EXC 2181:  STRUCTURES: Understanding and Harnessing Emergent Phenomena

• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas ; Astrophysics and Astronomy ; Computer Science ; Mathematics ; Neurosciences ; Condensed Matter Physics ; Statistical Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Complex Systems, Soft and Fluid Matter, Biological Physics
• Term: since 2019
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390900948

The abundance and diversity of structure in nature may seem detached from the elegant austerity of underlying fundamental physical law. Finding out how the two are connected - that is, understanding emergent phenomena - remains one of the most profound issues of science. It has many aspects, ranging from general epistemological questions - to what extent and in what sense are complex phenomena reducible to simple underlying laws - to practical ones - how do macroscopic properties of matter arise from constituents and laws on the atomic scale. Physical law is formulated mathematically, and mathematics is central for a deeper understanding of all physical phenomena, and in particular for distinguishing universal aspects of emergence from system-specific features. Emergence is also a striking feature encountered in modern data analysis methods, such as deep networks. Finally, sufficiently precise knowledge about emergent structures and laws opens up novel ways of efficient and precise computation. The excellence cluster STRUCTURES explores how structure emerges from physical law, how structure hidden in large datasets can be uncovered, and how we can use this knowledge as a tool for science and, in the longer term, also in technology. The guiding principle of our approach is that mathematical structure governs physical structure, and that in this way, apparently unrelated phenomena get a unified explanation. The scientific "holy grail" driving our work is the vision of an overall, coherent understanding of how structure emerges from physical law. We combine mathematical theory, scientific computation on digital computers, and precision experiments and observation, to address a variety of hard, pertinent questions of astrophysics, biophysics, atomic and condensed-matter physics, related mathematical questions, and issues in data science and scientific computing. This breadth, both in method and application, has already allowed us to gain knowledge on a variety of physical phenomena and test general concepts about emergence. In the second phase of the cluster, our focus themes will be scale-dependent effective laws, learning and geometry in a high- and infinite-dimensional setting, mathematics and data science, quantum simulation and photonic computation, and a combination of numerical simulations and novel observational techniques in astrophysics. By tying together scientific activities ranging from experimental physics to pure mathematics, the cluster creates an interdisciplinary research focus and new perspectives for physics, mathematics, and computer science. In this environment, we are raising a new generation of scientists, trained by working on hard scientific questions and familiar with a broad spectrum of concepts and methods, and thus well-equipped to shape the future of fundamental and industrial research.

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Participating Institution: Heidelberger Institut für Theoretische Studien (HITS); Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (MPIA); Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik; Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit (ZI)
• Spokespersons: Professorin Dr. Anna Marciniak-Czochra; Professor Dr. Markus Kurt Oberthaler; Professor Dr. Manfred Salmhofer
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Peter Albers; Professor Dr. Matthias Bartelmann; Professor Dr. Tristan Bereau; Professor Dr. Jürgen Berges; Professorin Lauriane Chomaz, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Andreas Dreuw; Professorin Dr. Astrid Eichhorn; Professor Dr. Razvan-Gheorghe Gurau; Professor Dr. Fred A. Hamprecht; Professor Dr. Selim Jochim; Professor Dr. Felix Joos; Professor Dr. H. Hubertus Klahr; Professor Ralf Klessen, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Michela Mapelli; Professor Dr. Wolfram Hans Peter Pernice; Professor Dr. Thomas Pfeifer; Professor Dr. Robert Scheichl; Professor Dr. Richard Schmidt; Professor Dr. Ulrich Schwarz; Professor Dr. Johannes Walcher; Dr. Dominika Wylezalek; Professor Dr. Jakob Zech