Nobel Laureates Eminent Scientists - Nanyang Technological

Institute of Advanced StudiesEditor-in-Chief: Prof Phua Kok Khoo, Director, Institute of Advanced Studies, NTU, Singapore

Issue 13, July 2012

2 Features

28 Colloquia

38 Selected IAS Research Publications

30 Special Articles

40 Upcoming Events

20 Conferences and Workshops

36 Welcome to IAS!

26 Public Lectures

Distinguished speakers of the 4th ISYF Panel Discussion. Seated (from left): Prof Sydney Brenner (Nobel Laureate in Physiology/Medicine, 2002) and Prof Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1997)Standing (from left): Prof Anthony Leggett (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 2003), Prof Danny Shechtman (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 2011), Prof Aaron Ciechanover (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 2004) and Prof James Barber FRS (Imperial College London)

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean at the launching of the 1st IAS Winter School supported by CERN.

IAS welcomes

and

at the

Nobel LaureatesEminent Scientists

4th InternationalScience Youth Forum (ISYF)

in Singapore

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IAS Newsletter | Issue 13, July 2012

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Delegates share camaraderie moments at the Forum.

Prof Danny Shechtman (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 2011) sharing his insights with students at the Nobel Master Class.

4th International Science Youth Forum with Nobel Laureates in Singapore

In its 4th year and still going strong, the International Science Youth Forum (ISYF), jointly organised by the Institute of Advanced Studies at Nanyang Technological

University and Hwa Chong Institution (HCI), brought together more than 80 students from 15 countries with the aim of nurturing the next generation of scientists and mathematicians. Over the course of five exciting days, the students and educators forged meaningful relationships and engaged in intellectual discourse over this year’s theme, “Nurturing the Scientific Mind.”

This year, the ISYF featured a plethora of activities, including an Amazing Race around Singapore, hands-on experiments in Hwa Chong’s very own Science Research Centre, and tours around world-class research institutes in Singapore such as the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). On top of that, ISYF also gave participants a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact with Nobel Laureates and Eminent Scientists through the highly anticipated Nobel Forum and the more personal Nobel dialogues. Also featured in this year’s programme was the inaugural Nobel Master Classes, where the Nobel Laureates and Eminent Scientists conducted classes in their areas of research pitched at high school level.

The Forum was truly an enriching experience for many participants. “ISYF emphasised the definition of science, which is a culture, a deep-rooted tradition which cannot be

bought off the shelf,” said Rick Wong, a participant from Hwa Chong Institution. “The meaningful discussions and forums with the Nobel Laureates further augmented my understanding in the field of science.”

Kenneth Tan, Co-Chairperson of ISYF 2012, summed up the whole experience, “ISYF was definitely a rewarding and fulfilling experience as it provided youths with the rare opportunity to interact with Nobel Laureates and exchange ideas and knowledge with their fellow counterparts from all over the world.” As a high-profile platform for students to network and engage in dialogue with famous scientists, ISYF 2012 has definitely succeeded in inspiring students to pursue science with creativity, curiosity and passion as they strive to embrace the challenges of tomorrow.

by Lim Rui Hsien Esther Hwa Chong Institution

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Panel Discussion by Nobel Laureates and Eminent Scientists at NTU

Meeting any world-renowned expert in a particular field is always an exhilarating affair, so imagine just what an amazing opportunity the NTU Panel

Discussion was. The participants of ISYF 2012 had the rare opportunity to meet six Nobel Laureates and Eminent Scientists on 17 January 2012. Everyone had different expectations for the event – some wanted interesting anecdotes, others sought advice, yet more hoped for valuable insights from some of the greatest scientists alive today. And everyone got their wish, because the Nobel Laureates and Eminent Scientists delivered on all three counts and more as they candidly shared their knowledge and experiences throughout exciting discussions.

The panel discussion was chaired by NTU President, Prof Bertil Andersson. The panel speakers were Prof Sydney Brenner (Nobel Laureate in Physiology/Medicine, 2002), Prof Aaron Ciechanover (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 2004), Prof Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 1997), Prof Anthony Leggett (Nobel Laureate in Physics, 2003), Prof Danny Shechtman (Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 2011) and Prof James Barber

FRS (Imperial College London). They were eager to share their experiences, thoughts and occasional witty quips. The ISYF participants were delighted to hear stories of the scientists’ childhood experiences that were crucial to their developments as scientists. Of particular interest was Prof Shechtman’s anecdote of how he begged his schoolteacher to let him use a light

microscope that the school owned, and how deeply fascinated

he had been at that time. Interestingly,

Prof Shechtman’s Nobel Prize-winning findings were later also made using a microscope, when he first noticed the icosahedral phase, leading to the discovery of quasicrystals.

As advices for the young students, the Nobel Laureates encouraged the participants to engage in self-directed learning and pursue their passions independently. Prof Brenner told the audience of his childhood in a small town in South Africa, where he had no “good guides” but discovered the public library, earning him, by the time he was aged 10, a PhD in “garage chemistry”. Prof Cohen-Tannoudji emphasised lifelong learning and the importance of constantly being excited by one’s work, declaring, “consider yourself a student forever.” Prof Ciechanover concurred, stressing the importance of pursuing what one loves. “Your job should be your hobby,” he advised the students, stating that though there are social pressures and influences from others, it is important to ignore the side noises or risk simply working for a paycheck.

On the topic of education, the scientists had many insights to offer. As a result of their own experiences, the scientists all strongly believed in inculcating a passion for research at a young age. At the heart of this was, of course, the need for good teachers. Prof Leggett explained that he had been greatly inspired by his supervisor during his graduate work, who forced him to find and solve his own problems, hence honing his research and critical thinking skills. Prof Barber agreed, stating that it is important for students to have good teachers who have good feelings for science. “Interact with other good scientists,” he advised, “gain inspiration from your mentors.” Hopefully, events such as the ISYF can lay the foundation for students to mingle with fellow scientific talents and be motivated by great luminaries of our time.

New Millennium

Science Educationin the

NTU President Prof Bertil Andersson giving a welcome address at the Panel Discussion.

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9 to 31 January 2012

The FirstInstitute of Advanced Studies School jointly organised with CERNon Particle Physics and Cosmology and Implications for Technology

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Prof Freddy Boey (NTU Provost), Prof Bertil Andersson (NTU President) and Prof Phua Kok Khoo (Director, IAS) engaging in a light conversation.

This article first appeared in The Straits Times on 11 January 2012.

In January of 2012, with the enthusiastic support of CERN, a special 3-week long school on Particle Physics, Cosmology and Implications for Technology was

organised by the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The IAS was honoured to have Her Royal Highness, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand as the Patron for the School.

The School drew an enrolment of more than 100 students. Around one fifth of the participants were female students. Among the overseas participants, 27% came from Mainland China and Taiwan, 20% from India, 12% from Thailand and Indonesia each, 7% from Iran and Malaysia respectively, and the remaining from Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, Russia, South Korea and United States. The participants comprised graduates and undergraduates, postdocs and research faculty.

This School was designed to fill a need for many of the young scholars and researchers who have returned to their home countries in Asia to keep up with the latest discoveries and advances in their field. It is important that they follow the new developments not just in their own narrow field of research but also the broader trends and perspectives in related fields beyond. The major centres of

research have traditionally organised summer and winter schools in order to fill this need. Such schools have been held in America in the early years at Brandeis, continued now at Boulder Colorado, and in Europe at CERN, Les Houches, Erice and elsewhere.

The winter school in Singapore is the first such advanced school to be held in Asia. The decision to open the School was also to advance and widen undergraduates’ perspectives on the frontiers of science.

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Smiles from the professors and students who gathered for the School photo.

Distinguished lecturers included John Ellis, Harald Fritzsch, Ignatios Antoniadis, Serguey Petcov, Albert De Roeck, Barbara Jacak, Philip Burrows, Henry Tye, Emmanuel Tsesmelis, Ngee-Pong Chang, Xiangdong Ji and Yosef Nir.

The School featured tutorial sessions in the afternoon that allowed the students to ask probing questions to the experts. This spirit reflects the effort made at Lindau and the International Science Youth Forum to bring young inquiring minds into contact with frontier scientists.

Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who launched the School at the Opening Ceremony on 9 January 2012, is confident that the move will boost Singapore’s science and technology plan. “The IAS School takes the collaboration between NTU and CERN to a higher level, and helps to position NTU as the Asian research hub in the global network of scientific institutions that focus on high energy physics,” said DPM Teo. “To stay ahead in the highly competitive arena of scientific research, Singapore must continue to support and recognise high-quality research, forge new links and partnerships, develop new

“The IAS School takes the collaboration between NTU and CERN to a higher level, and helps to position NTU as the Asian research hub in the global network of scientific institutions that focus

on high energy physics.”

DPM Teo Chee Hean

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“I am really satisfied with the scientific content of the School, and must say I am impressed with the international lecturers right from the start. I was so interested in the lectures and busy taking down notes that before I could realise, I have already used up three notepads provided by the

organisers!”

Dr Naseer Iqbal University of Kashmir

“Coming from a country where Particle Physics research is very much in its infancy, the IAS-CERN School gave me my first taste of what Particle Physics research is like at the forefront. And I must say, it is much richer and more vibrant

than I ever imagined.”

Michael Benjamin R. AndrewsAteneo de Manila University

A participant from Malaysia clarifying doubts with Prof Serguey Petcov (SISSA) after his lecture.

Students from Iran engaging in a discussion with Prof Barbara Jacak (Stony Brook University).

Having been through two weeks of course lectures, supplemented by workshops and special seminars by distinguished physicists, the students shared with us their innermost thoughts on the School and time spent in Singapore:

“I gained much through the discussion with Prof John Ellis, whose comments on the gauge hierarchy problem in the Standard Model gave me much inspirations in my studies. Moreover, in this international school, communication with the participants was also productive. Jian-Wei Wang (a participant from Zhejiang University) and I found an interesting research program during

the School and are preparing a paper now!”

Huang DaChinese Academy of Sciences

“This school not only met, but exceeded all of my expectations. The amount and quality of information gained will irrefutably support young scientists in further exploration of physics

concepts.”

Zahra Ghorbani MoghaddamAzad University

niches of excellence and blaze new trails.”

Two public talks were also organised during the School: John Ellis gave a resounding evening public lecture to a packed audience on “The Large Hadron Collider: Answering Gauguin’s questions about the Universe”; and Harald Fritzsch delivered another interesting public lecture on his autobiography, “Escape from Leipzig.”

The success of the School has encouraged the IAS together with support from CERN to organise a workshop in 2013 and another school in 2014.

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Nobel Laureate Prof Robert Curl delivered a public lecture titled “A History of Carbon” at the NTU School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences

on 25 April 2012. The lecture was jointly organised by the Institute of Advanced Studies, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry), and the NTU-Rice Institute for Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics.

Prof Curl was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 for the discovery of fullerene, also known as “buckyballs” (with the late Prof Richard Smalley, also of Rice University, and Prof Harry Kroto of the University of Sussex). He is best known as a member of the team who discovered that the carbon cage compounds known as the fullerenes, could be produced in good yield when elemental carbon vapour is allowed to condense under the right conditions.

In his lecture, Prof Curl highlighted that carbon, one of the most abundant of chemical elements, in its numerous

Prof Robert F. CurlNobel Laureate in Chemistry, 1996Rice University Professor Emeritus

All fullerenes are polyhedra with five and six edged faces. All have exactly 12 pentagonal faces by the rules of Descartes and Euler with the rest hexagonal to complete the size. Prof Curl was part of the team that discovered that the fullerenes are formed in good yield in condensing carbon vapour under the right conditions.

A History of

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The yellow is a thin film of C60. The purple solution is C60 dissolved in toluene. The darker solution in a vial is C70. The lighter solution is C84. As fullerenes become larger, it becomes increasingly difficult to dissolve them. As of now, the largest isolated fullerene is C96. There is plenty of evidence for much larger fullerenes with up to thousands of C atoms.

One commercial product is a line of flexible portable panels for charging things like GPS and cell phones in remote areas. It is based upon a combination of bucky and conducting polymers.

forms including diamond, graphite and coal, is the only element that humanity has routinely been in contact with in reasonably pure form since the origin of the species. While one may think that the chemistry of pure carbon is completely understood and developed, nothing could be furthered from the real situation.

The discovery of C60 has stimulated much activity in chemistry. It opened up the new branch of fullerene-Chemistry which studies the new families of molecules that are based on fullerenes. Measuring a billionth of a metre in diameter, these molecules suggested that there could be exciting new methods of self-assembly to make many other nanometre-scale structures. Thus, the new field of nanotechnology, which deals with the precise control and manipulation of matter on a nanometre (one billionth of a metre) scale, was born. Prof Curl shared with the audience several photos of nanotubes, nanofoams, and even Endohedral and Onion structures.

He portrayed a rapid survey of human experience with elemental carbon and its chemistry to the crowd of aspiring young scientists. And though many important advances have been made recently, what could be understood is limited. Hence, there are probably still much to be discovered about the chemistry and uses of this extremely flexible element.

With applications in medicine, materials, energy environmental remediation and other areas, nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionise other technologies. In one distinct subarea of nanotechnology, the discovery of the C60 and other fullerenes sparked innovative, carbon-based approaches to the synthesis of new materials, as well as new approaches for harnessing solar energy and targeting drug delivery in the body. The C60 molecule, fullerene chemistry and nanotechnology are helping to improve the world we live in.

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More is Differentby Jan Vasbinder Complexity Program, NTU

The Complexity conference More is Different was held at the Nanyang Executive Centre from 27 to 29 February 2012. It was organised by the Complexity

Program and supported by the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) at NTU. The conference was a great success. Over the three-day conference, twelve world-class speakers illustrated the enormous influence that complexity science has gained in almost all fields of science.

The speakers included:

Geoffrey West (Santa Fe Institute)Sander van der Leeuw (Arizona State Univ.) Albert-László Barabási (Northeastern Univ.)Emma Hill (NTU) Atsushi Iriki (RIKEN Brain Science Institute)Stan Gielen (Radboud Univ. Nijmegen)J. Steve Lansing (Univ. of Arizona) Sydney Brenner (Salk Institute for Biological Studies)Luis M. A. Bettencourt (Santa Fe Institute) Yehuda Cohen (NTU)W. Brian Arthur (Santa Fe Institute) Will Steffen (Australian National Univ.)

The sessions were chaired by young NTU faculty who are members of the NTU complexity community. The format of the conference was chosen in such a way that all the speakers would have enough time to tell their stories with ample time for discussions. Each talk was followed by a half hour break, giving everybody a chance to absorb insights from the previous session, prepare for the next and meet the speakers and other participants. That format turned out to be a success. The talks were of great quality, the discussions enlightening and very lively. One of the participants remarked, “I had taken my computer with me to do some work during some of the less interesting lectures. But I did not get any work done, because all the lectures were great”. Another remarked, “I have never heard so many new ideas in such a short time and had a chance to discuss some of them.”

Prof Geoffrey West delivering a talk titled “Complexity and transdiciplinarity; Science for the 21st Century (?)”

“The talks were rich, varied and outstanding in all respects.”

Prof Roland BouffanaisSingapore University of Technology and Design

The conference’s success was further boosted by a wonderful banquet on Monday night that was sponsored by IAS and hosted by NTU President, Prof Bertil Andersson. On Tuesday night, the participants were treated to a beautiful concert performance by cellist, Maarten Boasson and pianist, Lim Yan.

In short, More is Different was a great launch of the NTU Complexity Program. A conference like this will be proposed annually and the next conference will be held from 4 to 8 March 2013.

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Prof Harry Lam (third from left) in a group shot with some CN Yang Scholars and Dr Low Hwee Boon (IAS Associate Fellow, on the right).

Prof Harry Lam (Ernest Rutherford Professor of Physics, McGill University) gave a special talk to the CN Yang Scholars on 13 February 2012

in relation to his visit to Singapore. “Our Accelerated Expanding Universe” was the theme of his interactive talk. According to Modern Cosmology, our Universe came from a primordial state 13.7 billion years ago with no matter. “Where do the stars and galaxies, and everything else in the present universe come from then?” was the mind-boggling challenge that Prof Lam posed to the scholars. He went on to explain the observations and evidences behind the assertion of an almost empty primordial universe. He also shared many fascinating images of the cosmic universe

with the scholars. The talk ended with a tea session and an informal discussion on whether the Universe has a beginning with the big bang.

Prof Lam has served as the Chairman of the McGill Physics Department, the Chair of the High Energy Physics Division of the Canadian Association of Physicists, the President of the Overseas Chinese Physics Association, and Editor of several academic journals. He is now an Honorary Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Physics of the Academia Sinica.

Prof Harry Lam on“Our Accelerated

Expanding Universe”

Special Talk for CN Yang Scholars

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by Xing Chaoping School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, NTU

Prof Robert Calderbank (Duke University) delivering a talk on “Wireless Communications, Number Theory, and Compressive Sensing.”

The theme of the 2nd Tsinghua-NTU Mathematics Workshop was “Number Theory, Discrete Mathematics and Their Applications”. Held from 25

to 27 May 2012 in Tsinghua University, the workshop was jointly organised by the Institute of Advanced Studies and School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at NTU, and Tsinghua’s Department of Mathematical Sciences. This event was made possible under the memorandum of understanding between NTU and Tsinghua to promote synergy between the two institutions.

Number Theory and Discrete Mathematics cover a broad range of mathematical subjects and have found numerous applications. This workshop mainly covered (but is not limited to) the following topics:

Number Theory

Combinatorics

Coding and Cryptography

Complexity

The purpose of this workshop was to provide a forum about current problems and future developments of Number Theory and Discrete Mathematics with a particular focus on

the four topics above. 24 prestigious speakers from all over the world were invited, such as Profs Robert Calderbank, Ronald Cramer, Phong Nguyen and Wang Xiaoyun.

Prof Robert Calderbank, a well-known professor in Duke University, presented a talk titled “ W i r e l e s s Communications, Number Theory, and Compressive Sensing.” He described how methods of compressed sensing can be applied to Multiuser Detection and also explored those applications that support the discrete model of compressed sensing. The participants were enlightened with his lecture on parametre estimation, compresses sens ing, subsampl ing architecture and mixing signal architecture as well as the detection algorithms.

2nd Tsinghua-NTU Mathematics Workshop

Number Theory, and Their ApplicationsDiscrete Mathematics

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Prof Wang Xiaoyun (Tsinghua University) giving a lecture on “New Transference Theorems on Lattices Possessing nε-unique Shortest Vectors.”

Prof Ronald Cramer (CWI Amsterdam and Leiden University) presenting his talk on arithmetic codex.

Speakers and participants of the Tsinghua-NTU Joint Workshop on Mathematics 2012.

Prof Ronald Cramer from CWI Amsterdam and Leiden University delivered an interesting lecture about the arithmetic codex and its application in cryptography. He also explained earnestly upon questions from the audience. Separately, Prof Phong Nguyen’s lecture was titled “The Algorithm Revolution in Geometry of Numbers.” The basic theory was presented first, followed by their performances and differences between theory and practice. This topic has profound meaning for its wide applications in public key cryptanalysis and cryptographic schemes, etc.

Another distinguished plenary speaker, Prof Wang Xiaoyun from the Institute for Advanced Study, Tsinghua University, delivered a talk titled “New Transference Theorems on Lattices Possessing nε-unique Shortest Vectors.” She explained new transference theorems on lattices possessing nε-unique shortest vectors which relate to the successive minima, the covering radius and the minimal length of generating vectors respectively. Some applications were discussed as well. This topic also attracted many researchers’ interests.

More amusing and inspiring talks were given by other speakers which gave rise to plenty of questions and discussions. This workshop was brought to a successful end which provided a good platform for researchers and students around the world to communicate with each other.

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International Conference on Pan Shou

A Centennial Commemoration

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat (front row, middle) graced the event as the Guest-of-Honour. Seated on his left is Prof Bertil Andersson (President, NTU) and Prof Phua Kok Khoo (Director, IAS) on his right.

A hundred and one years ago, a genius was born to Nan’an in Fujian, China. After nineteen years, he headed south and arrived in Singapore where he

served in many key positions such as the Deputy Editor of Lat Pau (Singapore’s earliest Chinese daily), the secretary-general of Nanyang University (Nantah), a voluntary secretary-general during the war period, a leader of a group in post-war China to show appreciation and consolation (南洋中国慰劳团团长), etc. He subsequently emerged as a leader of the Singaporean Chinese community and a prominent figure in the cultural and arts scene.

He, is none other than Mr Pan Shou. An all-rounder in the poetic and academic realms, Mr Pan is fondly remembered as the best calligrapher and Chinese poet in Singapore. He passed away at the age of 88 in 1999.

Due to administrative and logistic limitations, the centennial celebration was postponed until this year.

Mr Pan Shou: A great poet and calligrapher.

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Prof Phua said. He feels that a memorial hall could be set up to keep the country’s “national treasure” in remembrance, and with the support of the society and government, this can be executed starting with NTU.

The international speakers hailing from China, Hong Kong and Malaysia are all experts in calligraphy and poetry. They include Mr Pan Yao Ming, Chief Editor of Hong Kong’s Ming Pao Monthly; Mr Choo Thiam Siew, President of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore; Dr Wong Yoon Wah, Vice President of Southern College, Malaysia; and Mr Xie Chun Yan, a renowned artist from China. Their talks covered various aspects of Pan Shou’s life, from literature and the arts to his personal life, and also on the preservation and promotion of his legacy in future.

The conference culminated in a panel discussion on Pan Shou and Nanyang University. A commemorative exhibition of Mr Pan Shou’s calligraphy and literary books was also set up at the library beside the auditorium. His works were subsequently showcased at the NTU’s Chinese Library for a month for the benefit of students and members of the public who missed out on the event.

“Without collective memories, there is no strong community.”

Mr George Yeo

The conference and exhibition in honour of the 100-year anniversary of Mr Pan Shou was held at Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) on 31 March 2012. It was jointly organised by NTU’s Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) and College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CoHASS), and supported by the Tan Kah Kee International Society.

Minister for Education Heng Swee Keat, graced the conference as the Guest-of-Honour. IAS Patron and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr George Yeo, was unable to be present on that day, but he sent a message in support of Pan Shou’s important contributions to Singapore’s education, cultural and arts identity. Mr Yeo said that Singapore would be poorer culturally without Pan Shou’s literary works. It is meaningful to remind people about Mr Pan’s contributions, because “without collective memories, there is no strong community.” The conference also saw the invitation of Pan Shou’s daughter, Madam Pan Xiao Fen, who delivered a special speech in dedication of her father’s memory.

Prof Phua Kok Khoo, Director of IAS, said that the centennial commemoration is a way to remember and commemorate Mr Pan’s past contributions to NTU and to Singapore’s arts culture. “I hope that through this conference and centennial commemoration, more young people will get to know about Pan Shou and his immense contribution to the local arts scene and so be inspired to continue in his spirit, by stepping up to form a new generation of Singapore artists,”

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat officially commenced the ceremony with the striking of drum. Cheering him on are (from left) Prof Alan Chan (Dean, CoHASS), Prof Bertil Andersson (President, NTU) and Prof Phua Kok Khoo (Director, IAS).

Students from Hwa Chong Institution listened attentively to the talks by the international speakers.

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The Academic Research, Calligraphy and Painting of

Oil on canvas painting of Prof Jao Tsung-I

Prof Jao Tsung-I (饶宗颐) is a distinguished Chinese scholar, poet, calligrapher and painter. A versatile scholar, he contributes to almost every field of

humanities, including archaeology, literature, philology, musicology and history.

As part of the Teochew Culture Forum Series, the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS, NTU) and Chui Huay Lim Club,

in association with South Seas Society and Tan Kah Kee International Society, jointly organised a Forum on Prof Jao Tsung-I on 15 April 2012 at the Chui Huay Lim Club.

The Chairman of the Forum, Prof Tan Eng Chaw (President of South Seas Society) explained the rationale for featuring Prof Jao in the Forum Series. Firstly, Prof Jao Tsung-I is the most prominent Teochew scholar of our time. His research areas span across literature, history, philosophy, arts and other domains. His mastery of poetry, literature, arts and music are world renowned. Secondly, Prof Jao is a master of Teochew. He inherited his father’s legacy at the age of 21 and continued the compilation of The Literary History of Teochew (《潮州艺文志》) posthumously. It has since been honoured as an outstanding work of local history and topography (“方志之杰构”), a milestone publication in the study of Teochew historical texts. Thirdly, Prof Jao is closely associated with Singapore. He was the former Director of the Department of Chinese at University of Singapore. He also compiled and published the book, A Chronicle of Chinese Inscriptions of Singapore and Malaysia (《星马华文碑刻系年》), and authored Accounts of Ancient Singapore (《新加坡古事记》). During his five-year stay in Singapore, he also wrote much poetry, and was compiled

One of the calligraphy works by Prof Jao.

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in Bing Tan Ji (《冰炭集》). He returned to Hong Kong in August 1973.

The Speakers of the Forum were Mr Yew Kwang Min (Adjunct Lecturer at National University of Singapore’s Department of Chinese) and Prof Leong Weng Kee (former Head of Chinese Language and Literature Department at National Institute of Education). Both were talented postdoc students of Prof Jao. The theme of their talks was “Academic Research, Calligraphy & Painting of Prof Jao Tsung-I”.

Mr Yew talked about Prof Jao’s research studies. He shared that Prof Jao believes that studying is the constant discovery of questions, deep inquiry and perseverance in this pursuit. This includes the objective judgment of theories conceived by those before us, which requires the verification of evidence. Prof Jao’s research includes eight main categories: Dunhuang Studies, Archaeology, Etymology, History, Bibliography, Epigraphy, Chuci (Songs of Chu) Studies and Calligraphy.

Prof Leong highl ighted the key character ist ics of Prof Jao’s calligraphy, n a m e l y s t e a d i n e s s , naturality, profoundness and authenticity. Prof Jao’s calligraphic style beholds a “natural elegance” that is similar to that of Yuan dynasty artist, Ni Yun Lin.

The Forum inc luded a documentary show on Prof Jao by the Chaozhou Television Station as well as exhibits of his works such as A Collection of Jao Tsung-I ’s Dunhuang artworks (《莫高余馥－饶宗颐敦煌书

画艺术》) and more. Also on exhibits were Prof Tan, Prof Liew and Mr Yew’s treasured collections of Prof Jao’s literature, paintings and calligraphy.

Participants admiring the displayed works of Prof Jao.

“Landscape” (山水) by Prof Jao.

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MultiscaleModelling,

Simulation,Analysis andApplications

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Prof Kerson Huang (Professor Emeri tus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and IAS Visiting Professor) gave a series of lectures at the

Institute for Mathematical Sciences (IMS), NUS from 26 to 30 December 2011. His lectures entitled “A Superfluid Universe” were held in relation to the IMS Winter School on Multiscale Modelling, Simulation, Analysis and Applications. Sponsored by the Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR, this programme focused on multiscale modellings, and numerical simulations which tackle very complicated problems, such as fracture, dislocation, quantized vortex and other defects and microstructures in computational quantum physics, material science and complex fluids.

Many scientific problems involve interactions at different scales, thus multiscale modelling and simulation have become increasingly important in Physics, Chemistry, Material Science and Engineering. For instance, in quantum cosmology, we need to bridge the gap between particle physics, with typical scales ~1015 metres, and observational cosmology, with galactic clusters which can be as large as 1023 metres. Besides the conceptual comprehension in the physics principles connecting these scales, it presented challenging problems in numerical computations and simulations.

The winter school brought together applied and computational mathematicians, theoretical physicists and chemists and other computational scientists, as well as students all over the world to develop interdisciplinary researches on multiscale problems. It also aimed to promote interdisciplinary researches and motivate deeper studying and understanding of multiscale problems.

Participants of the Institute for Mathematical Sciences Winter School.

by Xiong Chi Institute of Advanced Studies, NTU

Conferences and Workshops


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Standardisation of Chinese Physics Terminology

Speakers from China, Taiwan and Singapore congregated at the Workshop in NTU.

The rapid progress in Science and Technology today has necessitated the introduction of new scientific and technical terminologies. However, there are

differences and inconsistencies in the translations of scientific and technological terminology introduced in different eras and regions of the Chinese community. This issue is further aggravated by the lack of communication between academics in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong in the past. Scientists from these regions often need to resort to English to express certain concepts more clearly. The conundrum in terminology is clearly not conducive for the dissemination and sharing of scientific and technological advances within the Chinese community, hampering effective academic exchange and teaching. It is therefore imperative for this matter to be solved urgently.

统一标准化研习会

Workshop on

by Low Hwee Boon Institute of Advanced Studies, NTU

“...there are differences and inconsistencies in the

translation of scientific and technological terminology

introduced in different eras and regions of the Chinese

community.”



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This article first appeared in Lianhe Zaobao on 12 December 2011.

In mid 2011, Prof Yang Guo-zhen (President of the Chinese Physical Society) and Prof Phua Kok Khoo (Director, Institute of Advanced Studies at NTU) met in Beijing for an in-depth discussion concerning the current non-standardisation of Chinese terminology in Physics. This meeting had led to the organisation of a tripartite “Workshop on Standardisation of Chinese Physics Terminology” between Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore, held in Singapore on 11 and 12 December 2011.

Directors, heads and representatives of key physical institutions, such as Physics Department of various universities, Institutes of Physics, translation bureaus and Ministries of Education of the three nations congregated at the workshop.

The speakers shared the chronological events in the history of scientific terms translation and standardisation, and the latest developments in respective regions. Recent efforts regarding standardisation of a few emergent domains in physics, such as quantum information and nano-science were also reported.

Towards the end of the workshop, the participants reached a consensus on how the Chinese physics community could reconcile the usage of Physics terms across multiple regions through an interface on the website. The current translated terms will be listed side by side for each region respectively. The aim is to retain the established and conventional translations as much as possible. Experts from respective regions can select or suggest the most appropriate translation and share their rationales on the website before reaching an agreed standard across regions. For a start, priority for standard translation would be given to terms commonly found in school textbooks. Besides conducting ad-hoc discussions online, the participants also agreed to meet annually.

IAS Patron Mr George Yeo, commented that standardisation of scientific terms is very important and he is glad that IAS has set up such an exchange platform to connect experts from both Mainland China and Taiwan. The next workshop will be held in Taiwan in November 2012 and it will be organised by the Taiwan Physics Society and National Academy for Educational Research.

Conferences and Workshops22

Inaugural French Physical Society – Institute of Physics Singapore (SFP-IPS) Workshop

Condensed Matter and Quantum Information Physics:Shedding New Light with Atomic Systemsby Kwek Leong Chuan Institute of Advanced Studies, NTU and Centre for Quantum Technologies, NUS



23

Traditionally, France and Singapore have built strong, solid and deep foundation in many diverse partnerships, ranging from trade and investments

to educational and cultural exchanges to scientific collaborations. To forge greater ties in research between both countries, the French Physical Society (SFP) and the Institute of Physics Singapore (IPS) together with the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) organised a joint workshop at NTU from 16 to 19 January 2012. The event was co-organised with the Centre for Quantum Technologies at NUS.

This workshop marked the beginning of a biennial joint workshop between the two physical societies.

The joint workshop aims to:

1. Identify common areas of research interest 2. Establish mutual collaborations between French and

3. Promote Physics education 4. Facilitate scientific exchange between Europe (through

5. Facilitate cultural exchange between the two countries

The theme for this inaugural four-day workshop was “Condensed Matter and Quantum Information Physics: Shedding New Light with Atomic Systems”. The workshop aimed to address the assets and limitations of ultracold

atomic systems and how these systems tackle important questions raised in many-body and quantum information physics.

The speakers for the inaugural workshop included:

Murray Barrett (CQT/NUS)Silke Biermann (Ecole Polytechnique)Antoine Broadweys (Univ. Paris-Sud)Frederic Chevy (Ecole Normale Superieure)Berge Englert (CQT/NUS)Jean-Noel Fuchs (Univ. Paris-Sud)Benoît Grémaud (CNRS and CQT/NUS)Han Si Yuan (Univ. of Kansas)Frank Hekking (Univ. Joseph Fourier)Philippe Joyez (SPEC, CEA-Saclay)Dagomir Kaszlikowski (CQT/NUS)Cord Müller (CQT/NUS)Antonio Castro Neto (NUS and Boston Univ.)Christos Panagopoulos (NTU)Cyril Proust (CNRS)Yu Ting (NTU and NUS)

The event was also supported by the NTU School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, the NUS Department of Physics and the Embassy of France in Singapore. Our principal sponsors were Ecole Polytechnique and Triangle de la Physique, France.

Singapore researchers

France) and Asia (through Singapore)

French and Singaporean physicists of the SFP-IPS Workshop 2012.

Conferences and Workshops24

iPlasmaNano-lllThird International Symposium on

PANPSC-2012Second International Workshop on

in Nanomaterials and Photovoltaic Solar Cells

Plasma Applications

Plasma Nanoscience

Delegates engaging in a recreational dance in Desaru.

by Xu Shuyan Institute of Advanced Studies, NTU and National Institute of Education (NIE)



25

A one-day topical workshop on “Plasma Applications in Nanomaterials and Photovoltaic Solar Cells” (PANPSC-2012) was held at the Nanyang

Executive Centre, NTU on 26 February 2012. The programme included 10 sessions by local and overseas presenters and concluded with a NTU/NIE campus tour, visit to the Plasma Sources and Applications Centre, Plasma Radiation Laboratory and Solar Cell Fabrication Facilities.

Set in the background of the tropical sun and swaying coconut trees, the Pulai Desaru Beach Resort was the venue for the iPlasmaNano-III Symposium from 27 February to 1 March 2012. Delegates were picked up in a

Local and overseas speakers gathered in Desaru for the iPlasmaNano-III Symposium.

chartered coach and they arrived at the magnificent tropical resort of Pulai Desaru within two hours from Singapore, with a stopover at the Desaru Fruit Farm for sightseeing and lunch. More than 80 delegates, including many eminent and renowned scientists from 19 countries attended the symposium.

The four-day programme covered 60 plenary, keynote and invited lectures on the most recent developments and discoveries in plasma nanosciences, nanofabrication, plasma photovoltaics and other emerging topics. The symposium also included in-depth discussions and opportunities for collaborations between the scientists, leaders and experts on fundamental and technological aspects of low-temperature plasmas, ion beams, lasers and related approaches for nanoscale synthesis, processing and device fabrication.

A gala dinner with cultural music and dance performances was held on 28 February 2012. The dinner even provided a relaxed atmosphere for the delegates to dance on stage. The next evening – Karaoke night - was filled with more music and songs.

The contented delegates returned to Singapore on 1 March enriched with wide knowledge of plasma-related topics presented at the symposium and rejuvenated by the resort ambience at Desaru.

The next iPlasmaNano-IV Symposium will be organised by NASA and a number of universities in USA.

Participants visiting the Plasma Sources and Applications Centre at NIE.

Public Lectures


26

Prof John Ellis, a British theoretical physicist from CERN, delivered a talk on how the Large Hadron Collider answers questions in relation to our

existence on 19 January 2012.

In a famous painting, Gauguin showed people asking three basic questions: What are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? In the language of Physics, these become: What is the structure of matter? How did the Universe evolve? How will it evolve in the future? Experiments with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN are addressing these questions, and Prof Ellis shared his view on the prospects for finding possible answers to the questions. Response was overwhelming as the auditorium was packed with young researchers who are inspired by Prof Ellis’ ingenious contributions in phenomenological aspects of particle physics. A string of questions ended the session as Prof Ellis shared his research activities at CERN and his research enthusiasm in astrophysics, cosmology and quantum gravity.

Prof Ellis’ activities at CERN are wide-ranging. He was also a founding member of the Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEPC) and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN

(LHCC). He currently chairs the committee to investigate physics opportunities for future proton accelerators. He is also a member of the extended Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) Steering Committee.

Prof Ellis was awarded the Maxwell Medal in 1982, and the Paul Dirac Prize in 2005 by the Institute of Physics. He is also an Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London since 1985 and of the Institute of Physics since 1991.

by Prof John Ellis

Rounds of applause for Prof John Ellis’s astounding public lecture.

The Large Hadron Collider: Answering Gauguin’s questions about the Universe

Public Lectures 27

fromEscape Leipzig

Widely-acclaimed theoretical physicist Prof Harald Fritzsch (University of Munich and NTU) gave a public lecture on 30 January 2012 at the

Nanyang Executive Centre. In his talk, Prof Fritzsch gave a vivid review of his contemplation to escape from East Germany as a physics student back in the 1960s when

Leipzig was the center of resistance. He subsequently left a country that was surrounded by a fence or wall, and made practically impenetrable by armed guards and land mines. Living conditions in the East Germany then were harsh, and students were not allowed even the slightest amount of political freedom, nor the opportunity to express independent views of what an ideal society should be like.

Things however went out of control when the local authorities in the town of Leipzig, where Prof Fritzsch studied, decided to tear down the ancient St Paul’s church in order to create a glorious new Karl Marx Platz. The inhabitants and students cherished an emotional attachment with the church. Prof Fritzsch enthused the audience by sharing how he managed to unroll a poster to protest against the authorities in a spectacular fashion at the town hall. His protests got him into trouble and he had to plan his escape to the West to avoid arrest. He finally escaped to Bulgaria through Turkey by traversing the Black Sea in a folding canoe. To this day, he still possesses the motor to that canoe.

Prof Fritzsch further captivated the audience with an authentic picture of the East German regime and narrated events in the late 1960s, before German reunification.

by Prof Harald Fritzsch

Prof Harald Fritzsch sharing his personal account of the escape from Leipzig.

“This is a daredevil endeavour, never done before.”

Colloquia


28

“What can we learn about non-standard model CP violation from Hadrons?”

was the theme of Prof Bruce McKellar’s talk at the NTU School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences on 20 February 2012. He is the President-Designate of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, University of Melbourne. Prof McKellar highlighted that CP violation in the Standard Model of particle physics does not account for the excess of matter over antimatter in the universe, hence identifying non-standard model CP violation is a vitally important task. CP violation is a violation of the postulated charge conjugation symmetry and parity symmetry. CP violation has been observed in the K (Kaon) system and B (B Meson) system as well, with occasional similar claims that non-standard CP violation has been observed. Prof McKellar gave a review of the standard model calculations for all these

From left: Dr Low Hwee Boon, Prof Kerson Huang, Prof Bruce McKellar and Prof Pinaki Sengupta.

systems and discussed the reliability of the standard model estimates, with particular focus on B system. He highlighted that the electric dipole moment of the neutron, which has not yet been observed, is arguably related to the hadronic system in which standard model CP violation is most reliably estimated. The colloquium was chaired by Prof Sengupta of SPMS.

What can we learn about non-standard model CP violation from Hadrons? by Prof Bruce McKellar

Prof Roger Maynard (Former President of the Societe Francaise de Physique and Emeritus Professor at the University Joseph Fourier de Grenoble)

delivered a talk titled “Imaging in Multiple Scattering Media” at the NTU School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences on 2 February 2012. Multiple scattering of waves in disordered media is very frequent and ubiquitous in nature, ranging from the solar light propagation in clouds to cold atoms and seismic waves in the terrestrial crust. Prof Maynard illustrated that these different waves could be multi-scattered by the homogeneities of the medium where they propagate. He also presented the challenge that the shortest resolution for imaging, the so-called Rayleigh limit of half the wavelength, could be accomplished in diffuse media by using cross-correlations of fluctuations due to ambient noise at two distant points, together with a time reversal mirror and phase monitoring.

Prof Roger Maynard delivering his talk entitled “Imaging in Multiple Scattering Media.”

Imaging in Multiple Scattering Media by Prof Roger Maynard

Colloquia


29

A light-hearted discussion between Prof Cesareo Dominguez and a NTU faculty member.

A candid shot of Prof Marvin Weinstein taken during his talk.

Prof Cesareo Dominguez from the University of Cape Town delivered a talk titled “Determination of the Fundamental Parameters of Quantum

Chromodynamics” on 24 February 2012 at the IAS Seminar Room. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the currently accepted renormalisable quantum field theory that describes the strong interactions among quarks and gluons. The two fundamental parametres of QCD are the running coupling and the quark masses. Because of quark and gluon confinement, these parametres cannot be measured in the same fashion as in non-confined theories such as Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). Prof Dominguez presented a review of the various techniques to extract the values of strong coupling and quark masses from experimental data. He placed further emphasis on the progress in this vast field. The talk was followed by an in-depth discussion on QCD and QED over the tea reception.

“We’re drowning in data.” How often have you seen or heard that phrase? On 24 April 2012, Prof Marvin Weinstein from SLAC

National Accelerator Laboratory gave an interesting talk titled “Diving for Treasure in Complex Data – From Roman Urns to Alzheimer’s” at the NTU School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

Discovering hidden information in an ocean of high-

dimensional, often n o i s y a n d l o w

c o n t r a s t d a t a requires novel

data-mining

Determination of the Fundamental Parametres of Quantum Chromodynamics by Prof Cesareo Dominguez

Diving for Treasure in Complex Data – From Roman Urns to Alzheimer’s by Prof Marvin Weinstein

techniques. Prof Weinstein enlightened the audience with a new and unbiased visual data-mining technique known as Dynamic Quantum Clustering (DQC).

The DQC works for large and noisy datasets on which other more familiar methods failed to do so. It is remarkably successful at discovering and extracting both simple and topologically complex structures from a large, noisy dataset without making any a-priori assumptions. For instance, the extraction of earthquake data and SNP data for Alzheimer’s patients. This could be applied to diverse fields including biology, genetics, geology and many more. Many faculty members stayed behind after the talk to hear Prof Weinstein’s explanations on how his data-mining concepts could be applied to the social media and economics field as well.


30 Special Articles

There are two ways to look at a frontier. One is to think of it as a boundary that defines the limit of where we can go, and we explore everywhere inside the

frontier. The other is to think of the frontier as a fence, and we are like children at the fence, peering at the wild blue yonder. As we grow, we are able to push the boundary further, so that we can get to see more of the blue yonder.

Frontiers on EarthFrom space, the earth looks like a habitable and friendly planet, full of water. But as ancient mariners would tell you,

Frontiers of Science and Implications for

Technology

water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Although mankind has been pushing the frontiers to collect more of the rainwater, many of the communities are ever thirsting for more water. As someone born and bred in Singapore, I am proud to see that Singapore is at the frontier of new water technology. Singapore is also turning her attention to solar energy as a supplement to the power needs of the country. And, lest we forget, there are even new attempts at harnessing wind energy on earth.

How our Earth looks like at its frontier.Singapore’s NEWater is the product from a multiple barrier water reclamation process.

by Chang Ngee-Pong Institute of Advanced Studies, NTU and City College of New York

Transcript of his speech delivered at the Opening Ceremony of the 1st IAS School on Particle Physics and Cosmology and Implications for Technology supported by CERN


31Special Articles

remarkable achievement was made while he was working alone in his mother’s farmyard during the time of the Bubonic Plague.

From Terrestrial to CelestialIn 1665, Trinity College in Cambridge was shut down because of the bubonic Plague and Newton went home to continue his studies. His mother told him not to work in the farm, but to work on his own research. According to a biography account, one day while working under a tree, an apple fell on his table and rolled onto the ground. In stooping down to pick up the apple, he looked up and there saw the moon in the sky. The thought occurred to him, can the terrestrial force that brought down the apple be the same as the celestial force that holds the moon to the earth?

Knowing that the moon is at a distance of 60 times the radius of the earth, and assuming the orbit to be circular, it did not take long for him to figure out that if the force law is inversely squared, the period of the moon around the earth should be 27.3 days!

He proceeded to apply this to a study of the Keplerian orbits of the planets around the sun. For this, he had to invent calculus (which he called fluxions) and proved that the inverse square law results in elliptical orbits for the planets around the sun. These important findings were not communicated to the Royal Society until 1686 at the urging of his friend, Edmond Halley.

The story that Newton’s hypothesis of universal gravitation was prompted by the fall of an apple.

A Moving FrontierIn the old days, people peered out through the telescope and studied the motion of planets and explored the solar system. The distance scale they probed was of the order of 6 x 1012 m. With bigger and better telescopes, soon people began to explore the galaxies. In 1927, through the 100-inch telescope on Mt Wilson, Edwin Hubble was able to see to distances of the order of 1 Mpc or 3 x 1022 m. He concluded that a galaxy in the far corners of the universe is running away from us at the rate that is proportional to its distance from us (Hubble’s Law). Today, technology allows us to look at galaxies that are about 14 billion light years away! Talk about space as being the final frontier!

Frontiers of KnowledgeMeanwhile, there is also the frontier of the basic laws of science. Before 1686, the laws of physics were based on terrestrial measurements. But Newton made a breakthrough when he proposed the Law of Universal Gravitation that enabled physicists to leap from Terrestrial to Celestial. With his inverse square law, he could explain the elliptical nature of the planetary orbits around the Sun. This

“Father of modern observational astronomy” – Galileo Galilei.

He proceeded to apply this to a study of the Keplerian orbits of the planets around the sun. For this, he had to invent calculus (which he called fluxions) and proved that the inverse square law results in elliptical orbits for the planets around the sun. These important findings were not communicated to the Royal Society until 1686 at the urging of his friend, Edmond Halley.


32 Special Articles

Expanding the Frontiers of KnowledgeIt was not until 1916 that the next breakthrough in the laws of gravitation came through the beautiful equations of Einstein. The beauty of the equations lies in its simplicity.

It relates the curvature of space-time to the stress-energy tensor of the matter in the universe. The original Einstein equation involves only the Newton Gravitational Constant, G. In 1917, because his original equation allowed the matter universe to collapse, he introduced the famous (which he later considered infamous) Cosmological Constant, .

Why? Because it would lead to an expanding universe that accelerates! Observations today have confirmed this astonishing fact.

Dark Matter & Dark EnergyAstronomers and astrophysicists now have concluded that indeed the universe is much more than what is visible to our naked eyes. 23% of the universe consists of Dark Matter, while about 73% is Dark Energy that causes the universe to accelerate in its expansion. Only 4% of the universe is the normal matter that made up the atoms we are familiar with. Currently, experiments are underway at various underground labs around the world to try to identify the candidates for the Dark Matter. Meanwhile, the observed value for the Cosmological Constant, = 10-26 kg/m3, poses a serious challenge to particle theorists. In a nutshell, the problem is: why is the Cosmological Constant so small?

LHC The New FrontierSo now I come to my favourite subject, Particle Physics. Everyone has heard of the announcement by CERN this past December that the Higgs boson may have been found. They have seen some events that point to the Higgs boson being of mass 125 GeV/c2, which is approximately 125 times heavier than the proton.

Why is the entire world interested?Because in particle physics, there is this fundamental theory of weak, electro-magnetic and strong interactions (called the Standard Model) that so far has been able to explain everything. This theory even explains the origin of the masses of all particles, the massive W and Z bosons, the quarks and leptons. And it all comes from the Higgs boson. It is important for the Standard Model that the Higgs boson be found. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was built, at a cost of USD 6.4 billion, specifically to look for Higgs, and so the 12 December 2011 announcement represented an important milestone for CERN and for LHC.

Implications for TechnologyThe LHC is a good example of the interplay between the Frontiers of Science and Implications for Technology. Just as the quest for observing further into space prompted NASA to design and build the Hubble Space Telescope, the need to find the Higgs has brought the international community together to design and build the LHC. And not just the collider, but also the large detectors, ATLAS and CMS.

With these large detectors comes the problem of data storage and analysis.

A pie chart showing the proportion between dark energy, dark matter and normal matter.

LHC at the New Frontier.


33Special Articles

To get an idea of the magnitudes, each detector collects data at the rate of 15 PETABYTES (15,000 TERABYTES, or 15,000,000 GIGABYTES) per year. To store this data, they need to transfer data at the rate of 10 Gbit/s. For this, CERN has developed a Computing Grid of secure computing centres around the world.

For a comparison of scale, the projected data storage for Singapore Grid Computing is 30TB. There is great potential for cooperation between Singapore and CERN in tackling these issues of scale and security.

Announcement from CERN that neutrinos travel faster than light.

A photo on ATLAS experiment.

Is OPERA opening a New Frontier?Finally, I bring to your attention the other announcement from CERN (23 September 2011) that neutrinos travel faster than light. Neutrinos produced at CERN in Geneva take 0.0024 seconds to travel the 732 km between CERN and Gran Sasso in Northern Italy. This is 0.00000006 seconds faster than the expected time for a photon.

While the experimental group does not claim their experiment to be proof of the superluminal nature of the neutrino, the fact that they are able to even consider testing the nature of the neutrino is a testimony to the Implications for Technology. For their analysis, they needed to call upon latest technology on clock synchronisation and distance measurements. They had to go back to the fundamentals of GPS that more and more geological surveyors have come to rely on.

We all await with abated breath for some other experimental group to take the time and care to measure the neutrino speed in a different lab set-up.

In any case, it is an exciting time for all scientists everywhere, especially for the young postdocs and graduate students gathered here at the IAS School on Particle Physics, Cosmology and Implications for Technology.


34 Special Articles

at CERNSummer Exchange

CERN is home to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful and advanced technology in the world today, and is poised to change our

understanding of the Universe through high-energy collisions of elementary particles, the fundamental building blocks of Nature.

I was assigned to a theory group who did computer simulations on the proton-proton collisions at the Compact Muon Solenoid Detector (CMS). The work centred on multiple-parton interactions, which is challenging because the calculations are far more complicated than single-parton interactions, and on top of that, non-perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics are in poor agreement with experimental data at low transverse momenta. So my mission there was to work on the computer simulations of these collisions to find out how we can correct this phenomenon.

The Summer Student team at CERN also organised lab workshops for us, and since I am a theorist, I joined a workshop on gamma-ray detection to gain some exposure

In the summer of 2011, I was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a research stint at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in

Geneva, Switzerland.

by Hugh Tay School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, NTU


35Special Articles

to the experimentalists’ works. There, I learnt not only the recipe for putting a working detector together (scintillating crystal, photomultiplier, etc.) but also why the detector was designed the way it is, motivated by our knowledge of the underlying physics.

I also met many people from both CERN member and non-member states, and we exchanged cultures, ideas and stories too. For example, how some of the guys went to climb the nearby Jura Mountain and got chased by cows along the way; or while on a visit to Rome, how some of them broke their keys in the locks of their hotel rooms, but being ingenious physicists, they simply removed the locks with their Swiss knives.

During my stay in Geneva, I also visited the various laboratories and facilities around CERN. In particular, I was most awestruck by the Proton Source, the unassuming hydrogen cylinder where protons begin their journey into the unknown, and also the Computing Centre, where the World Wide Web was invented.

As part of the Summer Student programme, CERN organised a series of lectures to cater to our diverse backgrounds. The lectures covered topics on accelerators and detectors, astrophysics and cosmology, and string theory. Attending these lectures inspired me to sign up for the Summer Students conference and deliver a talk. This was thus, my final adventure of the summer – I put my

Posing next to the CMS Detector, where the protons end their journey.

Warmth of smiles lingered as the international summer students posed for the group picture.

results together and delivered my talk to an international audience in one of the world’s top scientific organisations, and I would not have missed it for the world.

I would like to thank the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS, NTU) for the invaluable support provided for this whole programme.

36 Welcome to IAS!

15 to 20 Jan 2012Prof Frederic ChevyEcole Normale Superieure in Paris

10 to 12 Dec 2011Prof Liu Yuan TsunSoochow University

10 to 13 Dec 2011Prof Chang Ching RayNational Taiwan University

10 to 13 Dec 2011Prof Liu JixingChinese Academy of Sciences

10 to 12 Dec 2011Prof Zhu XingPeking University

10 to 13 Dec 2011Prof Lin Ching-LungNational Academy for Educational Research

10 to 14 Dec 2011Prof Yan Shou-ShengPeking University

10 to 13 Dec 2011Prof Fu Chao MingNational Taiwan University

10 to 13 Dec 2011Prof Juang Jenh-YihNational Chiao Tung University

10 to 14 Dec 2011Prof Wu Ling-AnChinese Academy of Sciences

The following distinguished professors visited IAS over the past six months:

6 to 16 Jan 2012Prof Serguey PetcovSISSA/INFN, IPMU & University of Tokyo

7 to 28 Jan 2012Prof Chang Ngee-PongCity College of New York & Nanyang Technological University

8 to 11 Jan 2012Prof Jean Tran Thanh VanUniversité Paris-Sud XI

8 to 15 Jan 2012Prof Chia-Chu ChenCheng-Kung University

9 Jan to 1 Feb 2012Prof Ernest MaUniversity of California, Riverside

11 to 12 Jan 2012Prof Ji XiangdongShanghai Jiaotong University

10 to 20 Jan 2012Prof Han SiyuanUniversity of Kansas

7 to 14 Jan 2012Prof Ignatios AntoniadisCERN

9 to 19 Jan 2012Prof James Barber FRSImperial College London

11 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Martial DucloyUniversite Paris 13

14 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Silke BiermannEcolé Polytechnique

14 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Jean-Noel FuchsUniversity Paris-Sud 14 to 21 Jan 2012

Prof Kees Van Der BeekEcole Polytechnique

13 Jan to 12 Feb 2012Prof Karl KollerLudwig-Maximilians-Universitaet

11 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Anthony LeggettNobel Laureate in Physics, 2003

15 to 19 Jan 2012Prof Frank HekkingUniversite Joseph Fourier 15 to 20 Jan 2012

Prof Cyril ProustLaboratoire National des Champs Magnetiques Pulses

14 to 22 Jan 2012Prof Qamar N UsmaniUniversity Malaysia Perlis

15 to 20 Jan 2012Prof Danny ShechtmanNobel Laureate in Chemistry, 2011 15 to 21 Jan 2012

Prof Claude Cohen-TannoudjiNobel Laureate in Physics, 2003

37Welcome to IAS!

16 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Sydney BrennerNobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, 2002

29 Jan to 1 Feb 2012Prof Zhang Xinmin Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

19 to 21 Feb 2012Prof Bruce McKellarUniversity of Melbourne

29 Mar to 26 May 2012Prof William WangChinese University of Hong Kong

20 Feb to 19 Mar 2012Prof Jorge Tredicce Institut Non Lineaire de Nice

23 to 27 Apr 2012Prof Marvin Weinstein SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

23 to 25 Apr 2012Prof Robert Curl Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 1996

16 Feb to 5 Mar 2012Dr Aziz Abdul BhattiUniversity of Management and Technology

4 Feb to 2 Mar 2012Prof Cesareo DominguezUniversity of Cape Town

16 to 21 Jan 2012Prof John EllisCERN & King’s College London

16 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Aaron CiechanoverNobel Laureate in Chemistry, 2004

16 Jan to 17 Mar 2012Prof Harald FritzschUniversity of Munich & Nanyang Technological University

20 Jan to 20 Feb 2012Prof Peter MinkowskiUniversity Bern

21 Jan to 1 Feb 2012Prof Manmohan GuptaPanjab University Chandigarh

24 to 31 Jan 2012Prof Jean-Pierre VialleLAPP, UniversitZ de Sevoie et IN2P3/CNRS

24 to 29 Jan 2012Prof Chang Lay NamVirginia Tech

17 to 20 Jan 2012Prof Henry TyeHong Kong University of Science and Technology & Cornell University

25 Jan to 3 Feb 2012Prof Roger MaynardUniversite Joseph Fourier de Grenoble

27 Jan to 1 Feb 2012Prof George Hou Wei-ShuNational Taiwan University

29 to 31 Jan 2012Prof Masa YamauchiHigh Energy Accelerator Research Organization

15 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Phillipe JoyezCentre CEA de Saclay

15 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Antoine BrowaeysUniversite Paris-Sud 11

15 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Yosef NirWeizmann Institute of Science

16 to 18 Jan 2012Prof Emmanuel TsesmelisCERN & University of Oxford

16 to 21 Jan 2012Prof Albert De RoeckCERN & University of Antwerp

15 Jan to 15 Feb 2012Prof Harry C. S. LamMcGill Unversity


38

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Selected IAS Research Publications

*As of July 2012

H. Sundaramurthi, A. Manavalan, U. Ramachandran, J. Hu, S. K. Sze and K Heese, Phenotyping of Tianma-Stimulated Differentiated Rat Neuronal B104 Cells by Quantitative Proteomics, Neurosignals, 20, 48 (2011)

S. Dutta, J.K. Jasvantlal, A. Dewanto, A.H. Chan and C.H. Oh, Extraction of Clan Model Parameters from Multiplicity Distributions Measured in pp Collisions at LHC Energies, Modern Physics Letters A, 26, 2951 (2012)

Jing-Ling Chen, Hong-Yi Su, Chunfeng Wu, Dong-Ling Deng, Adan Cabello, L. C. Kwek, C. H. Oh, Quantum contextuality emerging from relativity, arXiv:1201.5590v1 (2012)

Jing-Ling Chen, Xiang-Jun Ye, Chunfeng Wu, Hong-Yi Su, Adan Cabello, L. C. Kwek, C. H. Oh, Quantum steering without inequalities, arXiv:1204.1870v1 (2012)

N. Cherroret, T. Karpiuk, C. Müller, B. Grémaud and C. Miniatura, Coherent Backscattering of Ultracold Matter Waves: Momentum Space Signatures, Physics Review A, 85, 011604(R) (2012)

F. Ciccarello, D. E. Browne, L. C. Kwek, H. Schomerus, M. Zarcone, S. Bose, Deterministic realization of a universal quantum gate in a single scattering process, arXiv:1107.4394v2 (2012)

Jian Cui, Mile Gu, Leong Chuan Kwek, Marcelo França Santos, Heng Fan, Vlatko Vedral, Quantum phases with differing computational power, Nature Communications, 3, 812 (2012)

L. Dai and L.C. Kwek, Realizing the Multipartite Hanbury Brown-Twiss Interferometer Using Nitrogen-Vancancy Centers in Diamond Crystals, Physics Review Letters, 108, 066803 (2012)

Leong Chuan Kwek, Zhaohui Wei, Bei Zeng, Measurement-Based Quantum Computing with Valence-Bond-Solids, International Journal of Modern Physics B, 26, 1230002 (2012)

E. Kyoseva, A. Beige and L.C. Kwek, Coherent cavity networks with complete connectivity, New Journal of Physics, 14, 023023 (2012)

H. Fritzsch, The Size of the Weak Bosons, arXiv:1201.2512v3 (2012)

H. Fritzsch and J. Sola, Matter Non-Conservation in the Universe and Dynamical Dark Energy, arXiv:1202.5097v2

IAS research publications chart.

*

(2012)


39Selected IAS Research Publications

ARTICLE

�

nATuRE CommunICATIons | 3:812 | DoI: 10.1038/ncomms1809 | www.nature.com/naturecommunications

© 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Received 17 Feb 2012 | Accepted 28 mar 2012 | Published 1 may 2012 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1809

The observation that concepts from quantum information has generated many alternative

indicators of quantum phase transitions hints that quantum phase transitions possess

operational significance with respect to the processing of quantum information. Yet, studies

on whether such transitions lead to quantum phases that differ in their capacity to process

information remain limited. Here we show that there exist quantum phase transitions that

cause a distinct qualitative change in our ability to simulate certain quantum systems under

perturbation of an external field by local operations and classical communication. In particular,

we show that in certain quantum phases of the XY model, adiabatic perturbations of the

external magnetic field can be simulated by local spin operations, whereas the resulting effect

within other phases results in coherent non-local interactions. We discuss the potential

implications to adiabatic quantum computation, where a computational advantage exists only

when adiabatic perturbation results in coherent multi-body interactions.

1 Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. 2 Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore, 3 Science

Drive 2, Singapore 117543, Singapore. 3 National Institute of Education and Institute of Advanced Studies, Nanyang Technological University, 1 Nanyang

Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore. 4 Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Caixa Postal 702, 30123-970 Minas

Gerais, Brazil. 5Department of Atomic and Laser Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX13PU, UK. 6 Department of

Physics, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543, Singapore. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed

to J.C. (email: [email protected]).

Quantum phases with differing computational

powerJian Cui1,2, mile Gu2, Leong Chuan Kwek2,3, marcelo França santos4, Heng Fan1 & Vlatko Vedral2,5,6

K. Huang, H. B. Low and R. S. Tung, Scalar Field Cosmology I: Asymptotic Freedom and the Initial-Value Problem, arXiv:1106.5282 (2012)

Ying Li, Daniel Cavalcanti, Leong Chuan Kwek, Long-distance entanglement generation with scalable and robust two-dimensional quantum network, Physics Review A, 85, 062330 (2012)

H. L. Low, C.F. Jennifer Chen, C.C. Kevin Chen, W. K. Tew, C. S. Hew and K. S. Chen, Angelman Syndrome: Proteomics Analysis of an UBE3A Knockout Mouse and Its Implications, In Press

Feng Mei, Chuan-Jia Shan, Xun-Li Feng, Shi-Liang Zhu, Zhi-Ming Zhang, L. C. Kwek, D. Wilkowski, C. H. Oh, Creation, manipulation and detection of Majorana fermions with cold atoms in optical lattice, arXiv:1204.3974v1

M. Mishra, A. Manavalan, S.K. Sze and K. Heese, Neuronal p60TRP expression modulates cardiac capacity, Journal of Proteomics, 75, 1600 (2012)

U. Ramachandran, A. Manavalan, H. Sundaramurthi, S. K. Sze, Z. W. Feng, J. Hu and K. Heese, Tianma modulates proteins with various neuro-regenerative modalities in differentiated human neuronal SH-SY5Y cells, Neurochemistry International, 60, 827 (2012)

Liang W, Teong IW, Koon JC, Lau CB, Fung KP, Leung PC, Inhibitory effects of salviae miltiorrhizae radix (danshen) and puerariae lobatae radix (gegen) in carbachol-induced rat detrusor smooth muscle contractility, International Journal of Physiology, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology, 4, 36 (2012)

Q. Zhang, J. Gong and C.H. Oh, Dynamical fluctuations in classical adiabatic processes: General description and their implications, Annals of Physics, 327, 1202 (2012)

S.Q. Xiao, S. Xu, H. P. Zhou, D. Y. Wei, S. Y. Huang, L. X. Xu, C. C. Sern, Y. N. Guo and S. Khan, Amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells via remote inductively coupled plasma processing, Applied Physics Letters 100, 233902 (2012)

E.Ma, Dark-matter fermion from left-right symmetry, Physical Review D, 85, 091701 (R) (2012)

E.Ma and J. Wudka, Vector-boson-induced neutrino mass, Physics Letters B, 712, 391 (2012)

F. Lin, A. Manavalan, M. Mishra, S. K. Sze, J. Hu and K. Heese, Tianma Modulates Blood Vessel Tonicity, The Open Biochemistry Journal, 6, 56 (2012)

A. Manavalan, U. Ramachandran, H. Sundarmurthi, M. Mishra, S. K. Sze, J. Hu, Z. W. Feng and K. Heese, Gastrodia elata Blume (tianma) mobilizes neuro-protective capacities quantitative proteomics, International Journal Biochem Mol Biol, 3, 219 (2012)(2012)

(2012)

40 Upcoming Events

2012

2013

21 to 22 AugustInternational Symposium on Theory and Evidence in AcupunctureVenue: Nanyang Executive Centre, NTU

23 to 25 August2nd Mathematics Workshop for the Malaysian Chinese Independent Secondary School Teachers Venue: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, NTU

19 SeptemberDialogue session with Mr George Yeo Venue: Tan Chin Tuan Lecture Theatre, NTU

20 to 24 January5th International Science Youth Forum @Singapore with Nobel LaureatesVenue: Hwa Chong Institution

27 January to 8 FebruarySchool on Low Dimensional SystemVenue: Nanyang Executive Centre, NTU

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18 to 22 MarchInternational Workshop on Determination of the Fundamental Parameters of QCDVenue: Nanyang Executive Centre, NTU

4 to 8 March2nd Complexity ConferenceVenue: Nanyang Executive Centre, NTU

26 to 29 August Conference in Honour of Freeman Dyson’s 90th Birthday Venue: Nanyang Executive Centre, NTU

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Editor-in-Chief Phua Kok KhooHew Choy SinKwek Leong ChuanLow Hwee BoonChris OngNg Toh MiangLouis LimJacinta LingTan Meijing

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