Newsroom
Stay informed with our latest news and announcements on this page. For more in-depth content, we also encourage visitors to explore our bimonthly STRUCTURES Newsletter magazine, which features a variety of articles, interviews with members, and background information on our latest research and activities.
An international group of astronomers under participation of STRUCTURES member Ralf Klessen found the imprint of the bubbles produced by the explosion of dying stars in the structure of the gas that pervades our galaxy.
An international researcher team under participation of STRUCTURES scientists has found the imprint of bubbles produced by supernova explosions in the structure of the gas that pervades our Galaxy. They made this discovery by applying artificial intelligence (AI) methods to data from the HI4PI survey, the most detailed all-sky map of atomic hydrogen in the Galaxy to date. The scientists analysed filamentary structures in the emission of atomic hydrogen and found that their orientation with respect to the Galactic plane changes progressively with radius, indicating a similar distribution of atomic gas as in nearby spiral galaxies. The study revealed that filamentary structures preserved a record of dynamical processes induced by ancient supernova explosions and the rotation of the Galaxy. The new results are an important step in understanding the process responsible for galaxy-scale star formation.
Original Publication:
J. D. Soler et al., The Galactic dynamics revealed by the filamentary structure in atomic hydrogen emission, arXiv:2205.10426v1 [astro-ph.GA] 20 May 2022. See also the press release of the Center for Astronomy Heidelberg (ZAH).
We are happy to announce that the Young Researchers Convent (YRC) STRUCTURES Conference will take place from October 4th-7th 2022 in Heidelberg. The conference intends to bring together young and senior members of the cluster in virtue of closer collaboration. It serves as an opportunity to present and discuss research throughout STRUCTURES such as the CPs and EPs. The conference consists of seven keynotes by PIs in each of the CPs, as well as presentations of current projects from the members (talks and posters) of the YRC.
The registration will open soon, stay tuned!
Links: Conference webpage | YRC page.
New date: Herlinde Koelbl: “Faszination Wissenschaft - 60 Begegnungen mit wegweisenden Forschern unserer Zeit” on June 30
We are delighted to announce that the talk “Faszination Wissenschaft - 60 Begegnungen mit wegweisenden Forschern unserer Zeit” by photographic artist Herlinde Koelbl, which was postponed due to the pandemic situation, has a new date:
Thursday, June 30, 6 pm (c.t.),
Neue Universität, Hörsaal 13.
The talk will be held in German. The STRUCTURES Project Management Office is happy to answer questions.
We cordially invite you to the public lecture on “Töne sehen und Muster hören – Mathematik in Musik und Kunst” by Prof. Jürgen Richter-Gebert (TU München) on Monday, May 30 2022 at 5 pm, Mathematikon lecture hall.
Abstract: Math makes it possible. This lecture is a journey through central topics of mathematics and art such as symmetry, proportion, and rhythm. Here are some of the questions addressed in the lecture:You will be able to witness a small set of simple rules turning into fascinating structures. This metamorphosis is performed by a piece of interactive software. The results may vary from intricate images to intriguing drum beats.
- What do tiles, common salt, and a canon have in common?
- How can you create one picture by moving shapes?
- How do you create a 3-D-model out of such a picture? Can you hear it?
Link: Announcement by the Research Station Geometry & Dynamics.
STRUCTURES member Ulrich Schwarz examines how physical properties of malaria parasites can influence their individual and collective dynamics, as part of an interdisciplinary research team.
The disease of malaria is triggered by single-celled parasites that accumulate in large groups in the salivary glands of mosquitoes before transmission to human beings. In an interdisciplinary study, the research teams led by Prof. Dr Friedrich Frischknecht (malaria research), Prof. Dr Karl Rohr (biomedical image analysis) and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schwarz (physics of complex biosystems) have set the pathogens in motion and studied their collective dynamics. The researchers discovered that malaria parasites can migrate in large vortices when extracted by means of appropriate experimental preparation. To understand these phenomena the acquired image data were analysed quantitatively using cutting-edge methods of image processing, allowing to precisely identify the parameters that explain the experimental observations. The teams observed emerging properties of collective migration, which arise because the movement of the individual pathogens is converted into elastic energy that is stored in the vortex. “Our new model system offers the opportunity to better understand the physics of collectives with elastic properties and perhaps render them usable for technical applications in the future,” explains Ulrich Schwarz.
Weblinks:
University's press release (English, May 13).
Original publication by Patra et al. (2022) in Nature Physics
From 16th to 20th of May the Workshop “Random Geometry in Heidelberg” is going to take place within the cluster of excellence STRUCTURES at Heidelberg University. The goal of the workshop is to foster interactions between researchers in random geometry, quantum gravity and quantum field theory. To this end it combines a diverse schedule of scientific presentations with ample discussion time. Topics include but are not limited to: tensor field theory, group field theory, the topological recursion and non commutative field theory. Special emphasis will be placed on applications of such models to quantum gravity, conformal field theory, condensed matter or artificial intelligence.
The workshop will take place in the Neuenheimer Feld campus in Heidelberg and is organised by Razvan Gurau, Sabine Harribey, Carlos Perez Sanchez and Adrian Tanasa. Links and further information are available at the workshop’s webpage.
STRUCTURES physicists Philipp Preiß and Selim Jochim have directly observed Cooper pairs in an ultracold Fermi gas.
The emergence of fermionic superfluidity and superconductivity is closely linked to the formation of Cooper pairs. These are strong correlations between pairs of electrons (or other fermions) with opposite spin and momentum localised at the Fermi surface in momentum space. Understanding the mechanism behind pair formation has so far been a challenge. In their new study published in Nature, the research team around Philipp Preiß and Selim Jochim have directly observed Cooper pairs in a mesoscopic two-dimensional Fermi gas. Using an advanced fluorescence imaging technique, they were able to extract spin- and single-atom-resolved momentum distributions with particle-detection fidelities comparable to those of quantum gas microscopes. With precise control over the interactions, particle number and potential landscape, they were able to establish observables that allow to identify different pairing mechanisms and to answer longstanding questions concerning not only such mesoscopic systems but also their connection to the macroscopic world.