Latest

Join us this Thursday (09/05/25) at 17:30 in the Martin Wood Lecture Theatre for a talk from Nivedita about the application of category theory to physics.

We’ll dive into the language of category theory—why it’s useful, how it emerges naturally in theoretical physics, and how it helps us axiomatize path integrals in Quantum Field Theory. We’ll even peek into the buzzworthy world of (higher) categorical symmetries.

Don’t miss this journey into the deep structure of physics—the fun kind!
Hosted by Oxford University Physics Society.

Join us Thursday (01/05) evening in in the Martin Wood Lecture Theatre for a talk by Prof. Joe Conlon about quantum mechanics.

Discover how quantum harmonic oscillators shape particles (via quantum field theory), cosmic structure (via inflation), and even string theory. Expect both verse and prose in this unique exploration of the quantum foundations of our universe.

Hosted by the Oxford University Physics Society.
Everyone welcome!

The Trinity 2025 term card is now live!

Please welcome the new PhysSoc committee for 2025/56!

We will be working hard all you to bring you lots of engaging talks, fun socials and other events. Stay tuned!

Join us Thursday (22/01/2025) evening at 17:30 in the Martin Wood Lecture Theatre for a talk by Prof. Ian Robinson from the condesnsed matter group.

Ian Robinson is a professor at the London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL. He uses X-ray diffraction to study the structure of materials. His research is currently focussed on the development of coherent X-ray diffraction methods for imaging the structure of nanoparticles and domain structures in larger crystals. The X-ray coherence leads to interference effects in the diffraction patterns which can be inverted, using phase retrieval methods, to 3D images. His research makes extensive use of synchrotron radiation facilities and Free-Electron Lasers with a big activity at the Diamond Light Source. Historically, the earliest beamlines were used to discover Crystal Truncation Rods, opening the field of surface structure determination, for which Robinson was awarded the Surface Structure Prize in 2011 and the Gregori Aminoff Prize in 2015.

Our Hilary 2025 term card is out now!

See below for talks from Prof. Ian Robinson, Dr. David Yang, and more, as well as lots of socials and fun!

Join us Thursday (21/11/2024) evening at 17:30 in the martin wood lecture Theatre for a talk by Prof. Fabian Essler on quantum integrable models

Message from Prof Fabian Essler:

I’ll assume that the audience is familiar with 2nd year Quantum Mechanics and then discuss a class of many-particle quantum systems that, surprisingly, can be solved exactly (even though the number of particles can be extremely large and they interact very strongly with one another). I’ll explain what makes these systems “integrable”, and discuss some of the “emergent” behaviour they describe (“quantum number fractionalisation”).

If I have time I’ll talk a bit about recent experiments by Google, which investigates the non-equilibrium dynamics of such systems.

Join us Thursday evening (14/11/2024) at The Sir Michael Dummett Lecture Theatre in Christ Church for a talk on particel physics.

Prof. Edward Daw will introduce the QSHS experiment searching for axions, a candidate to solve the century old dark matter problem without needing new physics at the electroweak scale. He will also introduce axions and the dark matter problem, and describe the Quantum Sensing for the Hidden Sector experiment which a collaboration of UK Universities and Labs are currently building to search for axionic dark matter.