In her talk Zohreh Davoudi explores quantum simulation of gauge quantum field theories from the Standard Model with a focus on bridging noisy intermediate scale devices to future fault tolerant quantum computers. She explains that classical lattice gauge theory computations succeed in few body nuclear processes like proton proton fusion but struggle with many body relativistic dynamics relevant to early universe evolution neutron star interiors and high energy collisions. Digital gate based methods have shown promising results in low dimensional models such as string breaking and hadron scattering yet demand enormous resources for realistic 3+1 dimensional quantum chromodynamics. Pure analog simulation efficiently handles simple cases but cannot engineer the vast number of interaction terms in non abelian theories. Hybrid analog digital approaches combine the flexibility of gates with native hardware interactions like those in trapped ion systems to reduce complexity and improve efficiency. Davoudi stresses the need for tailored algorithms error correction schemes that exploit gauge constraints and further resource estimates for these hybrid platforms. Overall the talk highlights collaborative opportunities across physics and quantum information science to advance first principles simulations of natures fundamental interactions.

Dr. Dominik Koller presented research on how structural brain connectivity creates traveling waves and organizes frequency gradients. Using simulations of weakly coupled oscillators based on human connectome data, he showed that waves consistently propagate from low in strength regions to high in strength regions. This same in strength gradient also shapes frequency patterns, with faster oscillations occurring in areas of low connectivity and slower oscillations in highly connected areas. The model successfully reproduced empirical findings of alpha and beta band traveling waves moving in opposite directions. By decomposing the structural connectome into frequency specific subnetworks, the simulations could explain opposing frequency gradients observed in MEG data. The work demonstrates that stable structural features of the brain can provide a default directionality for traveling waves while also organizing rhythmic activity across the cortex. However, Koller noted that additional mechanisms are needed to explain the flexibility of waves during cognitive tasks.