The Young Researchers’ Meeting (YRM) of the European Theoretical Spectroscopy Facility (ETSF) is an annual event that brings together young researchers working on theoretical and computational approaches for studying the electronic and optical properties of materials. It is specifically aimed at MSc and Ph.D. students, as well as postdoctoral researchers. In other words, researchers who have not obtained yet a permanent position are eligible to attend, exchange, and present their research work. Over the years, the focus of the YRM has expanded beyond theoretical spectroscopy to include various other fields such as transport, magnetism, spintronics, correlated systems, and multiscale modelling, and more recently, in the current edition, we also included a session fully dedicated to quantum computing. The objective of the meeting is to provide a platform for young researchers to present their work, learn about state-of-the-art theoretical methods in their field and provide insights into related fields to help the ETSF community to grow further and expand their scope with ideas from different geographical areas and research orientations.
To this end, this year’s edition of the ETSF YRM 2023 [https://www.etsfyrm2023.com], the organizers planned it to take place in the CECAM node in Zaragoza, Spain (ZCAM) in the period of June 12-16th, 2023. The meeting was split into five oral sessions and a poster-dedicated session to scope over most of the topics in line with the ETSF community:
- Advanced electronic structure methods,
- Strongly correlated systems,
- Vibrational properties of materials,
- Optical properties of materials,
- Quantum computing in condensed matter.
Each session featured two invited speakers (experienced post-doctoral researchers) who gave long and session-oriented keynote talks followed by a series of contributed talks. Except for the quantum computing session that only counts with one invited speaker. Each talk was chaired by one of the organizers and was followed by enough time for questions and discussion.
The conference started with a description of random phase approximation (RPA), with an overview of the theory, its applications, limitations, and advantages over other techniques. The afternoon session on electronic advanced methods dealt, among other topics, with an extension of the selected configuration interaction (SCI) methods to a transcorrelated approach, which significantly improves their convergence.
On the second day, two different techniques for calculating optical properties were presented. The first one using the localization landscape theory and the Wigner-Weyl approximation to reproduce the absorption spectra observed experimentally in mixed halide perovskites. The second invited speaker presented the theory and experience of near-field spectroscopy using tunnelling microscopy.
During the morning session devoted to vibrational properties, methods to faithfully represent the paraelectric and ferroelectric phases were discussed, including the whole configuration of local minima between these two phases. In the afternoon, a different topic was presented: the anharmonicity of phonons in quantum paraelectrics. After the talks on vibrational properties, there was a poster session where participants who did not have a talk could present their work, many of them devoted to the use of machine learning techniques.
The fourth session started with a brief introduction to the metal-insulator transition of the Hubbard model and the different effects, including local and non-local ones. This was followed by a lecture on unconventional superconductivity in bulk and tri-layer alkali-doped fullerides.
The last session of the conference moved away from spectroscopy and, as it is usual for the YRM, it changed with respect to previous years to introduce new and emerging techniques, such as quantum computing. Here we discussed the different techniques that exist today and are being investigated to work with quantum computing. We projected what are their advantages and limitations with respect to classical computers and in which areas they can be most useful.
Additionally, the poster session allowed the participants to present their work in a graphical format and engage in longer and detailed discussions. Moreover, ETSF has the habit of inviting industry representatives to share their experience and insights on academia-industry collaborations and career opportunities outside of the academic realm.
All the participations are collected in the book of abstracts:
ETSF_YRM2023_Book_of_abstracts
Lectures
The invited speaker to this conference are mentioned above, including their talks title, in the order they appeared in the program:
Mauricio Rodriguez Mayorga: (University of Alicante, Spain)
Is there any recipe for using RPA?
Abdallah Ammar (Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Quantiques, France)
Transcorrelated Selected Configuration Interaction
Yun Liu: (Institute of High Performance Computing, Singapore)
Calculation of absorption tail in mixed halide perovskite
Sofia Canola: (Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic)
Molecular systems probed by near-fiel spectroscopy
Michele Kotiuga: (Laboratory of theory and simulation of materials, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
Insights from vibrational properties in determining structural prototypes of ferroelectrics
Carla Verdi: (School of Physics at the University of Sydney, Australia)
Phonon anharmonicity in quantum paraelectrics beyond density-functional theory
Maria Chatzieleftheriou: (École Polytechnique, France)
Metal-insulator transitions in the Hubbard model: local vs non-local correlation effects
Changming Yue: (Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Fribourg, Switzerland)
Strong correlation and unconventional superconductivity in bulk and trilayer alkalidoped fullerides
Xavier Bonet-Monroig: (Instituut-Lorentz, University of Leiden, Netherlands)
Quantum computing: why should I (and you) care?
Organizers
Alam Tonaltzin Osorio Delgadillo (Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, École Polytechnique, France
Elisa Serrano Richaud (Laboratoire d’Etude des Microstructures, ONERA-CNRS, Châtillon, France)
Fábris Kossoski (Laboratoire de Chimie et Physique Quantiques, Université de Toulouse, France)
Mahmoud Attia (French Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission, CEA-Saclay, France)
Raul Amaury Quintero Monsebaiz (Laboratoire de Chimie et Physique Quantiques, Université de Toulouse, France)
Valeriia Kosheleva (Max Planck Institute of Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Hamburg, Germany)
Feedback from participants
The organizers were committed to provide a friendly and comfortable atmosphere, prioritising early-stage researchers in the oral sessions, and ensuring equal opportunities for all applicants. Therefore, the feedback the organizers got from the attendees and the invited speakers was invaluable. Everyone enjoyed the event in a friendly and scientific manner.
List of participants ETSF-2023YRM_List_of_participants
General remarks
Besides the core topics of the event, in this meeting, we recognized the growing interest in machine learning methods within the community, which appeared in invited and contributed talks, as well as in posters, from different research groups.
Conclusions and prospects
This event is the 19th in a series of conferences focusing on young researchers and with a similar structure in terms of scientific content. The next edition is planned for late May or early June next year and the organising committee is already looking forward to it, hoping it will be as enjoyable and productive.