nhosted by Onur Hosten\nAbstract: Altern ating the propagation direction of the Raman light (k-reversal) has been e ssential for implementing traditional large momentum transfer (LMT) for a Raman atom interferometer\, where a series of light pulses are used to per form both /2-pulse and -pulse. In this talk\, I will present our method of performing LMT without k-reversal [1]. We use microwave /2-pulse and Rama n -pulse to perform LMT\, which uses the same principle as shown in the or iginal Spin-Dependent-Kick interferometer [2]. However\, we applied an add itional microwave pulse in the middle of the interferometer sequence to r everse the spin states\, which allows closing of the interferometer arms b y the same Raman light -pulses without k-reversal. I will present a proof- of-principle demonstration of a 4hk atom interferometer and discuss its sc alability to 4Nhk. I will discuss the complicated feature due to the non-u nity fidelity of Raman pulses. I will also comment on the connection betwe en our scheme and the Bragg atom optics. [1] G. Peng \, B. Lanigan \, R. S hah \, J. Lim \, A. Kaushik \, J. P. Cotter \, E. A. Hinds \, and B. E. Sa uer\, Large momentum transfer Raman atom interferometer without k-reversal \, Phys. Rev. Res. 7\, L032045 (2025) [2] M. Jaffe\, V. Xu\, P. Haslinger\ , H. Mller\, and P. Hamilton\, Efficient adiabatic spin-dependent kicks in an atom interferometer\, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121\, 040402 (2018). LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room G (I24.EG.030g)\, IST A ORGANIZER:swiddman@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Guanchen Peng: Large momentum transfer Raman atom interferometer wi thout k-reversal AND Common Scientific Meeting URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6218 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68776e696ce62156687372@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260319T110000 DTEND:20260319T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Thomas Salez\nhosted by Jérémie Palacci\nAbstract: C olloidal motions near complex boundaries are ubiquitous in fundamental phy sics and biology\, as well as in industrial applications. This class of pr oblems invariably involves the intricate coupling between confined fluid f lows\, soft boundaries\, charges\, external forces and fluctuations. Using a combination of interferometric microscopy and advanced statistical infe rence\, we address such a coupling in two main situations. First\, we cons ider the Brownian motion of a rigid particle near a rigid wall. All the ke y statistical-physics observables are reconstructed with high precision\, allowing for nanoscale resolution of local mobilities and femtonewton infe rence of conservative and nonconservative forces. Furthermore\, we charact erize the displacement non-Gaussianities induced by the flow boundary cond ition at the wall\, and their drastic consequences on target-finding dynam ics. Then\, we investigate the Brownian motion of soft micrometric oil dro plets near rigid walls. The analysis reveals the existence of a novel\, tr ansient but large\, soft-Brownian force. The latter might be of importance for microbiological and nanophysical transport\, as well as for chemical reactions in crowded environments and hence the whole life machinery. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:cpetz@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Thomas Salez: Brownian motion near complex interfaces URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6356 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca8ef85833342691@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260319T131500 DTEND:20260319T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Quan Situ\nhosted by Xujia Chen & Tamás Hausel\nAbstr act: The center of a category is an important invariant. In 1990 Soergel s tudied the center of each block of BGG category O\, and established an alg ebra isomorphism to the singular cohomology ring of certain (partial) flag variety. In this talk\, we will consider an analogue of BGG category O fo r quantum groups at roots of unity\, which involves the so called hybrid ( or mixed) quantum group. We show that the center of each block is isomorph ic to the singular cohomology ring of certain (partial) affine flag variet y. The first half of this talk will be devoted to review Soergels result. In the second half\, we will introduce the quantum category O and discuss our result on its center. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Quan Situ: Center of quantum category O and cohomology of affine fl ag varieties URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6329 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1774011600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260320T140000 DTEND:20260320T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Tobias Kleinhanns\nhosted by Jorryt Matthee\nAbstract: Thermoelectric (TE) technology directly converts between heat and electri city\, enabling both waste heat harvesting and localized cooling applicati ons. Yet\, TE technology remains limited to niche applications\, mostly du e to high fabrication costs\, and lower efficiencies compared to other ene rgy conversion technologies. Solution processing provides a scalable and c heaper route than conventional solid-state methods\, potentially enabling the broader adoption of TE technology. Beyond its cost benefits\, solution processing uniquely allows the synthesis of well-defined nanocrystal buil ding blocks\, translating nanoscale defect control into bulk structures. S uch microstructure engineering across length scales allows rational optimi zation of the TE performance. This thesis explores defect engineering of s olution-processed silver selenide (Ag2Se)\, with focus on compositional an d microstructural control for enhanced TE performance\, specifically throu gh thiol-amine based synthesis and post-synthetic treatment using polyanio nic CdSe complexes. The material library was extended to lead selenide (Pb Se)\, whose TE performance was optimized through chlorine (Cl) doping from functionalized two-dimensional titanium carbides (MXenes). LOCATION:Sunstone Bldg / Ground floor / Big Seminar Room B (I23.EG.102) \, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Tobias Kleinhanns: Thesis Defense: Unraveling the Origin and Evolut ion of Defects to Enable Advanced Thermoelectric Performance URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6341 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69941a4daa95e421953637@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260323T110000 DTEND:20260323T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Aaradhya Pandey\nhosted by Marco Mondelli\nAbstract: I n this talk\, I introduce a hypothesis-testing-based formulation of differ ential privacy in classical computation. The Gaussian Differential Privacy framework of Dong--Roth--Su (2022) established a central limit theorem fo r the composition of multiple private mechanisms. Building on this work\, I present a Poisson extension of their result and show that both the Gauss ian and Poisson limits are unified under a broader framework of infinitely divisible privacy. This perspective reveals structural connections betwee n differential privacy\, probability theory\, statistics\, and discrete ma thematics. I conclude by discussing computational differential privacy and its connections to cryptographic constructions such as pseudorandom gener ators\, as well as a step toward quantizing privacy in quantum computation \, outlining a framework for both computational and quantum differential p rivacy. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:jdeanton@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Aaradhya Pandey: Information\, Computation\, &\; Quantization: I nfinitely divisible privacy and beyond URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6299 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1774261800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260323T113000 DTEND:20260323T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Thomas Lecuit\nhosted by Edouard Hannezo\nAbstract: Ho w complex and reproducible cell shapes emerge from the interplay between d eterministic programs and stochastic dynamics remains unclear. Using high- resolution in vivo imaging\, quantitative analysis\, cytoskeletal pertur bations and modelling\, we examine the morphogenesis of dendritic arborisa tions in two classes of Drosophila mechanosensory neurons with contrasti ng architectures. Despite sharing similar local rules for the stochastic b ranching dynamics\, the two classes follow divergent growth dynamics that cannot be captured by standard diffusive growth models. Instead\, class-I dendritic branch dynamics are subdiffusive\, and a minimal model that dist inguishes short and long-term branch behaviors recapitulates most features of growth dynamics and final morphologies. Cytoskeletal perturbations rev eal that actin drives short-term branch fluctuations that power arbor expa nsion\, whereas microtubules stabilize branches\, modulate diffusivity and set the final arbor size and pattern. Together\, these findings establish a parsimonious\, generalizable model for neuronal morphogenesis and conne ct local cytoskeletal regulation to global neuronal architecture\, showing how information encoded in the branch stochastic dynamics underlies the e mergence of distinct neuronal shapes. LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Thomas Lecuit: Encoding Neuronal Shape in the Stochastic Dynamics o f Branching Processes URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5714 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6687bf08e3e68685081225@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260324T161500 DTEND:20260324T171500 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Michiel De Wilde\nhosted by Robert Seiringer\nAbstract : Allow an ideal Bose gas to have any boundary condition. What kind of con densates are possible in the thermodynamic limit? We show that a suitable sequence of boundary conditions for the Laplacian features the appearance of an arbitrary number of condensates\, described by arbitrary harmonic fu nctions. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Michiel De Wilde: Arbitrary harmonic functions as Bose-Einstein con densates URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6359 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69a9b2967650f821985802@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260326T113000 DTEND:20260326T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Bardiya Aryanfard\nAbstract: In the continual observat ion model of differential privacy\, problems are generally considered easy if they admit an additive error polylogarithmic in the stream length T an d the universe size n. Conversely\, problems that require additive error p olynomial in n and T are considered difficult. Recently\, Raskhodikova and Steiner (PODS 25) proved polynomial lower bounds on the additive error of many graph problems under fully dynamic edge differential privacy. This r aises a natural question: are these problems difficult even in the inserti ons-only model\, or does their hardness arise strictly from the fully dyna mic setting?We show that for many problems\, the former is true. We prove polynomial lower bounds for a variety of these problems (e.g.\, maximum ma tching) in the insertions-only setting. We then extend our techniques to t he problem of estimating all symmetric norms simultaneously (SNE)\, provid ing the first polynomial lower bound for this problem.Based on joint work with Monika Henzinger\, David Saulpic\, and A. R. Sricharan (https://arxiv .org/abs/2512.15981\, to appear in PODS 26) LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room C (I24.EG.030c)\, IST A ORGANIZER:achaturv@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Bardiya Aryanfard: TCS Seminar - Improved Lower Bounds for Privacy under Continual Release URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6369 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca90071525382795@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260326T131500 DTEND:20260326T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Volodymyr Mazorchuk\nhosted by Tamas Hausel\nAbstract: In the first half  of the talk\, I will give a general introduction to t he so-called Kostant's problem for Lie algebra modules\, as formulated by Joseph in 1980.In the second half\, I will discuss a few recent results on this problem for  simple  highest weight modules and related properties of Kazhdan-Lusztig combinatorics. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Volodymyr Mazorchuk: Kostant's problem for highest weight modules URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6259 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1774863000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260330T113000 DTEND:20260330T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Floris van Doorn\nhosted by Matthew Kwan\nAbstract: Le an is a proof assistant which has a large mathematical library containing results from most areas of mathematics. It contains a good foundation to verify current research problems in various areas of mathematics\, and en ables new collaborative projects.In this talk I will give an overview of L ean and its mathematical library Mathlib\, and describe some of the exciti ng formalization projects in this area. In particular\, I will describe a recently finished project formalizing a generalization of Carleson's 196 6 theorem in harmonic analysis\, about the pointwise convergence of Fourie r series. This is a major result in harmonic analysis with a difficult pr oof\, and this result has been fully verified in Lean. The formalization was a large collaborative project with 17 main contributors. LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Floris van Doorn: Lean: Collaboration Using Formalization URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5761 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69c13bfcda1b2375724544@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260401T140000 DTEND:20260401T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Vishwesha Guttal\nhosted by Vasudha Kulkarni\, Sylvia Cremer\nAbstract: Biological systems are fundamentally shaped by stochasti city. In my talk\, I will demonstrate the key role of intrinsic noise\, wh ich are fluctuations arising from inherent probabilistic nature of biologi cal interactions and are amplified in finite systems. First\, I will demon strate\, using both theory and empirical data\, how noise can shape order in small to intermediate-sized fish schools. Next\, I will show how noise can inform us about the underlying ecological dynamics. Finally\, I will s how theoretically how the stochasticity of finite populations can exhibit counter-intuitive dynamics on both ecological and evolutionary time scales . LOCATION:Mondi Seminar Room 3\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:vkulkarn@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Vishwesha Guttal: The role of intrinsic noise in biological systems : from animal groups to populations to evolution URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6372 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:698aeafda7e08601921534@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260401T150000 DTEND:20260401T163000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: David Taylor\nhosted by Prof. Jack Bravo\nAbstract: CR ISPRCas9s clinical utility is constrained by strict PAM requirements and t he inability to package large nucleases into AAV vectors. We engineered a modular Cas9\, split into a nuclease scaffold and an exchangeable PAM-inte racting domain (PID). This architecture enables one scaffold to function w ith multiple PIDs\, allowing ultra-multiplexing and simple PID swapping to target all disease-relevant loci. Guided by cryo-EM\, we identified funct ional split sites\, validated activity with a GFP reporter assay\, and res tored fast cleavage kinetics using intein-mediated ligation. Exchanging PI Ds broadened PAM compatibility significantly\, with several split chimeras achieving robust editing across any site in human cells. This precision n uclease system offers a compact\, PAM-flexible platform that fits within a single AAV and establishes a path toward versatile\, clinical genome-edit ing therapies. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:jbravo@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:David Taylor: "\;Reengineering CRISPR-Cas effectors"\; URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6321 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6847fefd4a140502881795@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260401T153000 DTEND:20260401T163000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Marc Lackenby\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös & Uli Wagner\nA bstract: In his final paper in 1954\, Alan Turing wrote No systematic meth od is yet known by which one can tell whether two knots are the same.' Wit hin the next 20 years\, Wolfgang Haken and Geoffrey Hemion had discovered such a method. However\, the computational complexity of this problem rema ins unknown. In my talk\, I will give a survey on this area\, that draws o n the work of many low-dimensional topologists and geometers. Unfortunatel y\, the current upper bounds on the computational complexity of the knot e quivalence problem remain quite poor. However\, there are some recent resu lts indicating that\, perhaps\, knots are more tractable than they first s eem. Specifically\, I will explain a theorem that provides\, for each knot type K\, a polynomial p_K with the property that any two diagrams of K wi th n_1 and n_2 crossings differ by at most p_K(n_1) + p_K(n_2) Reidemeiste r moves. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Marc Lackenby: The complexity of knots URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6328 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69c0fcd2533c8436387966@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260403T110000 DTEND:20260403T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Christian Santangelo\nhosted by Scott Waitukaitis\nAbs tract: The materials of biology\, from sharkskin to cartilage to wood\, re gularly out-perform their synthetic equivalents. Organisms can achieve thi s because their materials have precise geometric structures that endow the m with tailored mechanical properties that can often be changed in situ. I t has recently become possible to fabricate comparable structures through 3D printing\, but we still seem to understand little about how geometry an d mechanics are intertwined. This talk will discuss why this is a hard pro blem (NP-hard actually)\, and highlight new work by my group and collabora tors that are starting to unveil new connections between geometry and mech anics. This new understanding has allowed us to design materials that can change their mechanical properties\, changing from rigid to floppy due to the imposition of internal stresses\, and sheds light on the flexibility o f shells and other structures. LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room F (I24.EG.030f)\, IST A ORGANIZER:cpetz@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Christian Santangelo: How geometry and topology make materials rigi d or floppy URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6375 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1775646000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260408T130000 DTEND:20260408T140000 DESCRIPTION:hosted by Pavol Harar\nAbstract: Dear colleagues\, let's talk a bout cryoEM/ET! Again!Registration: https://luma.com/sj5avat7 Intranet: h ttps://intranet.ista.ac.at/content/perma?id=180240 It is our pleasure to invite you to the next CryoCoffee—a casual\, one-hour meetup (quarterly) for anyone at ISTA interested in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM)\, cry o-electron tomography (cryo-ET)\, or related topics. Whether you work dire ctly with these techniques\, develop computational methods\, tackle invers e problems\, or are simply curious\, this is an opportunity to connect wit h others\, exchange ideas\, and find potential collaborations. We will be happy to welcome biologists\, mathematicians\, computer scientists\, physi cists\, chemists\, and basically anyone interested in cryo. More info in t he registration link.The program includes a short talk followed by a Mini Poster session to share fresh ideas—not finished projects.This is a perf ect opportunity to get early feedback from colleagues. Consider signing up for the casual A4 poster\, it is a great ice breaker that sparks fruitful discussions. LOCATION:ErrorBar (Downtown)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Pavol.Harar@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:5th CryoCoffee on 08th April 1PM in ErrorBar (Downtown) URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6355 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68776fd7287fd077847583@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260409T110000 DTEND:20260409T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Martin van Hecke\nhosted by Scott Waitukaitis\nAbstrac t: Memory effects probe the complexity of disordered matter and its fundam ental constituents and interactions. While models based on independent ele ments capture generic memories\, interactions are predicted to produce man y interaction-induced memories which so far have been observed in artifici al systems only. Here we reveal that archetypical disordered materials - p olycrystalline alloys\, crumpled sheets\, and steel wool - store multiple memories that strengthen with repeated cycling - in stark contrast to pred ictions for non-interacting systems. Interacting-based models capture our observations and predict a cascade of interaction-induced memory motifs\, including the dominant one observed here. Our results reveal hitherto hidd en complexity in disordered media\, opening a fresh route towards the obse rvation\, modeling and utilization of interaction-induced memories\, inclu ding for in-materia computing. LOCATION:Mondi Seminar Room 2\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:cpetz@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Martin van Hecke: Interaction-Induced Memories Reveal the Complexit y of Disordered Matter URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6380 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69b2997d0b482398218529@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260409T113000 DTEND:20260409T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Frederik Mallmann-Trenn\nAbstract: The strong lottery ticket hypothesis (SLTH) posits that\, for any given target network\, a su fficiently large randomly initialized neural network contains a subnetwork whose inputoutput behavior can approximate that target. This viewpoint su ggests an alternative paradigm for model design: rather than adjusting par ameters through training\, we can search for effective subnetworks by prun ing. In this talk\, I will introduce the SLTH and discuss several pruning approaches. LOCATION:Sunstone Bldg / Ground floor / Big Seminar Room A / 27 seats (I23. EG.102)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:achaturv@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Frederik Mallmann-Trenn: TCS Seminar - On the Strong Lottery Ticket Hypothesis URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6397 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca92263894233087@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260409T133000 DTEND:20260409T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jochen Heinloth\nhosted by Xujia Chen & Tamas Hausel\n Abstract: The talk will be an extension of a preparational talk in the Fri day-Bourbaki seminar\, with only aim to give some background on the geomet ric Langlands correspondence.The question started out with an arithmetic q uestion and part of the recent progress has relied on a very fruitful exch ange of ideas between arithmetic and geometric perspectives\, that finally allowed Gaitsgory and Raskin to deduce results for the original correspon dence in the case of function fields from an abstract looking categorical result. It is quite beautiful that the abstract looking statement can be u sed to deduce a classical statement on automorphic functions.The different settings involved mean that if you either like arithmetic questions or co mplex geometry you might appreciate some aspects of this and I will try to explain some of the more elementary ideas that serve as starting point to translate between these languages. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Jochen Heinloth: Some background on the geometric Langlands corresp ondence URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6272 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1776072600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260413T113000 DTEND:20260413T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Giousef Alexandros Charinti & Antoine El-Hayek\nhosted by Jeroen Dobbelaere\nAbstract: Experimental research across all fields i s increasingly incorporating computing to analyze large datasets\, model m olecular dynamics\, and use AI models to identify new patterns. Whereas 10 years ago these approaches were largely limited to computer scientists\, today virtually every scientific discipline relies on computing on a daily basis. This evolution has been further accelerated by recent developments in the AI field\, which have made computing more accessible and easier to apply across different areas of research.Since experimental research alre ady has a substantial environmental footprint\, primarily from equipment and consumables\, we aimed to assess the environmental footprint of c omputing at ISTA.Mapping the use of scientific computing at ISTA\, includ ing data storage and external services\, allowed us to calculate both ener gy consumption and material footprint. Although most laboratories use scie ntific computing\, usage can vary significantly depending on the type of p roject\, leading to big asymmetries in demand. In addition to active com puting\, data storage accounts for a considerable share of the overall foo tprint. External computing services were also analyzed and are increasin gly used\, largely driven by the adoption of AI tools. We present a first estimate of the ISTA AI footprint and identify the tools most commonly use d. Although a fast-changing environment\, proper and responsible use of c omputing resources will be essential to ensure that research remains susta inable and fit for the future. LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Giousef Alexandros Charinti & Antoine El-Hayek: Environmental Footp rint of Computing\; How is ISTA Doing? URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6333 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1776081600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260413T140000 DTEND:20260413T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Ksenia Khudiakova\nhosted by Mikhail Lemeshko\nAbstrac t: This Ph.D. thesis investigates how different forms of selection shape g enetic diversity in a constant environment that has led to evolutionary eq uilibrium. We progress from a non-epistatic case to increasingly complex m odels of epistasis and rely on stochastic and deterministic theory togethe r with simulations.We first show that in the non-epistatic case\, and in a n asexual population\, weak purifying selection leads to multiple-merger g enealogies\, and that the transition in genealogical properties coincides with the onset of Muller’s ratchet.Then\, we apply a result from discret e Morse theory to prove that adding each next fitness peak to the landscap e requires at least one additional special pairwise interaction between lo ci\, called reciprocal sign epistasis.We then show that reciprocal sign ep istasis can extend the diversity-promoting effects of balancing selection and delineate the parameter conditions under which this effect is expected to occur.Finally\, we demonstrate how epistasis that arises under stabili zing selection amplifies the effects of random genetic drift by causing th e selection coefficients of mutations to fluctuate through interactions wi th the changing genetic background.Together\, these results show that non- epistatic purifying selection reduces genetic diversity relative to neutra lity\, and that once Muller’s ratchet starts operating\, this reduction cannot be captured by any simple rescaling of Kingman’s coalescent. On a n epistatic fitness landscape\, reciprocal sign epistasis is a key ingredi ent for generating multiple fitness peaks\, and it substantially alters wi thin-population dynamics at evolutionary equilibrium by extending the dive rsity-maintaining effects of balancing selection and driving temporal chan ges in selection coefficients. This Ph.D. thesis thus advances our underst anding of how epistasis shapes genetic diversity and evolutionary dynamics in populations at equilibrium. LOCATION:Sunstone Bldg / Ground floor / Big Seminar Room B (I23.EG.102) and Zoom\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Ksenia Khudiakova: Thesis Defense: How epistasis and purifying sele ction shape genetic diversity URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6399 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1776157200@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260414T110000 DTEND:20260414T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Elena Hassinger\nhosted by Kimberly Modic\nAbstract: A bstract:Superconductors with non-trivial pairing symmetries expand our und erstanding of correlated quantum matter and show promise for applications in quantum computing. Odd-parity superconductivity is interesting in this regard due to its robustness to magnetic field and possible topological su rface states. The phenomenon only occurs in a few materials\, the most rec ognised cases of which are strongly correlated uranium-based systems with weak ferromagnetism. Another candidate is CeRh2As2\, which exhibits a magn etic-field-induced transition between two superconducting phases\, current ly understood as states of even- and odd-parity pairing. Here\, the odd-pa rity pairing is thought to be stabilisied not by ferromagnetism\, but by t he staggered Rashba spin-orbit interaction caused by the absence of invers ion symmetry at the Ce sites. Since the tetragonal crystal structure is ce ntrosymmetric\, states of distinct parity are allowed [1\,2]. But the supe rconductivity is not the only mystery of CeRh2As2. Similarly to other unco nventional superconductors\, the material hosts a coexisting weak ordered state that can be suppressed by pressure [3-5]. Although the order paramet er is not fully identified\, internal magnetic fields are evidenced by NMR /NQR [6] and muSR [7] measurements. Intriguingly\, the transition temperat ure decreases with the out-of-plane field\, but increases strongly with th e in-plane field\, which is hard to reconcile with a simple magnetic order but can be explained by considering quadrupolar degrees of freedom [3\,8] . This unconventional magnetic state and its role for superconductivity ar e currently in the focus of research on this compound. In my talk\, I will highlight experimental results from macroscopic and microscopic measureme nts under different tuning parameters such as pressure and magnetic field\ , each nurturing our current understanding of the fascinating properties o f CeRh2As2.  References [1] S. Khim & J. Landaeta et al.\, Science 373\ , 1012–1016 (2021). [2] J. Landaeta et al.\, Phys. Rev. X 12\, 031001 ( 2022). [3] D. Hafner et al.\, Phys. Rev. X 12\, 011023 (2022). [4] M. Pf eiffer et al.\, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133\, 126506 (2024). [5] K. Semeniuk et al.\, Phys. Rev. B 110\, L100504 (2024). [6] M. Kibune et al.\, Phys. Rev . Lett. 128\, 057002 (2022).[7] S. Khim et al.\, Phys. Rev. B 111\, 11513 4 (2025).[8] B. Schmidt and P. Thalmeier\, Phys. Rev. B 110\, 075154 (202 4).  LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Elena Hassinger: Mysteries of the two-phase superconductor CeRh2As2 URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6209 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68dd5c2f40cb0196725380@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260414T110000 DTEND:20260414T130000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Prof. Dr. Olga Sorkine-Hornung\nhosted by Samara Ren\n Abstract: Textile materials are ubiquitous in traditional manufacturing\, and many everyday objectsmost notably garments and footwearare made of fab ric. Fabrication with textiles supplies a plethora of interesting mathemat ical and engineering problems of high importance and impact in the real wo rld\, given that textile and fashion are one of the largest industries and contributes significantly to global economy and environmental conditions. Taking the perspective of geometry processing and computer graphics\, in this talk I will discuss the interplay between the 2D nature of fabric and the goals of 3D shape modeling with such material\, focusing primarily on garment design and fabrication. I will discuss the exciting role geometri c computing can play in this domain and present some recent work of my res earch group that touches on theoretical and applied aspects of woven fabri c modeling\, garment construction and textile based fabrication. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:akeri@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Prof. Dr. Olga Sorkine-Hornung: Computational modeling and fabricat ion with textiles URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6364 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:699c104cded21642660514@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260415T110000 DTEND:20260415T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Filippo Conforto\nhosted by Andela Saric\nAbstract: Th e activity and organisation of DNA in the cell are highly regulated by sev eral proteins\, such as topoisomerases and Structural Maintenance of Chrom osomes (SMCs)\, which are involved in topological regulation by resolving crossings between DNA strands or creating loops within chromatin. While we have rich knowledge about the impact of these proteins on the cell's func tion\, the rheological\, i.e.\, flow properties\, which affect the capacit y of DNA to reorganise and respond to stimuli\, are still poorly understoo d.In this talk\, I will investigate the viscous and elastic properties of dense DNA solutions under the effect of SMCs and the formation of gels thr ough DNA ligation. Specifically\, I show how SMCs modulate in silico and i n vitro the rheological properties both through the extrusion of loops and the creation of transient crosslinks between DNA strands. Additionally\, I investigate how DNA can be used to create percolating networks of linked rings. These DNA networks\, called "Olympic Gels''\, differ from classic transiently linked gels by the presence of permanent topological links. I show that through progressive ligation it is possible to create materials with tuneable viscoelastic properties\, which can be controlled by choosin g the length of ring and linear DNA strands used in the gel formation. Thi s work contributes to a better understanding of how proteins naturally con tained in the cell affect the topology\, structure\, and rheology of entan gled DNA\, and will help guide the design of new biomaterials inspired by the properties of DNA. LOCATION:Sunstone Bldg / Ground floor / Big Seminar Room A / 27 seats (I23. EG.102)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:mmunozba@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Filippo Conforto: Modulating the flow of entangled DNA with topolog ically active proteins URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6381 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1776338100@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260416T131500 DTEND:20260416T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Isabella Khan\nhosted by Xujia Chen\nAbstract: The Hee gaard Floer d-invariant is a numerical invariant of rational homology sphe res which is analogous to the Frøyshov h-invariant from Instanton theory. In this talk\, we use Zemke’s recent isomorphism between lattice Floer and Heegaard Floer homology to compute the d-invariant for all rational ho mology spheres which arise as negative definite plumbed manifolds\, verify ing a 20 year old conjecture of Némethi.  LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Isabella Khan: The Heegaard Floer d-invariant for rational homology spheres URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6403 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1776672000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260420T100000 DTEND:20260420T110000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Eugenia Iofinova\nhosted by Samara Ren\nAbstract: As n eural-network-based models grow both in size and popularity\, interest has grown in making the models smaller and more efficient to train. To that e nd\, many methods have been proposed to prune models by reducing their num ber of nonzero parameters. Additionally\, parameter-efficient fine-tuning\ , in which a much smaller number of parameters than the total contained in the model is updated during training\, has become very popular\, especial ly in the space of Large Language Models. At the same time\, the increasin gly routine deployment of machine learning in real-world applications has spurred a drive to make them more trustworthy - in the sense of\, among ot her things\, being unbiased\, interpretable\, and editable. In this thesis \, we examine the interplay between efficiency and trustworthiness.First\, we analyze the effects of model pruning on bias in computer vision models \, demonstrating that increased sparsity leads to greater bias\, largely a s a function of increased model uncertainty in marginal cases. Based on th is observation\, we propose several bias mitigation techniques. Then\, we demonstrate that example-specific model pruning can improve model interpre tation methods while improving pruning efficiency to make example-specific model pruning feasible in real time. Then\, we investigate the effectiven ess of parameter-efficient and data-efficient model personalization via fi ne-tuning\, demonstrating that it is highly feasible with very small compu tational and data resources. Finally\, we consider efficiency in editing m odel knowledge using a custom synthetic data framework\, demonstrating tha t parameter-efficient\, low-rank fine-tuning frequently outperforms full-r ank fine-tuning\, and\, additionally\, restricting fine-tuning to specific model blocks frequently improves results. Together\, the results in this thesis provide new insights and techniques for combining trustworthiness a nd efficiency during neural network inference and training. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 ) and Zoom\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Eugenia Iofinova: Thesis Defense: On the Utility and Effects of Eff iciency in Artificial Neural Networks URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6391 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1776677400@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260420T113000 DTEND:20260420T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Daniel Kronauer\nhosted by Lora Sweeney\nAbstract: The colonies of social insects are complex biological systems in which manifo ld interactions between individuals give rise to emergent properties that are adaptive at the group level. However\, most social insects cannot be p ropagated in captivity or genetically manipulated\, severely limiting the scope for experimentation. The Kronauer lab is developing and utilizing th e clonal raider ant\, Ooceraea biroi\, as a new model species that overcom es many of these limitations\, allowing them to study social dynamics and underlying mechanisms under controlled laboratory conditions. Their work h as led to a deeper understanding of how ants within a colony assume distin ct behavioral roles and efficiently divide labor\, how they communicate\, both as adults and across different developmental stages\, and how these i nteractions result in collective behavior. Additionally\, their research h as shed light on how evolution has repurposed and expanded genetic\, neura l\, and physiological mechanisms from solitary ancestors to produce highly social organisms. In this seminar\, Dr. Daniel Kronauer will provide an o verview of this work and discuss future directions in his research program aimed at understanding the evolution and organization of insect societies \, spanning from genes to neural circuits and behavior. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Daniel Kronauer: The Social Behavior of Ants URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5795 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1776679200@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260420T120000 DTEND:20260421T160000 DESCRIPTION:hosted by Ludek Lovicar \nAbstract: 16th ASEM Workshop on Advan ced Electron MicroscopyWe are pleased to invite you to the 16th ASEM Wor kshop on Advanced Electron Microscopy\, the annual meeting of the Austria n Society for Electron Microscopy (ASEM) (https://asem.at/). This workshop serves as a platform for electron microscopists to exchange ideas\, discu ss recent advances\, and foster collaborations across disciplines.Research ers from life sciences\, materials science\, physics\, and chemistry – from both academia and industry – are warmly welcomed to participate an d share their expertise. As in previous years\, we place a strong emphasis on encouraging contributions from students and early-career scientists\, whose active participation is vital to the continued growth and innovatio n of our community.Thanks to the sponsors (https://asem-workshop-2026.pag es.ist.ac.at/sponsors/)\, the workshop is free of charge for all members o f the ASEM!There will be a Poster award (https://asem-workshop-2026.pages .ist.ac.at/registration/) and Image Competition (https://asem-workshop-2 026.pages.ist.ac.at/registration/) at the workshop.The ASEM offers grant to young scientists that cover travel and accommodation costs up to 200 €. More details can be found here (https://asem-workshop-2026.pages.ist .ac.at/wp-content/uploads/sites/352/2025/12/20251205_How-to-obtain-a-refun d-of-travel-costs.pdf).The official language of the ASEM Workshop is Engli sh. LOCATION:Moonstone Seminar Center (indoors and outdoors)\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:ASEM URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6325 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6925b824cd08b921483305@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260420T160000 DTEND:20260420T170000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Rémy Mahfouf\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös & Jan Maas\nAbs tract: In this talk\, I will present a new differential approach to unders tanding how the large-scale geometry of (near-)critical Ising and dimer mo dels evolves as their coupling constants are moved continuously. When this evolution is driven by random perturbations\, the question connects to th e stability of certain stochastic differential equations (SDEs)\, allowing the construction of (near-)critical random-bond Ising and dimer models wh ose critical window in a random environment is significantly larger than i n the deterministic setting.The talk is based on arXiv:2509.08928 and ongo ing work with Benot Laslier and Mikhail Basok. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Rémy Mahfouf: Travelling through (near) critical Ising and dimer m odels URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6349 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69b2cbf7d2155912021111@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260420T170000 DTEND:20260420T180000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Diederik van Engelenburg\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös & Ja n Maas\nAbstract: In this talk\, I will focus on behavior of the Ising mod el in high dimensions (d 4). Widom proposed that thermodynamic quantities follow power laws governed by critical exponents\, and above the upper cri tical dimension d_c = 4\, these exponents reduce to the mean-field values (matching those on trees or complete graphs). I will talk about a recent w ork about the so-called one-arm event (the origin connects to distance n) in the FK-Ising model. We observe that this exponent depends on the bound ary condition: for wired boundary conditions\, we prove that this probabil ity decays up to constants as n^(-1) for d 4\, whereas in infinite volume we prove that it decays as n^(-2) for d 6\, but not for d = 4\, 5. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Diederik van Engelenburg: One-arm exponents for the high dimensiona l Ising model URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6350 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1776778200@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260421T153000 DTEND:20260421T162000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Imre Leader\nhosted by Matthew Kwan\nAbstract: Abstrac t: Euclidean Ramsey theory is a natural geometric version of Ramsey theory \, asking about what we can say when we finitely colour the Euclidean spac e Rn. The talk will present background and then go on to some more recent results. No knowledge of the area or of Ramsey theory will be assumed. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Imre Leader: Euclidean Ramsey theory URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6415 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6687bf08e3e81623090284@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260421T161500 DTEND:20260421T171500 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Pierre Germain\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös\nAbstract: A c hain of oscillators is a Hamiltonian model set on the 1D lattice (Z)\, whi ch should be thought as a model of a crystal: particles can interact with their neighbors\, linearly and nonlinearly. The most prominent examples ar e the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam and the Toda equations. I will present the kinetic (Boltzmann-type) equation which can be derived from this model as well as its hydrodynamic limits. I will try to give an overview of the - mostly no t rigorous - theory\, but also emphasize recent mathematical progress. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Pierre Germain: Kinetic theory for oscillator chains URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6418 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1776781800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260421T163000 DTEND:20260421T172000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Luka Milićević\nhosted by Matthew Kwan\nAbstract: Ab stract: Higher order Fourier analysis is a generalization of the classica l Fourier analysis in which the role of linear phases is played by polynom ial phases and related objects. It originates from the work of Gowers in w hich he proved quantitative bounds in Szemerédi's theorem on arithmetic p rogressions and introduced a family of norms on functions on an abelian gr oup\, now known as the uniformity norms. These norms\, denoted by U^k for k ≥ 2\, are the central objects of study in this subject and a key quest ion is the inverse problem\, which is to understand the structure of funct ions with a large value of uniformity norm.In this talk\, I will present s ome novel results in this field: a general inverse theory for the U^4 norm \, as well as a joint work with arko Ranelovi\, in which we prove that the Möbius function does not correlate with polynomial phases in function fi elds over prime fields. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Luka Milićević: Some new results in higher order Fourier analysis URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6416 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69d4fd9cf30db116400989@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260423T110000 DTEND:20260423T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Beate Lichtenberger\nhosted by Florian Schur\nAbstract : Skin fibroblasts are central organizers of tissue architecture\, providi ng the structural framework of theskin while actively regulating its devel opment\, homeostasis\, and repair. Far from being a uniform cellpopulation \, fibroblasts comprise diverse subtypes with distinct spatial identities\ , functional programs\,and interactions with epithelial\, immune\, and vas cular cells. In this talk\, I will discuss how fibroblastdiversity shapes skin structure and physiology\, and how altered fibroblast states drive pa thologicalprocesses such as fibrosis and cancer. These findings position f ibroblasts as dynamic regulators of tissuefunction in both health and dise ase. LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room F (I24.EG.030f)\, IST A ORGANIZER:jgazsi@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Beate Lichtenberger: Beyond Structural Support: Skin Fibroblasts as Dynamic Regulators of Tissue and Disease URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6404 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68776fc266247378895871@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260423T110000 DTEND:20260423T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Lauren Dreier\nhosted by Jérémie Palacci\nAbstract: Beaded materials incorporate discrete\, volumetric elements into programma ble thread networks\, enabling materials that sustain tensile forces along threads and compressive forces at bead contacts. These coupled interactio ns give rise to emergent behaviors such as tunable stiffness\, metastabili ty\, and superjamming\, expanding textiles into new realms of structural a nd adaptive performance. We study how these behaviors evolve in larger ass emblies and explore design principles that govern their mechanical respons e. This work suggests a path toward hybrid textile systems as a versatile platform for programmable matter and adaptive structures. LOCATION:Mondi Seminar Room 2\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:cpetz@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Lauren Dreier: Beaded metamaterials URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6417 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69e607832afef828804679@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260423T113000 DTEND:20260423T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Gramoz Goranci\nAbstract: Cut-based graph problems are central to combinatorial optimization and theoretical computer science. A powerful algorithmic framework for tackling these problems is cut-based t ree embedding\, where the goal is to compute a collections of trees that a pproximately preserves the values of all cuts in any given graph. The semi nal work of Rcke (2008)\, in the context of oblivious routing\, showed how to construct such trees with near-optimal quality O(log n). Building on t his\, Madry (2010) introduced j-tree embeddings to accelerate Rckes constr uction at the cost of a slightly worse approximation guarantee. These resu lts have been instrumental in the development of near-optimal algorithms f or approximating undirected maximum flow.More recently\, the focus has shi fted to the dynamic setting\, where the challenge is to maintain these emb eddings as the underlying graph undergoes edge insertions and deletions. S trikingly\, techniques developed for dynamic j-tree embeddings have also b ecome a key ingredient in the recent breakthrough static algorithm for com puting maximum flow in directed graphs.In this talk\, I will present the a lgorithmic constructions underlying static\, cut-based tree and j-tree emb eddings. Time permitting\, I will also discuss some of our recent work on dynamic variants of these objects and their algorithmic applications.This is based both on prior work by others and on my joint work with Li Chen\, Monika Henzinger\, Peter Kiss\, Ali Momeni\, Richard Peng\, Thatchaphol Sa ranurak\, and Gernot Zcklein. LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room G (I24.EG.030g)\, IST A ORGANIZER:achaturv@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Gramoz Goranci: TCS Seminar - Static and Dynamic Cut-Based Tree Emb eddings URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6424 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca9443e835749719@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260423T131500 DTEND:20260423T151500 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: David Hernandez\nhosted by Xujia Chen & Tamas Hausel\n Abstract: Shifted quantum groups emerged from the study of quantized Coulo mb branches (which are symplectic duals to quiver varieties). We show that the Grothendieck ring of the category O for the shifted quantum affine al gebras has the structure of a cluster algebra (jt work with Geiss and Lecl erc). This has several applications\, such as geometric character formulas for simple classes corresponding to cluster variables. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:David Hernandez: Shifted quantum groups\, cluster algebras and geom etric character formulas URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6363 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1777017600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260424T100000 DTEND:20260424T110000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Raffaele Coray\nhosted by Alicia Michael\nAbstract: Cr yo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) enables three-dimensional visualization o f macromolecular complexes in near-native conditions\, but analyzing these datasets remains challenging due to structural heterogeneity and the comp lexity of the sample context. I will present context-aware template matchi ng\, an approach that leverages sample features\, such as membranes and su pporting geometries\, to improve particle identification. I will illustrat e this method using retromer-coated membrane tubules\, showing how templat e matching\, in conjunction with subtomogram averaging\, neighborhood anal ysis\, and heterogeneity analysis\, can reveal distinct classes of arch ar rangements and global coating patterns. This example demonstrates how inco rporating contextual information can enhance structural interpretation\, p roviding a framework for studying complex membrane-associated assemblies i n cryo-ET datasets.  LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room G\, ISTA ORGANIZER:alicia.michael@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Raffaele Coray: Context-Aware Template Matching for Structural Anal ysis of Membrane-Assembled Retromer Coats URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6405 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1777042800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260424T170000 DTEND:20260424T230000 DESCRIPTION:hosted by Lange Nacht der Forschung\nAbstract: Curious about ho w scientists explore the world around us? Join us from 5:00 to 11:00 pm fo r an evening of discovery during the Long Night of Research. At our campus in Klosterneuburg near Vienna\, visitors of all ages are invited to step inside the world of research and experience science in a welcoming\, open- door atmosphere. Families\, school groups\, and anyone with a curious mind can explore interactive stations\, meet researchers\, and see how scienti fic ideas come to life.Across 14 interactive stations\, guests can enjoy h ands-on experiments\, short talks\, and engaging demonstrations. Highlight s include a lively Science Show filled with exciting chemistry experiments \, the AstroLab\, where visitors can explore stars and galaxies and even b uild a mini spectroscope\, and the colorful Rainbow Liquid Tower\, where l iquids stack to reveal the science of density. You can also test climate s trategies in the Hotspot Earth game\, investigate animal science at CSI Ve tmed\, or discover what birdsong can reveal about the origins of music. At the VISTA Science Experience Center\, explore the exhibition Science in t he Making\, join family activities\, and watch the film Encounters in the Milky Way. You can find more information about the program here: https:// langenachtderforschung.at/ausstellungsstandort/15 Take advantage of the f ree shuttle bus from Vienna Heiligenstadt and Tulln to ISTA\, or the addit ional event shuttle bus with the following times: (https://ista.ac.at/wp-c ontent/uploads/2026/04/content_lnf_busplan_2026.png)  LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building & VISTA Science Experie nce Center\, ISTA ORGANIZER:events@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Long Night of Research URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6315 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1777282200@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260427T113000 DTEND:20260427T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Carl Goodrich\nhosted by Jérémie Palacci\nAbstract: If the emergence of AI has taught us nothing else\, it is that simple func tions\, connected together at scale\, can lead to extreme emergent behavio r provided the internal settings are adjusted just so. Does this principle apply to material systems as well? Can simple\, well-understood physical interactions enable complex\, maybe even life-like behavior if tuned at sc ale? Unlike most areas of science where we are trained to reduce the param eterization of a problem\, answering such questions forces us to embrace h igh-dimensional spaces in order to understand when and where extreme behav iors emerge. I will discuss efforts within my group to understand the phys ics of highly tunable material systems. First\, I will explain how physics -imposed constraints shape design spaces of self-assembling nanostructures \, leading to a quasi-analytical description of the system’s expressiven ess. Then\, I will discuss how tunable materials can contain a physical me mory of their past. While I will initially present the concept of a physic al memory in the context of tuned disordered solids\, the resulting theory provides a general framework for predicting and understanding memory in a range of tunable systems\, and I will speculate on such connections\, fro m evolution to cellular structure\, and from machine learning to the brain . Together\, these results provide critical foundational structure for the emerging interdisciplinary field of tunable matter. LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Carl Goodrich: Tunable Matter URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6384 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1777366800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260428T110000 DTEND:20260428T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jean-Philippe Brantut\nhosted by Julian Leonard\nAbstr act: Abstract:Cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) is one of the most powe rful framework to observe and leverage quantum phenomena. While it has bee n thoroughly studied for simple quantum systems such as two-level systems or harmonic oscillators\, it has recently become available for complex\, c orrelated quantum many-body systems. In the last years\, we have developed systems combining cavity QED with cold Fermi gases. In such a system\, v irtual photon exchanges between atoms yield a long-range interaction leadi ng to emergent phenomena. I will describe how it induces charge-density wa ve ordering\, and the deep insights on this transition provided by real-ti me measurements and high spatial resolution. I will then discuss the inter play of pairing\, Pauli blocking and light-matter interactions in this sys tem\, the status of our understanding and some open questions. Last\, I wi ll outline the perspective open for quantum simulations in this platform\, both from the conceptual and technological point of view.  LOCATION:Office Building West/Ground Floor/Heinzel Seminar Room\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Jean-Philippe Brantut: Quantum Simulations with Atoms and Photons URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6210 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6687bf08e3e87989250506@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260428T161500 DTEND:20260428T171500 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jacob Shapiro\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös\nAbstract: The index of a pair of projections on a Hilbert space was introduced in 1973 b y Brown-Douglas-Filmore and connected to the integer quantum Hall effect b y Avron-Seiler-Simon in 1994. For two orthogonal projections P\,Q such tha t P-Q is compact\, index(P\,Q)=dimimPkerQ-dimimQkerP. It is manifestly an integer\, and enjoys norm and compactness stability\, much like the relate d Fredholm index. Such indices played a pivotal role in describing the qua ntization and stability properties in the quantum Hall effect\; ASS94 rela ted the Hall conductance to the index of a Fermi projection P and its Laug hlin-flux-inserted projection U*PU.What becomes of this story in the prese nce of interactions? To describe infinitely-many interacting electrons in infinite-volume\, the Hilbert space is replaced by a unital C-* algebra A (a CAR algebra)\, but there is no obvious notion of a Fredholm index. We i ntroduce a new notion\, the index of a pair of pure states (on A)\, prove its quantization\, invariance and stability properties\, and relate it to the (possibly fractional) Hall conductance. We further show that Kitaevs i nvertible states always have integer conductance. Joint with Bachmann and Tauber. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Jacob Shapiro: The index of a pair of pure states and the quantum H all effect URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6368 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1777536000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260430T100000 DTEND:20260430T110000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Robert Ott\nhosted by Julian Léonard and Maximilian Prüfer\nAbstract: Abstract :In this talk\, I discuss the role of quantum error correction in enhancing quantum sensors. I will begin by reviewing e stablished results on how and when quantum error correction protocols can be used to protect sensors in noisy environments. Then\, I will present ou r recent work\, where we developed a protocol to detect rare stochastic si gnals in a noisy environment using quantum error correction. Specifically\ , I will show how we achieve an improved sensitivity of our approach over more conventional sensing strategies.[This talk is based on arXiv:2601.043 13.] LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Robert Ott: Quantum Sensing and Quantum Error Correction applied to rare stochastic signals URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6433 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68776eaf380dd057014767@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260430T110000 DTEND:20260430T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Justin C. Burton\nhosted by Scott Waitukaitis\nAbstrac t: Airborne microbes critically impact our lives\, from the spread of dise ases to rainfall and food production. Yet the survival of microbes during aerosolization and atmospheric transport is not well understood. Although bacteria have been found in the atmosphere\, even larger organisms such as nematodes and spiders can drift in the air for many kilometers. In this t alk\, I will discuss two research projects where we investigate how the at mosphere plays a crucial role in micro- and meso-scale ecology. I will sho w how salt and humidity help bacteria survive during desiccation. In dried droplets on flat surfaces\, the spatial structure generated by the dried film can trap water to facilitate survival. 3D Bacterial suspensions dried under acoustic levitation survive even better. In a separate project\, I will discuss how jumping\, parasitic nematodes rely on electrostatic force s to infect their insect hosts. A model combining electrostatics\, aerodyn amics\, and Bayesian inference indicates that the electrostatic charge on jumping nematodes is ~ 0.1 pC\, which aligns with theoretical predictions for electrostatic induction. In fact\, we show that infection through jump ing may necessitate electrostatic forces as a successful evolutionary stra tegy. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:cpetz@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Justin C. Burton: Biology in the air: from hitchhiking microbes to jumping electrified nematodes URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6407 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca9553e692312618@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260430T131500 DTEND:20260430T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Thibault Juillard\nhosted by Tamas Hausel\nAbstract: A ffine W-algebras form a family of vertex algebras parametrised by nilpoten t orbits in simple Lie algebras. These are algebraic structures generalisi ng infinite-dimensional Lie algebras such as affine Kac--Moody algebras or Virasoro algebras.In this talk\, I will present a joint work with Naoki G enra about "reduction by stages". Given two nilpotent orbits\, in the same Lie algebra\, satisfying some compatibility conditions\, we prove that on e of the corresponding W-algebras can be reconstructed as the quantum Hami ltonian reduction of the other one. Our approach is geometric\, using the fact that each W-algebra is the quantisation of some Poisson variety\, the Slodowy slice associated with the corresponding nilpotent orbit.As an app lication\, I will present a sufficient condition on a pair of nilpotent or bits in type A to get a natural embedding of affine W-algebras. This an an alogue of the combinatorial rule established by Kraft and Procesi in their study of Slodowy slices in the 80's. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Thibault Juillard: Reduction by stages for affine W-algebras URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6423 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1777874400@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260504T080000 DTEND:20260505T180000 DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:MPS Retreat 2026 URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5916 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1778065200@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260506T130000 DTEND:20260506T160000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: David Vijatovic\nhosted by Amelia Douglass\nAbstract: Motor circuits must generate distinct patterns of movement while adapting to developmental changes in body form and behavioral demands. Frog metamor phosis provides a unique opportunity to study this process\, as Xenopus la evis transitions from axial\, tail-based swimming to limb-based locomotion . This work investigates how spinal circuits are molecularly organized and functionally reorganized during this transition.I examine how spinal neur on composition changes across metamorphosis\, showing that cell type diver sity increases with the emergence of limb movement. In particular\, inhibi tory V1 interneurons and motor neurons expand and diversify into transcrip tionally defined populations resembling those described in mammals. These findings support conserved organizational principles of vertebrate spinal circuits and link cell type diversification to the emergence of more compl ex motor behaviors. I further develop viral and optical approaches to prob e how these molecularly defined circuits are functionally reorganized duri ng this transition.Together\, these findings establish Xenopus laevis as a powerful model for linking molecular identity\, circuit dynamics\, and be havior across vertebrate development. LOCATION:Sunstone Bldg / Ground floor / Big Seminar Room A / 27 seats (I23. EG.102)\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:David Vijatovic: Thesis Defense:Dissecting molecular and functional basis of motor control in Xenopus laevis frog URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6442 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:684800150f201048290295@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260506T153000 DTEND:20260506T163000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Hong Wang\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös & Uli Wagner\nAbstr act: A Kakeya set is a compact subset of R^n that contains a unit line seg ment pointing in every direction. Kakeya set conjecture asserts that every Kakeya set has Minkowski and Hausdorff dimension n. We prove this conject ure in R^3 as a consequence of a more general statement about union of tub es.This is joint work with Josh Zahl. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Hong Wang: Kakeya sets in R^3 URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6400 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68776f9104d40763009008@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260507T110000 DTEND:20260507T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Nachi Stern\nhosted by Carl Goodrich\nAbstract: From e lectrically responsive neuronal networks to immune repertoires\, biologica l systems can learn to perform complex tasks. In this seminar\, we explore physical learning\, a framework inspired by computational learning theory and biological systems\, where networks physically adapt to applied force s to adopt desired functions. Unlike traditional engineering approaches or artificial intelligence\, physical learning is facilitated by physically realizable learning rules\, requiring only local responses and no explicit information about the desired functionality. Our research shows that such local learning rules can be derived for broad classes of physical network s and that physical learning is indeed physically realizable\, without com puter aid\, through laboratory experiments. We take further inspiration fr om learning in the brain and demonstrate the success of physical learning beyond the quasi-equilibrium regime\, enabling physical systems to adapt c omplex dynamical functions. By leveraging the advances of statistical lear ning theory in physical machines\, we propose physical learning as a promi sing bridge between computational machine learning and biology\, with the potential to enable the development of power-efficient AI platforms\, and new classes of smart metamaterials that adapt in-situ to users needs. LOCATION:Mondi Seminar Room 2\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:cpetz@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Nachi Stern: Learning without neurons in physical systems URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6287 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1778148000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260507T120000 DTEND:20260507T130000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Florian Seitner\nhosted by XISTA\nAbstract: What does it really take to turn cutting-edge research into a company that lasts? Jo in Florian Seitner\, VP & General Manager for Perception Software at emoti on3D\, for an honest look at the journey from academic research to buildin g and exiting a deep-tech startup. This talk goes beyond the technology\, exploring why team\, customers\, and go-to-market matter just as much as t he innovation itself.• 12:00 - 12:45 | Talk• 12:45 - 13:00 | Q&A• 13 :00 - 15:00 | Food & DrinksFlorian Seitner is VP & General Manager for Per ception Software at emotion3D\, where he works on AI-based perception syst ems for automotive applications\, with a focus on computer vision and in-c abin sensing. He holds a PhD in computer vision and AI and is a co-founder of emotion3D. As part of the founding team\, he helped grow the company f rom an early-stage startup into an established provider of interior percep tion software for automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. Following its acqu isition by indie Semiconductor\, his focus is on strategy\, business devel opment\, and customer engagement.In this talk\, Florian will share practic al lessons from building a deep-tech company:• From Lab to Market: Navig ating the long\, non-linear path from research to real-world impact• Bey ond Technology: Why team\, customers\, and go-to-market determine success • Honest Lessons: Pivots\, funding challenges\, and what it takes to sca le without burning out your teamIf you’re curious about deep-tech startu ps or want an honest take on the founder journey\, Florian is happy to ans wer questions and share personal experiences. Stay after the talk to mingl e over pizza\, exchange ideas\, and engage with our innovation leads. LOCATION:Sunstone Building | 1. Floor | Graduate Staircase\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Florian Seitner: XISTA Talk | Florian Seitner URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6438 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca969d6632628731@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260507T131500 DTEND:20260507T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Du Pei\nhosted by Tamas Hausel\nAbstract: In this talk \, I will outline an approach to studying skein modules of 3-manifolds by embedding them into the Hilbert spaces of four-dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories. When the 3-manifold has reduced holonomy\, this approach l eads to an algorithm for the dimension of the skein module for a general g auge group\, expressed as a sum over nilpotent orbits in the Lie algebra\, which we also related to and compare with the structure of C^*-fixed loci in the moduli space of Higgs bundles. Surprisingly\, the dimensions often differ between Langlands-dual pairs\, for which I will provide a physical explanation. This perspective helps to clarify the relation between the g auge-theoretic framework of Kapustin and Witten and other versions of the geometric Langlands program\, and explains why the dimensions of skein mod ules do not exhibit a TQFT-like behavior. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Du Pei: Gauge theory and skein modules URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6431 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1778491800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260511T113000 DTEND:20260511T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Veronika Sunko & Xujia Chen\nhosted by Mikhail Lemeshk o\nAbstract: Veronika Sunko | Symmetry Probes of Quantum MatterThe centra l goal of condensed matter physics is to uncover\, understand\, and ultima tely control novel phases of matter. Progress relies on continuous interac tions between theory and experiment\, yet the two often remain separated: theories predict phenomena that experiments struggle to test\, while exper iments reveal behaviors that theories can at best postdict. My research is driven by the ambition to narrow this gap\, an effort that is inherently collaborative\, bringing together theorists\, synthesis groups\, and compl ementary experimental techniques.In this talk\, I will outline how symmetr y can serve as a bridge: experimental identification of symmetry can test and constrain theories. I will describe our strategy of developing and uti lizing experimental probes of symmetry\, and the opportunity these efficie nt and sensitive experiments offer for altermagnets\, a new class of magne tic materials where theoretical predictions are outpacing data. More broad ly\, this symmetry-based toolkit is applicable to a wide range of quantum materials\, and it will shape the research of my group in the years to com e.____________Xujia Chen | Manifolds and DiffeomorphismsManifolds are one of the fundamental objects studied in geometry and topology\, and diffeom orphisms are the "self-symmetries" of a smooth manifold. I will give an introduction to these concepts\, and show you what some research question s in this area look like. This talk is mainly targeted at non-mathematic ians LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Veronika Sunko & Xujia Chen: Inaugural Lecture | Symmetry Probes of Quantum Matter & Manifolds and Diffeomorphisms URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6094 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:686bce5b41e34965306073@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260512T110000 DTEND:20260512T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Benjamin Sacépé\nhosted by Georgios Katsaros\nAbstra ct: Topological superconductivity has attracted considerable attention due to its great promise for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Conventional a pproaches rely on intricate hybrid systems combining topological insulator s and superconductors\, requiring precise material engineering and fine-tu ned conditions\, yet a clear experimental demonstration remains absent to this day. In this colloquium\, I will introduce a novel type of topologica l insulator state emerging from the physics of the quantum Hall effect. Th is state leverages the unique properties of the zeroth Landau level in gra phenea remarkable\, strongly interacting flat band where electron-electron interactions give rise to diverse broken-symmetry phases\, characterized by distinct topological and lattice-scale orders. These phases can be iden tified through transport measurements [1] and directly visualized using sc anning tunneling spectroscopy [2]. I will also demonstrate how superconduc tivity can be induced in quantum Hall edge channels to create robust Josep hson junctions\, despite the presence of a strong perpendicular magnetic f ield [3]\, thus opening a new path toward the realization of topological s uperconductivity in quantum Hall Josephson junctions.[1] L. Veyrat et al. Science 367\, 781 (2020)[2] A. Coissard et al. Nature 605\, 51 (2022)[3] H . Vignaud et al. Nature 624\, 545 (2023) LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:sandra.widdmann@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Benjamin Sacépé: Exploring Quantum Hall Edge Channels in Graphene as a Path to Topological Superconductivity URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6303 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69c104cda01c7847075710@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260512T140000 DTEND:20260512T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Sashi Weerawarana\nhosted by Alicia Michael and Floria n Schur\nAbstract: All living beings must package and compact their DNA to protect genetic material and regulate genome access. In my thesis work\, I investigate genome organization in mitochondria\, bacteria\, and viruses . Mitochondria utilize the HMG-box protein TFAM to fulfill this vital role \, whereas bacteria and viruses employ histone proteins that adopt differe nt binding modes. The central focus of this talk is TFAM-mediated DNA comp action. Using a wide array of biochemical methods and structural biology a pproaches\, I show that TFAM compacts DNA into homogenous higher-order com plexes that exhibit continuous conformational dynamics. The talk also pres ents cryo EM data revealing distinct strategies utilized by bacterial hist ones from Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Leptospira interrogans to compact DNA and highlights unique structural features of the Medusavirus medusae nucleosome. Together\, this work reveals diverse mechanisms of genome comp action across organelles and domains of life. LOCATION:Mondi Seminar Room 2\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:jgazsi@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Sashi Weerawarana: Genome organization in mitochondria\, bacteria\, and viruses URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6371 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779096600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260518T113000 DTEND:20260518T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Alex Schier\nhosted by Edouard Hannezo\nAbstract: How does a fertilized egg develop into a complex embryo?  To address this que stion\, large-scale high-resolution atlases of development have recently  been generated. While these efforts have met with much excitement\, they have also raised the concern of "stamp collection". I will present our re cent progress in generating global views of embryogenesis and discuss how the exploration of atlases and gene regulatory networks can help provide c onceptual advances. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Alex Schier: Global Views of Development URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5796 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69121497774d3629907214@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260518T160000 DTEND:20260518T170000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Emmanuel Kammerer\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös & Jan Maas\ nAbstract: Consider an SIR model on the complete graph starting with one i nfected vertex and n sane vertices. We draw an edge between two vertices w hen one infects another. What does the tree look like at the end of the ep idemic? This kind of tree fits into the framework of uniform attachment tr ees with freezing\, a model of random trees which generalises uniform atta chment trees where\, besides the uniform attachment mechanism\, we introdu ce a "freezing" mechanism where new vertices cannot attach to frozen verti ces. We obtain the scaling limit of the total height of the infection tree depending on the infection rate. The asymptotic behaviour of the total he ight satisfies a phase transition of order 2. This talk is based on a join t work with Igor Kortchemski and Delphin Snizergues. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:birgit.oosthuizen-noczil@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Emmanuel Kammerer: The height of the infection tree URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6351 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69b2cc97ab232533507038@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260518T170000 DTEND:20260518T180000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Matteo D’Achille\nhosted by Laszlo Erdös & Jan Maas \nAbstract: We will discuss low-intensity limits of Poisson-Voronoi tessel lations\, a.k.a. ideal Poisson-Voronoi tessellations (IPVTs). In real hype rbolic space of dimension $d\\geq 2$\, a simple Poissonian description of the cell containing the origin (the zero cell) allows one to study fine pr operties of all the tiles of the IPVT. This Poissonian description of the IPVT remains fairly simple in other settings\, such as the infinite regula r tree and the Cartesian product of hyperbolic planes. Time permitting\, I ll also discuss a surprising application to Bernoulli-Voronoi percolation. The talk is based on a paper in collaboration with Nicolas Curien\, Natha nal Enriquez\, Russell Lyons\, and Meltem nel (Ann. Probab.)\, on 2412.008 22\, on 2511.23317 in collaboration with Jan Grebk\, Ali Khezeli\, Konstan tin Recke and Amanda Wilkens\, and on work in progress with Ali Khezeli.It will also include a physical realization of the zero cell of the IPVT in three dimensional hyperbolic space in the conformal ball model (jewel). LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Matteo D’Achille: The jewel and the two dials of the ideal Poisso n–Voronoi Tessellation URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6352 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779181200@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260519T110000 DTEND:20260519T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jonathan Home\nhosted by Julian Léonard\nAbstract: A bstract: The development of useful quantum computers will rely on the abil ity to suppress errors which occur both naturally and through the erroneou s application of gate operations. Error-correction typically comes with si gnificant resource overheads\, which motivates the search for implementati ons which can naturally provide error correction in a compact manner. One approach is to use bosonic degrees of freedom to encode information redund antly\, allowing to perform feedback which suppresses errors. I will descr ibe two sets of experiments in which we perform operations and bosonic err or correction using mechanical oscillations of a single trapped ion. In th e first\, we demonstrate the entanglement and subsequent error-correction of logical qubits encoded using superposed displaced squeezed states formi ng periodic structures in phase space. This “GKP” encoding is particul arly well suited to diffusive errors in the oscillator phase space. Then\, using a novel non-linear regime of control\, I will show how we realize n on-linear reservoir engineering to perform confinement of states into fini te-dimensional subspaces which have discrete rotational symmetry\, and whi ch protect from dephasing errors. Alongside coverage of the state-of-the-a rt\, I will provide perspectives as to how these approaches could be embed ded in larger systems.” LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Jonathan Home: Bosonic error-correction codes with trapped ions URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6406 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779195600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260519T150000 DTEND:20260519T180000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Nati Linial\nhosted by Matthew Kwan and Uli Wagner\nAb stract: Abstract: Let X=[n] be a finite set of points. An (x\,y)-path is a sequence of distinct points that starts with x and ends with y. A path system Π on X is a collection of paths with exactly one (x\,y)- path for every two distinct points x\,y∈X. Think of this path Px\,y a s the chosen path between these two points. We always assume that Py\,x  coincides with Px\,y read in reverse. We say that the path system Π i s consistent if the following holds: For every point z on the path Px\, y\, this path is the concatenation of the paths Px\,z and Pz\,y. It is easy to construct metric consistent path systems: Assign a positive distan ce w(u\,v) with every pair of points u\,v∈X and let Px\,y be a w- shortest (x\,y) path Q\; Is every consistent path system necessarily me tric? The answer is negative and we give various quantitative manifestatio ns of this statement. Skipping the necessary definitions we ask if every c onsistent path system is approximately metric. A: there exist consistent p ath systems with metric distortion Ω(√n). The best result of this form is still unknown. I will briefly survey some of the many results that we already have in this general domain. Every path system gives rise to a gra ph (X\,E) where xy is an edge whenever the path Px\,y=x\,y. Indeed\, many of our results are graph-theoretic. All the papers in this domain are joint with my student Daniel Cizma\, some are also with Maria Chudnovsky\ , if time allows I will also mention a recent result with my students Itai Goldflam. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Nati Linial: Path Geometry URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6468 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779195600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260519T150000 DTEND:20260519T180000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Péter Pál Pach\nhosted by Matthew Kwan and Uli Wagne r\nAbstract: Abstract:The Alon-Jaeger-Tarsi conjecture states that for any finite field F of size at least 4 and any nonsingular matrix A over  F there exists a vector x such that neither x nor Ax has a 0 compon ent. In this talk we discuss the proof of this result for |F|>79 and fur ther applications of our method about coset covers and additive bases. Joi nt work with János Nagy and István Tomon. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Péter Pál Pach: The Alon-Jaeger-Tarsi conjecture via group ring i dentities URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6469 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68761bcb8c06a951650051@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260521T103000 DTEND:20260521T120000 DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:hcai@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Chemistry Colloquium URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5933 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca98c2b709685894@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260521T131500 DTEND:20260521T151500 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Pieter Belmans\nhosted by Tamas Hausel\nAbstract: The classification of Fano 4-folds is still largely open. Whilst moduli of sta ble quiver representations are varieties with very special properties\, it turns out that subspace quivers give rise to four interesting Fano 4-fold s (2 of which appear to be new) which are rigid\, have no vector fields\, have high Picard rank\, and have an interesting structure from an MMP pers pective. The tools for studying moduli of quiver representations work part icularly well for these examples\, and I will describe their intricate geo metry. This is joint work with Markus Reineke. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Pieter Belmans: Fano 4-folds from subspace quiver moduli URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6439 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779364800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260521T140000 DTEND:20260521T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Tarik Yefsah\nhosted by Julian Léonard\nAbstract: Abs tract: The last decades have seen the emergence of ultracold atom experime nts as powerful platforms for the exploration of complex many-body systems \, owing to their ability to probe large ensembles of particles in a well- characterized\, tunable\, and isolated environment.Among the various quant um many-body problems within reach of quantum gas experiments\, interactin g fermionic systems play a special role. While they constitute a cornersto ne of quantum matter covering a broad fundamental and technological scope\ , their understanding still represents a major challenge for existing theo retical approaches\, which are widely plagued by the infamous sign-problem .In this talk\, I will present our recent work on quantum gas microscopy o f fermionic many-body systems in continuous space\, how we characterize th em at previously inaccessible levels of resolution\, and gain new insight into their microscopic inner workings. LOCATION:Sunstone Bldg / Ground floor / Big Seminar Room A \, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Tarik Yefsah: Exploring Fermionic Quantum Matter at the Single-Atom Level URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6445 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779458400@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260522T160000 DTEND:20260522T170000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jeferson Zapata\nhosted by Matthew Kwan\nAbstract: Sta ndard mathematical optimization and root-finding algorithms often stall or fail when faced with degenerate or singular problems. This thesis present s novel symbolic-numeric frameworks designed to overcome these theoretical and computational bottlenecks. The first part of the presentation introdu ces a hybrid algorithm that reformulates weakly feasible\, degenerate semi definite programs (SDPs) into structured polynomial systems\, enabling the rigorous algebraic certification of numerical approximations. The second part addresses the loss of convergence in path-tracking methods near isola ted singular roots. By modeling solution paths as generalized fractional P uiseux series and utilizing an explicitly derived algebraic predictor\, th e proposed algorithms restore superlinear convergence and significantly re duce computational overhead in heavily degenerate systems. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 ) and Zoom\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Jeferson Zapata: Thesis Defense: Overcoming Degeneracy and Singular ity: Techniques for Semidefinite Programs and Homotopy Continuation Endgam es URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6476 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779786000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260526T110000 DTEND:20260526T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jie Ren\nhosted by Maksym Serbyn\nAbstract: Abstract: Understanding how complex systems transition between order and chaos is a central challenge of nonequilibrium physics. While weak perturbations of c lassical integrable systems give rise to a mixed phase space of coexisting regular and chaotic trajectories\, analogous behavior in interacting quan tum many-body systems has remained elusive. Here we develop and experiment ally implement a hybrid quantum–classical feedback protocol that autonom ously discovers and stabilizes long-lived regular trajectories in a superc onducting quantum processor. Each iteration combines short-time quantum ev olution with classical optimization that projects the dynamics back onto a low-entanglement variational manifold\, effectively distilling coherence from chaotic evolution. The stabilized trajectories reveal a quantum many- body mixed phase space emerging from nonlinear variational dynamics\, with out a direct analogue in classical or few-body quantum systems. Our result s establish a versatile framework for algorithmic discovery and control of coherent dynamics previously inaccessible to experiment.  LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Jie Ren: “Quantum many-body mixed phase space revealed by hybrid feedback control" URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6345 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779868800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260527T100000 DTEND:20260527T110000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Xin Wang\nhosted by Julian Leonard\nAbstract:   Abst ractAn ultralong-range Rydberg molecule (ULRM) forms optically through the interaction between a ground-state atom and the electron of a Rydberg ato m. In this talk\, I will present a first and comprehensive experimental an d theoretical investigation of ULRMs of 174Yb in 6sns 1S0 Rydberg states a cross nearly two decades in principal quantum number and three orders of m agnitude in molecular binding energy. Using the Coulomb Green’s function formalism\, we compute Born–Oppenheimer molecular potentials describing a Rydberg atom perturbed by a ground-state atom and obtain quantitative a greement with high-resolution molecular spectra. This enables the extracti on of low-energy electron-Yb scattering phase shifts\, including the zero- energy s-wave scattering length and the positions of two spin-orbit split p-wave shape resonances. The latter provides strong evidence that the Yb − anion exists only as a metastable resonance. We further demonstrate th e sensitivity of ULRM spectra to the atomic quantum defects\, enabling a p recise determination of the quantum defect of the 6s23f 1F3 state. These f indings establish Yb ULRMs as a powerful probe of low-energy electron–Yb interactions and an ideal platform for exploring Rydberg molecules and lo w-energy scattering physics. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Xin Wang: Revealing Electron-Ytterbium Interactions through Rydberg Molecular Spectroscopy URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6457 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:686bf613550f4019926788@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260527T130000 DTEND:20260527T143000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jakob Glas\nhosted by Tim Browning\nAbstract: I will a bout Manin's conjecture for quintic del Pezzo surfaces. In particular\, I will discuss the motivic setting and Peyre's all the heights version over function fields. This is joint work with C. Bernert und L. Faisant. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Jakob Glas: Moduli spaces of curves on quintic del Pezzo surfaces URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6477 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779951600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260528T090000 DTEND:20260529T170000 DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:\, ISTA ORGANIZER:lilla.kukor@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:ISS Area Retreat 2026 URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5689 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1779958800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260528T110000 DTEND:20260528T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Federica Surace\nhosted by Maksym Serbyn\nAbstract: TB A LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Federica Surace: "Slow dynamics in quantum many-body systems" URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6217 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68776ee57aa4b682558249@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260528T110000 DTEND:20260528T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Mitja Drab\nhosted by Andela Saric\nAbstract: Biologic al membranes are active\, multicomponent systems whose shape emerges from a complex interplay between curvature-inducing inclusions\, in-plane order ing\, and cytoskeletal forces. In this talk\, I present a numerical framew ork for modeling closed membranes populated by curved anisotropic componen ts that interact via nematic alignment and couple to active forces. Our si mulations reveal a rich landscape of membrane morphologies arising from th e competition between intrinsic curvature\, nematic interactions\, and act ive stresses. We show how nematic alignment organizes curved inclusions in to defect structures that localize in regions of high curvature\, thereby guiding membrane remodeling and stabilizing complex shapes such as tubules \, necks\, and pearled structures . Active forces further drive the system out of equilibrium\, enabling transitions to morphologies that are inacce ssible in passive systems\, including flattened\, protrusive\, and dynamic ally fluctuating states. These results provide a unified physical picture of how curvature\, orientational order\, and active forces cooperate to co ntrol membrane shape\, with implications for processes ranging from endocy tosis and phagocytosis to cell spreading and motility. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:cpetz@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Mitja Drab: Numerical Modeling of Nematic Membranes with Active Cur ved Anisotropic Inclusions URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6382 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6a0ae4f2e783c212774084@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260528T124500 DTEND:20260528T141500 DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:bzakirov@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Speaker: Gergo Orban URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6467 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1780038000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260529T090000 DTEND:20260529T150000 DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Welcome to the first annual neuroscience student symp osium!We are looking forward to hearing what our fellow students have been working on! We are also excited to host two external speakers: Rosa Coss art (https://www.inmed.fr/en/developpement-des-microcircuits-gabaergiques- corticaux-en) (Institute of Mediterranean Neurobiology – INMED) and Fe lix Deku (https://knightcampus.uoregon.edu/felix-deku) (University of Ore gon).Please find the program attached and register below\, so that we can make sure to have enough food and drinks for everyone!The event is also  open to anyone outside the neuroscience community.We hope to see you all there!Your Neuroscience Student Track Reps LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Neuroscience Student Symposium URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6440 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1780390800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260602T110000 DTEND:20260602T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Hannes Bernien\nhosted by Maksym Serbyn\nAbstract: Rec onfigurable arrays of neutral atoms have emerged as a leading platform for quantum science. Their excellent coherence properties combined with progr ammable Rydberg interactions have led to intriguing observations such as q uantum phase transitions\, the discovery of quantum many-body scars\, and novel quantum computing architectures. Here\, I am introducing a dual-spe cies Rydberg array that naturally lends itself for measurement-based proto cols [1] such as quantum error correction\, long-range entangled state pre paration\, and measurement-altered many-body dynamics. Furthermore\, Rydbe rg interactions between the two species then lead to novel regimes\, inclu ding greatly enhanced resonant dipole interactions\, that we use to demons trate a two-qubit gate and quantum non-demolition readout [2]. I will pre sent our current experiments on implementing quantum cellular automata in a dual-species array. Cellular automata are famous for producing complex b ehavior as well as universal computation based on simple initial states an d update rules. Here we investigate this paradigm by implementing an updat e rule based on dual species Rydberg blockade and periodic driving. [1] S ingh\, Bradley\, Anand\, Ramesh\, White\, Bernien\, Science 380\, 1265 (20 23).[2] Anand\, Bradley\, White\, Ramesh\, Singh\, Bernien\, Nature Physic s 20\, 1744 (2024). LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Hannes Bernien: Dual-Species Atom Array Quantum Processors and Quan tum Networks URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6208 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68776f4c04462887233600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260603T100000 DTEND:20260603T110000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Renee Zhao\nhosted by Samara Ren\nAbstract: Reconfigur able mechanical systems enable precise programmable control over structura l properties\, expanding opportunities in architected materials\, adaptive devices\, and multifunctional structures. Here\, we introduce elastic rod origami (RodOri)\, a platform that exploits remarkably simple elementspre stressed\, naturally curved rodsinto a system with an extraordinary degree of multistability and configurational richness. For example\, a single si x-rod RodOri unit can easily access 11 distinct configurations\, far excee ding the reconfigurability of conventional origami or general mechanical r econfigurable systems. Individual rods\, constrained under clamped boundar y conditions\, undergo transitions between discrete morphologies whose str ain energy and stiffness are precisely prescribed by their natural curvatu re. Assembling these rods into modular multirod architectures yields metam aterials with numerous stable configurations that can be selectively and r eversibly programmed. This configurational diversity enables tunable stati c stiffness and nonlinear force response\, thus enabling tunable dynamic b ehaviors such as vibration filtering\, wave propagation switching\, and mo de conversion within a single\, easily manufactured platform. By leveragin g curvature-induced mechanical instability\, RodOri unlocks highly program mable static and dynamic mechanical behavior\, offering tailorable design strategies for reconfigurable structures\, soft robotics\, medical devices \, and adaptive materials. The event is followed by a reception right out side the seminar room. LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room F (I24.EG.030f)\, IST A ORGANIZER:akeri@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Renee Zhao: Elastic rod origami (RodOri) for programming static and dynamic mechanical properties URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6470 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:686bf613550f7829784669@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260603T130000 DTEND:20260603T143000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Lena Wurzinger\nhosted by Tim Browning\nAbstract: In t his talk\, I will present the method of moments\, a criterion for proving convergence in distribution. We will then discuss some examples of its use in number theory. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Lena Wurzinger: Method of moments URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6482 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1780488000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260603T140000 DTEND:20260603T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Antoine El-Hayek\nhosted by Georgios Katsaros\nAbstrac t: Networks can change over time. Whether it is the Facebook network\, whe re 'friendships' emerge or end\, the internet\, where computers connect or disconnect from the network\, or the train network\, where new lines can be created or canceled. This creates specific challenges for algorithms de signed to either run or manage these 'dynamic' networks.A distributed algo rithm is an algorithm that runs on the network. Think of the internet: for computers to communicate through this network\, the algorithm should be i nstalled on both computers\, and both computers won't necessarily have acc ess to the same information. If the network is unstable\, or is simply dyn amic\, the communication between them can drop at any point\, and the algo rithm should be robust to such changes. In this model\, we look at two pro blems: the broadcast problem\, where one computer tries to send a message to every single other computer on the network\, and the majority problem\, where initially each computer is given an opinion among k possible ones\, and the goal is for every computer to know which opinion was originally t he most popular one.A dynamic graph algorithm is an algorithm that manages a dynamic network\, or computes a property on it. Think of the network of webpages. You might want to rank all webpages from the most important one to the least (popular search engines call it the 'PageRank' algorithm). H owever\, every day\, new pages go online\, while old pages go offline. You wouldn't want the algorithm to be run from scratch every night over all o nline webpages\, as this would cost too much energy. Instead\, you would l ike to have an algorithm that\, once it has computed the rank of each webp age at a given time\, be able to handle a few changes\, and update its sol ution accordingly. In the dynamic graph algorithm model\, we look at the m inimum cut problem\, where the goal is is divide the network into two subn etworks\, such that the number of connections from one subnetwork to the o ther is minimized. LOCATION:Moonstone Bldg / Ground floor / Seminar Room F (I24.EG.030f) and Z oom\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Antoine El-Hayek: Thesis Defense: Handling Updates and Failures: Dy namic Graph Algorithms and Distributed Computing on Dynamic Networks URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6452 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:6848008d5c6c5604065909@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260603T153000 DTEND:20260603T163000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jean-Louis Colliot-Thélène\nhosted by Tim Browning\n Abstract: A hundred years ago\, extending earlier results of Fermat\, Lege ndre\, Hilbert\, Minkowski\, Helmut Hasse etablished a "local-global princ iple" for the existence of rational solutions of quadratic polynomial equa tions with integral coefficients. The "local" conditions essentially requi re that no congruences prevent the existence of solutions. For polynomials of higher degree\, but with a number of variables bigger than the degree\ , one might hope for a similar local-global principle. I shall survey the proto-history and history of this problem and the many techniques develope d to prove or disprove this "principle" for specific classes of polynomial s. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, Central Building\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Jean-Louis Colliot-Thélène: Local-global principle for the existe nce of solutions for diophantine equations with hopefully many solutions URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6451 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1780911000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260608T113000 DTEND:20260608T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Roberto di Leonardo\nhosted by Jérémie Palacci\nAbst ract: Many unicellular organisms can sense light\, reflecting their long e volutionary history in aquatic environments where sunlight provides both e nergy and environmental information. This has given rise to a broad divers ity of light-sensitive proteins that enable cells to exploit photons for m ultiple functions. Modern synthetic biology allows us to repurpose these n atural photoreceptors as biological analogues of optoelectronic components such as switches\, photoresistors\, and solar cells. In this talk\, I wil l focus on three light-activated proteins from evolutionarily diverse unic ellular organisms and show how they can serve as an optical interface to p rogram motility and gene expression. Using a light-driven proton pump\, we can establish feedback loops in which computer programs dynamically modul ate cell motility. This enables bacteria to act as light-reconfigurable pa int\, transport microscopic passive objects by shaping the mechanical pres sure of surrounding swimming cells\, and program biohybrid microrobots for the collection and delivery of microscopic cargo. By rewiring a cyanobact erial light-activated kinase into a synthetic genetic clock in E. coli\, l ight can serve as a zeitgeber\, driving coherent population-wide oscillati ons in gene expression. Finally\, we exploited the natural photophobic res ponse triggered by a light-activated cyclase in Euglena gracilis to design static “light containers” that can spatially sort cells\, leveraging the non-equilibrium nature of this biological version of the billiards pro blem. LOCATION:Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Roberto di Leonardo: Programming Cell Behavior with Light URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/5793 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1780995600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260609T110000 DTEND:20260609T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Lucas Sylvester Winter\nhosted by Julian Léonard and Maksym Serbyn\nAbstract: Abstract:Standard Dicke superradiance produces a collective burst of radiation but no entanglement. Using finite-size quant um-jump simulations\, we show that adding local Rydberg blockade between a toms generates extensive mixed-state entanglement while preserving superra diance. This enables superradiantly accelerated preparation of correlated dark states on a timescale $\\propto (\\log N)/N$\, supported by an early- time analytical solution and numerical simulations. The physical mechanism is Hilbert-space fragmentation of the Dicke ladder into an exponentially branching decay tree\, giving rise to a hierarchy of correlated dark state s. We propose an experimental realization using existing cavity-coupled Ry dberg atom tweezer arrays and identify a simple stationary-state entanglem ent witness. More broadly\, our results point to Rydberg-blockaded collect ive decay as a general framework for engineering entangled dark states LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Lucas Sylvester Winter: Entanglement in Rydberg-blockaded superradi ance URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6436 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:69e9f31b011f4981900418@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260611T131500 DTEND:20260611T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Silvia Sabatini\nhosted by Tamas Hausel\nAbstract: Pos itive monotone symplectic manifolds are the symplectic analogues of Fano v arieties\; namely\, they are compact symplectic manifolds whose first Cher n class coincides with the cohomology class of the symplectic form.In dime nsion six\, if a positive monotone symplectic manifold admits a Hamiltonia n circle action\, a conjecture of Fine and Panov asserts that it is diffeo morphic to a Fano variety. More generally\, the question of whether a posi tive monotone symplectic manifold with symmetries is homotopy equivalent\, homeomorphic\, diffeomorphic\, or symplectomorphic to a Fano variety rema ins wide open.In this talk\, I will report on recent results concerning po sitive monotone symplectic manifolds endowed with a special class of Hamil tonian torus actions\, called GKM_3 actions. I will explain how these stru ctures allow one to prove several finiteness results and quantitative boun ds on the Chern numbers\, therefore in particular\, on the symplectic volu me. The latter resembles the bound obtained by Kollr-Miyaoka-Mori for the volume of Fano varieties. LOCATION:Sunstone Bldg / Ground floor / Big Seminar Room A / 27 seats (I23. EG.102)\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Silvia Sabatini: Positive monotone symplectic manifolds with symmet ries and GKM spaces URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6464 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1781600400@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260616T110000 DTEND:20260616T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Michael Buchhold\nhosted by Maksym Serbyn\nAbstract: A bstract: Understanding and actively shaping quantum entanglement in many- body systems is a key challenge for modern quantum technologies. Recently\ , monitored quantum dynamics — quantum dynamics with mid-circuit measu rements — has emerged as a powerful tool for harnessing entanglement in NISQ devices and simulating non-equilibrium dynamics in condensed matter s ystems. In this talk\, I will discuss our recent understanding of entangle ment in monitored quantum dynamics from the viewpoint of emergent many-bod y phases and universality. Monitored dynamics generate wave functions with robust entanglement structures\, which depend only on global properties s uch as symmetry and dimensionality\, thereby defining entanglement phases of monitored quantum matter. We anticipate a symmetry classification of mo nitored matter akin to equilibrium quantum matter in Hamiltonian systems\, which I will introduce using exemplary systems in one and two dimensions. I will also highlight our recent analytical and numerical advances and ho w they can be applied to engineer entanglement\, for instance\, in adaptiv e quantum circuits and driven quantum materials. -- Michael BuchholdProf essor of Theoretical Physics\,Department of Theoretical Physics\, Univers ität Innsbruck\, AustriaTel.: +43 512 507 52210Email: michael.buchhold@ui bk.ac.at (mailto:michael.buchhold@uibk.ac.at)Homepage: https://www.uibk.ac .at/en/th-physik/nonequilibrium-quantum-matter/ LOCATION:Office Building West/Ground Floor/Heinzel Seminar Room\, ISTA ORGANIZER:Stephanie.Dolot@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Michael Buchhold: Monitored quantum matter URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6211 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1781607600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260616T130000 DTEND:20260616T140000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Konstantin Kueffner\nhosted by Krzysztof Pietrzak\nAbs tract: As automated decision-makers have become ubiquitous in many domains of life\, their decisions have become increasingly consequential. Recent years have shown that such systems can exhibit discriminatory behaviour ag ainst individuals and social groups alike\, thereby amplifying existing bi ases and entrenching socio-economic disparities over time. Algorithmic fai rness addresses this problem by developing methods to quantify and mitigat e unfair behaviour. However\, much of the existing literature studies fair ness in a static pre-deployment setting and\, therefore\, neglects that au tomated decision-makers are often deployed in dynamic environments\, where their behaviour and the populations they affect may change over time.This thesis addresses this gap through the lens of runtime verification. Inste ad of treating fairness as a property of a classifier together with a fixe d input distribution\, it reframes fairness as a property of the interacti on trace between the decision-maker and its deployment environment. To eva luate such sequential fairness properties\, the thesis develops runtime mo nitors that observe the evolving interaction between the system and the en vironment and issue verdicts after each new observation. Because\, these m onitors are designed to detect unfair behaviour during deployment\, they c omplement fair training\, auditing\, verification\, and enforcement by pr oviding an additional layer of mathematically rigorous fairness assurance. In summary\, the thesis develops quantitative\, trace-based analogues of c lassical group and individual fairness measures and constructs monitors fo r them. This includes monitors for long-run group fairness over Markovian traces\, for the time-varying welfare of a changing population in a dynami cal system\, and for the individual fairness of an arbitrary system genera ting a trace of inputs and outputs. To achieve this\, the monitors combine ideas from runtime verification\, sequential statistics\, and nearest-nei ghbour search. In the group-fairness settings\, monitoring is primarily a sequential statistical estimation problem: the monitor must construct stat istically sound interval estimates of fairness values from dependent and p artially observed interactions. In the individual-fairness setting\, the m ain challenge is computational efficiency: the monitor must detect individ ual fairness violations by efficiently comparing the current decision with all previously observed decisions. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 3 (I01.O1.010) and Zoom\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Konstantin Kueffner: Thesis Defense: Monitoring Algorithmic Fairnes s in Sequential Decision Making URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6480 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:68776f011d8c3722554400@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260618T110000 DTEND:20260618T120000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Cecilia Herrero\nhosted by Baptiste Coquinot (RG Lemes hko)\nAbstract: Nanofluidics studies the behavior of fluids confined at th e nanometer scale\, where interfaces dominate transport and give rise to p henomena absent at larger scales. Beyond its fundamental interest\, this f ield offers promising perspectives for applications such as water desalina tion and energy harvesting.In this seminar\, I will discuss how nanoscale confinement modifies fluid transport through the emergence of characterist ic interfacial length scales\, with a particular focus on the so-called sl ip length\, related to liquidsolid friction. I will show how the nature of the solid surface (such as roughness or mechanical and electronic fluctua tions) can strongly affect transport properties. Finally\, I will present recent insights into the impact of charge fluctuations at interfaces on li quidsolid friction and transport\, and how these effects can be investigat ed using theory and molecular dynamics simulations opening the path to exp eriments. These phenomena open new possibilities for coupling hydrodynamic and electrostatic effects\, with potential applications to the conversion of osmotic energy into electrical power. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:michaela.pucher@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Cecilia Herrero: Nanofluidics and the power of interfaces: new pers pectives for energy conversion URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6472 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:665dbdca9d01d401146589@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260618T130000 DTEND:20260618T150000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jianrong Li\nhosted by Tamas Hausel\nAbstract: Frenkel and Reshetikhin introduced q-characters for finite-dimensional representa tions of quantum affine algebras\, providing a fundamental tool in their r epresentation theory. Together with Tomasz Przezdziecki\, we defined bound ary q-characters for finite dimensional representations of quantum affine symmetric pairs of split and quasi-split types. In this talk\, I will pres ent a new joint work Tomasz Przezdziecki on evaluation modules for split q uantum affine symmetric pairs. By computing the action of generators in Lu and Wangs Drinfeld-type presentation on GelfandTsetlin bases\, we determi ne the spectrum of a large commutative subalgebra arising from this presen tation. This leads to an explicit formula for boundary analogues of q-char acters\, which we interpret combinatorially in terms of semistandard Young tableaux. Our results show that boundary q-characters share familiar feat ures with ordinary q-characters\, while also exhibiting new phenomena\, in cluding an additional symmetry. LOCATION:Office Bldg West / Ground floor / Heinzel Seminar Room (I21.EG.101 )\, ISTA ORGANIZER:boosthui@ist.ac.at SUMMARY:Jianrong Li: Boundary q-characters of finite-dimensional representa tions of quantum affine symmetric pairs URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6284 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1781787600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260618T150000 DTEND:20260618T193000 DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Moonstone Seminar Center\, ISTA ORGANIZER:events@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Graduate Ceremony 2026 URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6273 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1782120600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260622T113000 DTEND:20260622T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jiri Friml & Leonid Sazanov\nhosted by Carl-Philipp He isenberg LOCATION:Raifeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Jiri Friml & Leonid Sazanov: SeniorISTA | Jiri Friml & Leonid Sazan ov URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6481 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1782201600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260623T100000 DTEND:20260623T110000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Lea Becker\nhosted by Robert Seiringer\nAbstract: Char acterizing protein dynamics at the atomic level is essential for our under standing of biological mechanisms. Whether it is to facilitate metabolite transport\, catalyze reactions\, transmit signals\, or regulate metabolism – proteins are constantly in motion and sample multiple conformational states to fulfill their function. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectro scopy is particularly well suited to elucidate the dynamics of biomolecule s on their complex free-energy landscape. In particular\, solid-state magi c-angle spinning (MAS) NMR enables the study of large molecular assemblies \, protein crystals\, or insoluble proteins at atomic resolution without a n inherent molecular size limitation. MAS NMR experiments to probe protein dynamics are extremely versatile and sensitive to motional timescales fro m picoseconds to seconds. Over the past decades\, technological advances\, developments in experimental design\, and new isotope-labeling approaches have further expanded the possibilities of this technique and significant ly improved the accuracy of the determined motional parameters.Functionall y important sites of proteins often contain aromatic residues. Their side- chain motions have therefore long served as valuable indicators of mechani stically relevant dynamics in NMR studies. In this thesis\, site-specifica lly labeled aromatic residues act as sensitive reporters for MAS NMR studi es of protein dynamics. The first part addresses how different environment s impact side-chain motion by probing ring flips of phenylalanines and tyr osines in crystalline proteins and amyloid fibrils. It provides important insights for the analysis of dynamics obtained in non-native protein envir onments and emphasizes the complex factors that determine the timescale of internal dynamics. In the second part\, the focus shifts towards methodol ogical questions regarding the investigation of protein dynamics by 19F MA S NMR. The fluorine nucleus exhibits promising characteristics for NMR stu dies but also presents significant challenges\, which is why the full meth odological potential of 19F MAS NMR has not been fully realized yet. This work demonstrates that paramagnetic doping can considerably reduce the mea surement time and improve the sensitivity of fluorinated samples. Finally\ , 19F MAS NMR is evaluated as a tool for studying protein side-chain dynam ics on the example of tryptophans. The results illustrate the challenges i n analyzing such experiments and lay the foundation for further developmen t of 19F MAS NMR relaxation studies.Taken together\, this thesis highlight s the potential of combining specific isotope labeling\, MAS NMR\, and com plementary methods such as crystallography and computational simulations t o elucidate internal protein dynamics. The further development of such int egrative approaches will be crucial to improving our understanding of comp lex mechanisms and protein function. LOCATION:Central Bldg / O1 / Mondi 2a (I01.O1.008)\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:Lea Becker: Thesis Defense: Exploring protein dynamics using specif ic labeling approaches for solid-state MAS NMR URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6447 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1782725400@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260629T113000 DTEND:20260629T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Julia Reisenbauer & Charles Roques-Carmes\nhosted by M ikhail Lemeshko LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Julia Reisenbauer & Charles Roques-Carmes: Inaugural Lecture | Juli a Reisenbauer & Charles Roques-Carmes URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6385 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1785740400@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260803T090000 DTEND:20260807T140000 DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Moonstone Seminar Center\, ISTA ORGANIZER:eurowd-2026@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:24th European Workshop on White Dwarfs URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6292 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1789983000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260921T113000 DTEND:20260921T123000 DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:ISTA PostDoc Award URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6386 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1790089200@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20260922T170000 DTEND:20260922T180000 DESCRIPTION: LOCATION:Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2\, 1010 Vienna\, Austria\, ISTA ORGANIZER: SUMMARY:ÖAW-ISTA Lecture Prof. Klaus Robert Müller URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6288 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1791192600@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20261005T113000 DTEND:20261005T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Friedrich Stricker & Yuval Wigderson\nhosted by Mikhai l Lemeshko LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Friedrich Stricker & Yuval Wigderson: Inaugural Lecture | Friedrich Stricker & Yuval Wigderson URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6357 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1792402200@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20261019T113000 DTEND:20261019T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Lora Sweeney\nhosted by Mario de Bono LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Lora Sweeney: Tenure Talk | Lora Sweeney URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6387 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1794825000@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20261116T113000 DTEND:20261116T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Vivian Kuperberg & Carla Fernandez-Rico\nhosted by Mik hail Lemeshko LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Vivian Kuperberg & Carla Fernandez-Rico: Inaugural Lecture | Vivian Kuperberg & Carla Fernandez-Rico URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6389 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260529T225011Z UID:1795429800@ist.ac.at DTSTART:20261123T113000 DTEND:20261123T123000 DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Kim Modic\nhosted by Mikhail Lemeshko LOCATION:ISTA | Central Building | Raiffeisen Lecture Hall\, ISTA ORGANIZER:diana.zubcevic@ista.ac.at SUMMARY:Kim Modic: Tenure Talk | Kim Modic URL:https://talks-calendar.ista.ac.at/events/6390 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR