Advanced Lectures in Physics in Switzerland

Alps II

This is the second of a series of junior schools in theoretical physics taking place in Switzerland that go under the acronym Alps. These schools are organized and taught by junior researchers (from advanced PhD to 2nd postdoc) and aimed at young physicists (from advanced Master students to 1st postdoc) from all over the world. Alps I will take place in May 2024 at the SwissMAP research station with a very similar structure as the one described here. The lecturers expressed their enthusiasm regarding these various choices, and we plan to collect feedback from the participants to adapt and perfect the format of Alps II in due time.

The goal of these schools is twofold. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, we want to provide a unique environment for the participants to dynamically interact with each other, socially and intellectually. To this aim, team-building inspired activities play a central role: they give every participant the opportunity to present their current work and to get to know their colleagues better. We thereby hope to create a vibrant working atmosphere centered around collaboration among the participants. The second goal of the event is to learn from
young researchers several state-of-the-art techniques to approach a chosen active field of research. As a by-product, this provides the lecturers with a unique teaching experience that benefits their career prospects.

As the name suggests, the second edition will revolve around the different modern techniques that allow to tackle problems in quantum many body physics, whose numerous applications have permeated most major research directions in theoretical and mathematical physics nowadays, offering many new and exciting opportunities for young researchers. The school will feature lectures, exercise sessions, a colloquium talk by a senior researcher and a closing discussion panel, as well as social and leisure activities. For a concise overview of the explicit timetable, please see the table below.

Courses. The program will be divided in three mini-courses of 6 hours each, taught by postdoctoral researchers who are actively conducting research on the corresponding topic. The lectures will broadly cover the following topics:
1. Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK) models and chaos
2. Hydrodynamics in quantum field theory
3. Integrability in quantum many-body systems and beyond