From Quarks to Nuclei: Computing the Structure of Matter
- Speaker
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Phiala Shanahan, Ph.D.Associate Professor, Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The 2025 lecture series in physics is “Matter Under Pressure.” This series will investigate the fascinating behaviors of matter when subjected to extreme conditions. From the intense forces found in planetary cores to the violent dynamics of cosmic events, speakers will discuss how pressure can alter the physical and chemical properties of materials. The lectures will cover a range of topics, including the creation of new materials, the study of exotic states of matter in stars and the implications for understanding both Earth and exoplanetary environments.
2025 Lecture Series Themes
Biology: Mechanisms of Evolution
Mathematics and Computer Science: Discovering Mathematics Through Computers
Presidential Lectures are a series of free public colloquia spotlighting groundbreaking research across four themes: neuroscience and autism science, physics, biology, and mathematics and computer science. These curated, high-level scientific talks feature leading scientists and mathematicians and are designed to foster discussion and drive discovery within the New York City research community. We invite those interested in these topics to join us for this weekly lecture series.
Our understanding of the structure of matter is that protons, neutrons and atomic nuclei emerge dynamically from the interactions of more fundamental particles described in the standard model of particle physics. In this Presidential Lecture, Phiala Shanahan will explore the role of extreme-scale computation in bridging particle physics to the scale of nuclear physics through systematic calculations. Specific examples will include the very first examples of first-principles computations of nuclear reactions and new theoretical and experimental work revealing the pressure distribution inside the proton for the first time. Shanahan will also explore the growing role of systematically-exact, physics-informed machine learning approaches in this domain.
About the Speaker
Shanahan is a professor in the Center for Theoretical Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the research lead for physics theory at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions. She grew up in Adelaide, Australia, and obtained her B.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Adelaide in 2012 and 2015, respectively. She joined the MIT faculty in 2018 after a postdoctoral position at MIT and a tenure-track faculty position at the College of William & Mary and Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory. Shanahan is best known for her work on the structure and interactions of hadrons and nuclei and her innovative use of machine learning techniques in lattice quantum field theory calculations.