Robert Weis

Kirchhoff Institute for Physics

The Kirchhoff Institute for Physics (KIP) is named after a prominent physicist of the 19th Century: Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, who worked in Heidelberg for 21 years. His well-known lectures on experimental and theoretical physics attracted many students. Kirchhoff's ground-breaking research was extraordinarily diverse, spanning electrical, magnetic, optical, elastic, hydrodynamic and thermal processes. His laws for electrical circuits are well-known. At the time he was in Heidelberg, in conjunction with Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, he discovered spectral analysis and its application to solar radiation. In this way, Kirchhoff laid the foundation for modern astrophysics, as well as formulating the laws of thermal radiation, which played a key role in the discovery of quantum physics. The KIP aims to continue in this tradition of diverse scientific research and education.

Physikalisches Kolloquium

25. April 2025 5:00 pm  Embracing uncertainty: a photonic approach to probabilistic computing

Prof. Dr. Wolfram Pernice, Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Universität Heidelberg,Unlike artificial neural networks (ANNs), which focus on maximizing accuracy, biological systems excel at handling uncertainty. This ability is believed to be essential for adaptability and efficiency, yet traditional ANNs, implemented on deterministic hardware, struggle with capturing the full probabilistic nature of inference. To address this limitation, Bayesian neural networks (BNNs) replace deterministic parameters with probability distributions, allowing us to distinguish between epistemic uncertainty (due to limited data) and aleatoric uncertainty (arising from noise).more...

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CQD special seminar by Rene Röhrs, University of Innsbruck, 24th of April, 11:15 a.m., Goldbox

Please note the place and time: Thursday, the 24th of April, 11:15 a.m., PI, INF 226, K 1-3, Goldbox

 

 

Titel: Magnetic soliton molecules in binary condensates

 

Abstract:

Two-component condensates in the miscible phase can support polarization solitary waves, known as magnetic solitons. By calculating the interaction potentials between pairs of magnetic solitons we elucidate the mechanisms and conditions for the formation of bound states—or molecules— and support these predictions with dynamic simulations. We analytically calculate the dissociation energy for molecules consisting of two oppositely polarized solitons and find good agreement with full numerical simulations. Our study turns to binary dipolar condensates, again in the miscible regime, but where a roton develops in the spin branch of the dispersion relation. Intriguingly, we predict that the long-range interactions enable the formation of multiple bound states with distinct equilibrium separations for a given soliton pair. We expect such bound states to be within reach of current experimental capabilities.

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