HEPCo@Physics School
School of Physics, IPM
21 April 2025 (1 Ordibehesht 1404)
The aim of HEPCO@ physics school is to introduce the recent research work carried out at the school of theoretical physics of IPM and strengthen the ties with other active researchers working on similar areas in the region. This year, the meeting is completely online and is in English. Everybody is welcome to attend the online talks. Topics include
Neutrino physics
Hadron physics
Dark energy
Mathematical physics
Theoretical High Energy Physics
Black hole physics
The meeting is free from charge and entirely online.
Registration Deadline: 14 April 2025
"HEPCo@physics school" stands for High Energy Physics and Cosmology at physics school.
- Habib Rostami (University of Bath, UK) - Hamid Reza Hamedi (Vilnius University, Lithuania) - Sajad Dabiri (Shahid Beheshti University) - Ali Mortezapour (University of Guilan)
23 APR 2025
09:00 - 16:00
This workshop will delve into the fundamental principles and recent progress in light-matter interactions, with a special emphasis on quantum coherence and interference. These concepts are essential for understanding quantum optical phenomena, which have far-reaching implications for quantum computing, precision metrology, and advanced photonic technologies. Participants will explore computational and numerical approaches to studying light-matter interactions, gaining insights into theoretical frameworks and practical implementations. A key focus will be on the ways in which coherent optical effects can be precisely controlled through the modulation of coupling fields, enabling novel functionalities in quantum photonic systems.
Lecture Determining both the source of a wave and its speed in a medium from boundary measurements
Amir Moradifam, University of California, Riverside
23 APR 2025
11:30 - 12:30
We study the inverse problem of determining both the source of a wave and its speed inside a medium from measurements of the solution of the wave equation on the boundary. This problem arises in photoacoustic and thermoacoustic tomography, and has important applications in medical imaging. We prove that if $c^{-2}$ is harmonic in $omega subset R^3$ and identically 1 on $omega^c$, where $omega$ is a simply connected region, then a non-trapping wave speed $c$ can be uniquely determined from the solution of the wave equation on boundary of $Omega supset supset omega$ without the knowledge of the source. We also show that if the wave speed $c$ is known and only assumed to be bounded then, under mild assumptions on the set of discontinuous points of $c$, the source of the wave can be uniquely determined from boundary measurements.
Venue: Niavaran, Lecture Hall 1
This lecture is intended as an introduction to some of the metaphysical and epistemological issues that are usually raised in connection with mathematical thought. These issues include, among other things, the nature of abstract objects like numbers and sets, some of the well-known arguments for the existence of such objects as well as the epistemological problems that the existence of those objects incur. There will also be some brief discussions of certain anti-realist approaches to mathematical ontology.
Subscribing the Mathematics Colloquium mailing list:
https://groups.google.com/g/ipm-math-colloquium
Venue: Niavaran, Lecture Hall 1
Hybrid Workshop Collective Phenomena in Crystalline Materials
Babak Zare Rameshti,(Iran University of Science and Technology )- Seyyed Mir Abolhassan Vaezi, (Sharif University of Technology ) -Zahra Torbatian, (Institute For Research in Fundamental Sciences ) -Ali Sadeghi, (Shahid Beheshti University )
7 MAY 2025
09:00 - 13:00
This workshop brings together researchers investigating collective phenomena in crystalline materials. It emphasizes the role of these phenomena in understanding structural and phase order while advancing theoretical frameworks and their real-world applications. Designed for graduate students, postdocs, and senior researchers, the event will be in person, with all talks accessible online.
Mathematical Logic Weekly Seminar Polish ultrametric spaces, their isometry groups, and generalized wreath products
Luca Motto Ros, University of Turin, Italian
17 APR 2025
14:00 - 16:00
We address Krasner's problem (1956) for Polish ultrametric spaces and provide a (hopefully) satisfactory solution. In particular, we discuss a correspondence between the isometry groups of Polish ultrametric spaces belonging to some natural subclasses and various collections of generalized wreath products proposed in the literature. This is joint work with R. Camerlo and A. Marcone.
Weekly Seminar MiRAGE: A Data-Driven Approach to Drug Repositioning and Target Interaction Prediction
Changiz Eslahchi
16 APR 2025
14:00 - 15:00
In this work, we present two machine learning-based approaches for predicting drug-disease and drug-target interactions, with a strong emphasis on the role of meaningful feature selection. While deep learning models have shown great potential in biomedical domains, their complexity often comes at the cost of interpretability a crucial factor in clinical and pharmacological applications. Our research demonstrates that when biologically relevant and informative features are carefully engineered, classical machine learning models can achieve competitive performance while offering greater transparency. By leveraging domain knowledge to extract features such as molecular fingerprints, gene expression profiles, and structural similarities, we were able to construct models that are not only efficient but also interpretable and easier to validate by domain experts. The results highlight that thoughtful feature design can significantly influence model selection, performance, and trustworthiness, paving the way for more responsible and explainable AI solutions in drug discovery and repositioning.
This Seminar is free, hybrid, and open to the public.
The purpose of this survey is to take a snapshot of the attitudes of physicists working on some of the most pressing questions in modern physics, which may be useful to sociologists and historians of science. For this study, a total of 85 completed surveys were returned out of 151 registered participants of the ``Black holes Inside and out'' conference, held in Copenhagen in 2024. The survey asked questions about some of the most contentious issues in fundamental physics, including the nature of black holes and dark energy. A number of surprising results were found. For example, some of the leading frameworks, such as the cosmological constant, cosmic inflation, or string theory - while most popular - gain less than the majority of votes from the participants. The only statement that gains majority approval (by 68% of participants) was that the Big Bang meant “the universe evolved from a hot dense state”, not “an absolute beginning time”. These results provide reasons for caution in describing ideas as consensus in the scientific community when a more nuanced view may be justified.
Combinatorics and Computing Weekly Seminar An Overview of Hash-Based Group Signature Schemes: From G-Merkle to DGSP
Mojtaba Fadavi , University of Waterloo, Canada
16 APR 2025
14:00 - 15:00
Digital signature schemes play a vital role in ensuring secure communication, authentication, and data integrity across numerous applications, including secure email, financial transactions, and blockchain systems. However, classical schemes like RSA and ECDSA are vulnerable to quantum attacks, prompting a global shift toward post-quantum cryptographic alternatives. As part of this transition, NIST has already standardized three post-quantum cryptographic schemes: (i) ML-KEM (FIPS 203) for key encapsulation, based on CRYSTALS-Kyber; (ii) ML-DSA (FIPS 204) for digital signatures, derived from CRYSTALS-Dilithium; and (iii) SLH-DSA (FIPS 205), a stateless hash-based signature scheme based on $
m SPHINCS^+$. Hash-based digital signature schemes are particularly important because their security is based on the properties of cryptographic hash functions, rather than number-theoretic problems, offering a more robust foundation for post-quantum security.
An important type of digital signature schemes is Group Signature Schemes which enable members of a group to sign messages anonymously on behalf of the group while a designated authority is able to reveal the signer?s identity when necessary hence it ensures accountability. Such functionality is critical in privacy-preserving applications like direct anonymous attestations and reputation systems. Fully dynamic GSSs are especially valuable as they allow users to join or be revoked without requiring system-wide updates?an essential property for real-world scenarios.
In this talk, after introducing digital signatures and their everyday applications, I will review several hash-based group signature scheme proposals, including G-Merkle, DGM, DGMT, and SPHINX-in-the-Head, highlighting their limitations in terms of scalability and efficiency. I will then present DGSP, our newly proposed scalable and efficient fully dynamic group signature scheme, and compare it with existing post-quantum alternatives to demonstrate its advantages.
Zoom room information:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84906984159?pwd=BCWaIbXBuku3A5I84zNg9mHFxVZjXD.1
Meeting ID: 849 0698 4159
Passcode: 362880 Venue: Niavaran, Lecture Hall 1
Algebraic Geometry Biweekly Webinar The classification of Fano 3-folds and the Fano/Landau?Ginzburg correspondence
Alessio Corti, Imperial College London (UK)
16 APR 2025
17:30 - 19:00
I introduce Fano varieties and the classification problem. I explain the conjectural framework of Fano/Landau?Ginzburg correspondence and its consequences for the classification of Fano varieties. I intend this to be an accessible colloquium-style presentation.
Joint Astronomy and Particle Physics Colloquium – Hybrid Format The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024
Prof. Shahin Rouhani - Sharif university - IPM
16 APR 2025
12:30 - 13:30
Abstract:
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 was awarded jointly to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton "for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks".
Joint Astronomy and Particle Physics Colloquium - Shahin Rouhani
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 was awarded jointly to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton "for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks".