Inaugural Lecture: Professor Zlatko Papic, School of Physics and Astronomy

Join us on 26 March for the upcoming Inaugural Lecture of Zlatko Papic, Professor of Theoretical Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy.

An inaugural lecture is a significant milestone in any academic’s career, recognising their promotion to Professor. It also offers an opportunity for our new professorial colleagues to showcase their work and innovative research with a broad audience, including members of the public, family, friends, and colleagues.  

This lecture is part of a Faculty-wide series that celebrates those who have joined the University to offer ever greater teaching, research, and expertise across our eight Schools. 

About this lecture 

In his inaugural lecture, “Dancing Quantum Magic”, Professor Papic tackles quantum mechanics, one of the greatest triumphs of 20th-century physics, which continues to baffle scientists many of its core concepts, such as quantum entanglement, often called “spooky action at a distance”. 

While an ice-cream melts away and never refreezes on its own, Professor Papic will discuss how a quantum ice-cream can spontaneously alternate between melting away and refreezing, and how this could empower new quantum technology. 

Entanglement is a common feature in systems with many interacting particles, but it becomes especially challenging to understand when these systems are pushed out of equilibrium. Traditionally, physicists believed such systems would inevitably settle into a simple, uniform state, losing all memory of their initial conditions—a process known as thermalization.  

However, research led by his group at Leeds has recently challenged this long-standing paradigm, and has shown that many familiar physical systems, including Rydberg atom arrays, lattice gauge theories, and certain magnetic materials can evade thermalisation.  

These systems exhibit a novel phenomenon now called “quantum many-body scars,” where the system repeatedly returns to its initial state, defying the usual trend toward thermal equilibrium. This discovery has not only deepened the understanding of many-body quantum mechanics, but it also holds promise for developing more resilient quantum technologies.  

Professor Papic will delve into the fascinating field of quantum many-body scars, highlighting what we have uncovered so far and the intriguing questions that remain for future research. 

About our speaker 

Professor Zlatko Papic obtained his PhD at Universite Paris-Sud in 2010, followed by postdoctoral positions at Princeton University in the US and Perimeter Institute in Canada.  

His research straddles condensed matter theory and quantum information science, focusing on emergent phenomena in many-particle systems. He is particularly known for his contributions to topological phases of matter and the fractional quantum Hall effect, as well as pioneering work in the field of ergodicity breaking in out-of-equilibrium systems, including many-body localisation and quantum many-body scars. 

Book your place 

The lecture will take place in the Sir William Henry Bragg Building at the University of Leeds, with arrival and registration from 3:45pm in the main foyer, and the lecture commencing at 4pm in the Lonsdale Lecture Theatre (2.37). This will be followed by a drinks reception in the Bragg Atrium at 5pm.  

Booking is required to attend this event – you can do so at our dedicated ticket portal. Please book by Monday 24 March. 

If you have any questions please contact the EPS CPD, Conference and Events team via cpd@engineering.leeds.ac.uk.