Preliminary programme
Plenary speakers
Dr Antoine Browaeys, Research Director CNRS, Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d’Optique and Université Paris-Saclay (France)
“Quantum simulation with Rydberg atoms in optical tweezer arrays”
Antoine Browaeys has spearheaded the development of quantum simulators using ultracold atoms trapped in lattices of optical tweezers. Excitation to high lying Rydberg states is used to induce strong dipole-dipole interactions between atoms in different tweezer sites and engineer quantum many-body systems with single-atom control. With such an exquisitely controllable system, Antoine Browaeys and his team were able to simulate fascinating many-body dynamics in solid-state-like systems at the single-atom level, and lay the ground to what is now one of the most successful quantum-simulator architectures. Their work triggered a worldwide effort in building large size Rydberg-atom-based quantum simulators, and quantum computers, to investigate quantum systems whose large sizes make traditional computer-based simulations exceedingly difficult. He is also a co-founder of Pasqal, a large startup that provides quantum simulation and quantum computing solutions to private companies
Prof. Timothy Palmer, Oxford University, Royal Society Research Professor in Climate Physics, Senior Alumni Fellow, Oxford Martin Institute; Professorial Fellow at Jesus College (United Kingdom)
“Chaos, noise and uncertainty: enemies or allies for predicting weather and climate?”
The solutions to the physical equations that govern the dynamics of weather and climate exhibit chaotic behavior. In this lecture, Prof. Palmer will explore how chaos, noise, and uncertainty, initially seen as obstacles, can be exploited as constructive resources to enhance prediction capabilities from days to decades.
Prof. Tim Palmer is a Royal Society Research Professor in Climate Physics and a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Martin Institute. He has significantly contributed to advance our understanding of climate predictability and extreme event forecasting. He pioneered ensemble methods for uncertainty prediction and has developed practical applications of climate forecasts for public health, agriculture, and flood management. Tim Palmer’s recent work focuses on high-resolution climate simulations. He has been recognized by his election to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2020. He recently authored “The Primacy of Doubt: From Quantum Physics to Climate Change, How the Science of Uncertainty Can Help Us Understand Our Chaotic World” (Oxford University Press, 2022).
Young speakers contest
Walking lunch and poster session
Parallel sessions
- Astrophysics, Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Plasma Physics
Chairs: Kristel Crombé (UGent) and François Massonnet (UCLouvain) - Condensed Matter and Nanostructure Physics
Chairs: Clément Merckling (KULeuven/IMEC) and Benoît Hackens (UCLouvain) - Fundamental Interactions, Nuclear and Particle Physics
Chairs: Nick Van Remortel (UAntwerpen) and Gwenhaël de Wasseige (UCLouvain) - Atoms, Molecules, Optics and Photonics
Chairs: Tatevik Chalyan (VUB) and Matthieu Génévriez (UCLouvain) - Biological, Medical, Statistical and Mathematical Physics
Chairs: Bart Cleuren (UHasselt) and Edmond Sterpin (UCLouvain) - Physics and Education
Chairs: Mieke De Cock (KULeuven) and Gabriel Dias de Carvalho Junior (UCLouvain)
Poster session and prizes