Learn about quantum mechanics, black holes, dark matter, plasma, particle accelerators, the Large Hadron Collider and other key Theoretical Physics topics. The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics holds morning sessions consisting of three talks, pitched to explain an area of our research to an audience familiar with physics at about second-year undergraduate level.
Latest episodes
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51 min
Nonlinear dynamics of active particles
Dr Rahil Valani provides an introduction to active matter (a field focusing on active particles' nonlinear dynamical behaviors) exploring the active system of superwalking droplets…
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53 min
The physics of “flat” electrons
Dr Dumitru Călugăru explores the main strategies for engineering flat band materials, discusses band topology concepts and their relevance to flat band physics, and highlights the…
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48 min
How to program a quantum computer
Dr Dominik Hahn explains how a quantum computer is built, discusses how quantum operations are programmed in a way similar to classical computing, and showcases examples of quantum…
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55 min
A New Twist on Topology: The Rise of “Moiré Materials”
Prof Sid Parameswaran discusses how quantum condensed matter physics has been revolutionized by “moiré materials”, made by stacking individual atomically thin layers such as graphe…
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48 min
Anyons: New Types of Particles in Quantum Physics
While it was originally believed that only bosons and fermions were allowed by quantum mechanics, in fact, when objects are restricted to move on a two-dimensional plane, new types…
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55 min
Topology in the Physics of Condensed Matter
Prof Shivaji Sondhi explains how topology is applied to understanding properties of condensed matter systems, providing an introduction to topics including defects & solitons, the…
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48 min
The Hubble Tension
Professor Prateek Agrawal discusses the ongoing crisis in cosmology regarding the measurement of the Hubble parameter by two separate probes in this Morning of Theoretical Physics…
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40 min
Cosmic strings and gravitational waves from the early Universe
Professor Edward Hardy discusses how the network of cosmic strings that occurs in some theories of the early Universe evolves and emits gravitational waves in this Morning of Theor…
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35 min
Chirality in living systems
Prof Alexander Mietke discusses recent findings in this field that have linked chirality in living systems to the formation of a left-right body axis in organisms and to a new kind…
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56 min
Imaging living systems
Dr Adrien Hallou presents a new methodology called 'spatial mechano-transcriptomics', which allows the simultaneous measurement of the mechanical and transcriptional states of cell…
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45 min
Statistical physics of living systems
Professor Julia Yeomans describes how mechanical models are being extended to incorporate the unique properties of living systems Epithelial tissues cover the outer surfaces of the…
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47 min
The Miracle of Quantum Error Correction
In this talk, Benedikt Placke introduces QEC and explains how the unique interplay between the classical and the quantum world enables us to efficiently correct errors effecting su…
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57 min
Simulating physics beyond computer power
In this talk Alessio Lerose discusses the seminal idea of simulating Nature via a controllable quantum system rather than a classical computer. He discusses recent advances that br…
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33 min
A liquid of quarks and gluons
Jasmine Brewer covers recent progress on studying the properties of the quark-gluon plasma, and describe how we can capitalize on lessons learned from high-energy physics to provid…
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48 min
Possible sources for the gravitational wave background
Dr Yonadav Barry Ginat - Possible sources for the gravitational wave background The detection of gravitational waves from the coalescence of black holes has opened a new window for…
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46 min
Searching for the origin of black hole mergers in the Universe with gravitational waves
Prof Bence Kocsis - Searching for the origin of black hole mergers in the Universe with gravitational waves The direct detection of gravitational waves by LIGO and VIRGO and pulsar…
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1 h 08
Gravitational radiation: an overview
Prof Steven Balbus - Gravitational radiation: an overview General Relativity, Einstein’s relativistic theory of gravity, predicts that the effects of gravitational fields propagate…
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44 min
How the weird and wonderful properties of magnetised laser plasmas could ignite fusion-energy research
Archie Bott explains how a promising scheme for fusion relies on a novel feature of hot laser-plasmas: introducing a magnetic field of the correct strength alters the plasma’s fund…
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36 min
Stellarators: twisty tokamaks that could be the future of fusion
Georgia Acton introduces stellarators, discusses the features that distinguish them from tokamaks, highlight the challenges we currently face, and discusses how we might overcome t…
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41 min
Magnetic confinement fusion: Science that’s hotter than a Kardashian Instagram post
Michael Barnes introduces the basic concepts behind magnetic confinement fusion, he describes why it is so challenging and discusses possibilities for the future. One gram of hydro…