SKCM2 Pamphlet 2023

International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter

持続可能性に寄与するキラルノット超物質拠点

Address

〒739-0046

2-313 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, Japan

International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter

WPI at Hiroshima University

Phone

082-424-8047

Email address

https://wpi-skcm2.hiroshima-u.ac.jp

Website wpi-skcm2-admin@hiroshima-u.ac.jp

The Director, Ivan I. Smalyukh President of Hiroshima University

Message from Mitsuo Ochi

World-class research on knotted chiral meta matter from Hiroshima to the world

Hiroshima University will provide strong support for the development of a highly productive international research environment at SKCM2 by prioritizing human and financial resources. SKCM2 will become an internationally visible research center with headquarters in Hiroshima. Our WPI will introduce materials with highly desirable properties as well as will create foundations for technological innovation to solve global problems and enable a sustainable future.

Prof. Smalyukh is a world-leading physicist in developing artificial forms of matter not encounteredinnature. Hisfundamentalresearchaimsto addresschallengingproblemslikethe growingenergydemand. Hepublishedover 250peer-refereedarticles,includingmanyinNature and Science. He receivedmany awards,including the Bessel, NASA iTech and Glenn Brown Awards,theCareerAwardofInternationalLiquidCrystalandAmericanPhysicalSocieties,and thePresidentialEarlyCareerAwardfromtheOfficeofScienceandTechnologyoftheU.S. White House. HeisanelectedfellowoftheAmericanPhysicalSociety.

Overcoming nature’s limitations with artificial knotted chiral meta matter

The slogan “building a sustainable world, knot by knot” embodies our vision to conduct highly fundamental interdisciplinary research on knotted chiral matter that not only expands the bulk of scientific knowledge but also contributes to achieving a sustainable future. The SKCM2 is on a mission to develop artificial analogs of nature’s building blocks and materials to gain a deeper understanding of the world around us and overcome limitations of natural systems. While pursuing this research, we also create a testbed for research-based graduate education reforms in Japan and beyond, connecting young talent globally.

We probe fundamental laws of nature at scales from its smallest building blocks to the entire Universe by recreating natural phenomena in experimentally accessible systems, like liquid crystals used in displays. We create crystals from knots in fields with fundamental particle properties and other artificial analogs of natural matter, making materials by design. By knotting and knitting physical fields and molecules, much like in the Mizuhiki art forms, we enable new physical behavior and desirable properties that overcome nature’s limitations. For example, our metamaterials may enable thermal superinsulation that could save energy for heating and cooling buildings.

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Artificial knotted matter overcoming limitations of natural systems for sustainability

We create artificial analogs of fundamental particles, atoms, crystals and materials with unusual properties by controlling knots in physical fields and molecules. We aim to deepen understanding of natural phenomena through creating their predesigned analogs, as well as help solve the Global problems of growing energy demand and climate change by designing matter with highly desirable material properties. Our basic research is poised to foster technological innovation. Knotted structures of fields in magnets can be used for data storage and the ones in liquid crystals can enable new types of displays. On the other hand, porous crystals made from knotted molecules can enable new breeds of building materials with thermal superinsulation properties.

Goals

Since its formal establishment, our WPI-SKCM2 is quickly becoming the premier global center aiming to develop artificial analogs of atoms and even smaller building blocks of nature to gain deeper understanding of the World around us and to introduce designable materials with highly desirable properties not encountered in nature. Furthermore, while introducing the new research paradigm of “knotted chiral meta matter,” SKCM2 aspires to create artificial materials with highly needed properties by design to help address challenging global problems, like the growing energy demand and climate change.

Interlinking topology and chirality knowledge research across disciplines and scales

SKCM2 is the only institute globally that develops knots in fields as designable building blocks of artificial matter, thus introducing a new research paradigm of “knotted chiral meta matter.” In this process, researchers at SKCM2 cross-pollinate mathematical knot theory and chirality knowledge across disciplines and scales. Our researchers then design and create materials from the artificial knot-like particles to exhibit highly unusual and technologically useful properties, overcoming nature’s limitations, with the priority being the physical properties needed to mitigate climate change by saving energy and enabling sustainable future.

We develop artificial analogs of molecules, atoms and even smaller building blocks of nature to gain deeper understanding of the World around us. We introduce designable materials with highly desirable properties not encountered in nature, as well as create foundations for technological innovation to solve global problems and enable a sustainable future. While pursuing this research, we create a testbed for research-based graduate education reforms in Japan & beyond, connecting young talent globally and inter-linking natural and social sciences for sustainability and global peace. Our center is uniquely identified on the global stage by the following key identities:

The only center globally that integrates multi-dimensional knot topology & chirality research. Differing from centuries of pre-existing research on matter that nature gave us, our center strives to create its own (anti)matter and materials from pre-designed fundamental (anti)particles.

Leveraging our experience as a global research institute “without walls”, spanning from Hiroshima University to Tokyo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Colorado Boulder and University of Cambridge, we will lead the World in reforming education in Japan and overseas.

Leveraging its international and interdisciplinary scope, our center will conduct research collaborations at an unparalleled level while fostering the next generation of young talent. Our center will be the only WPI conducting highly fundamental research that also enables a sustainable future by boosting energy efficiency to slow down climate change, as well as contributing to the Global Peace and Japan’s human-health-related Society 5.0 goals.

Missions

Overview of SKCM2

& Unique Identities

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New Paradigm

Our researchers are introducing a new paradigm of “knotted chiral meta matter (KCM2)”, with its own analogs of fundamental particles and antiparticles, with profoundly deep insights ranging from the inner workings of the World to origins of life and to fundamental breakthroughs capable of enabling green technologies needed for sustaining it. Aiming to create entirely new embodiments of everything, from fundamental (anti)particles to quasi-atoms and quasi-molecules to both liquid and solid crystals of knots and to materials with highly unusual properties, our WPI’s KCM2 paradigm will deepen fundamental understanding of natural phenomena through creating their pre-designed analogs, as well as will solve the knotty Global problems of growing energy demand and climate change by designing matter with unusual, highly desirable material properties. While cross-pollinating and fusing research fields that rarely interact, from pure math to material science and both subatomic and cosmological-scale physics, the ambitious goals of our center may lead to Fields Medals and Nobel Prizes, as well as other WPI-scale recognitions. More importantly, our research will allow for the deeper understanding of the World around us and will create the means for making it more sustainable by introducing fundamental breakthroughs that enable new technologies and improve quality of life.

Fusion Research

Liquid crystals, Colloids & Gels

SKCM2SKCM2

HU: Hiroshima University

CU: University of Colorado (US)

UU: Utrecht University (Netherlands)

AS: Academia Sinica (Taiwan)

UCam: University of Cambridge (UK)

Fundamental Research for Sustainable Future

The need of securing a sustainable, prosperous future strongly motivates us to conduct highly fundamental research that also has the potential of helping to address challenging global problems, like the growing energy demand and climate change. In our interdisciplinary approach, we develop knotted structures of physical fields (like the magnetic field or molecular alignment field) that have properties of particles, resembling atoms, molecules and other building blocks of the natural world. To gain the ability of designing such artificial atoms and molecules at will, we fuse the knowledge in math, physics, chemistry, biology & material science, across space & time scales. Synergistic with Feynman’s words "What I cannot create, I do not understand", we deepen understanding of physical phenomena by re-creating their artificial analogs, thus gaining insights into the behavior of physical systems that are relatively inaccessible to experiments, like Early Universe cosmology. Our approach also allows for making new forms of artificial matter by design, with physical properties not encountered in naturally occurring systems, allowing us to achieve highly desirable material properties. Knotted structures of fields in magnets can be used for data storage and the ones in liquid crystals can enable new types of displays. On the other hand, porous crystals made from knotted molecules can enable new breeds of building materials with thermal superinsulation properties, helping to save a fraction of about 40 % of all energy generated globally that currently goes into heating and cooling of energy-inefficient buildings to maintain comfortable indoor environment. Our basic research is poised to foster technological innovation to address some of the biggest global challenges, like the need to reduce the growing energy demand and mitigate climate change caused by generating this energy.

GT: Georgia Inst. of Technology (US)

MIT: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (US)

UW: University of Wrocław (Poland)

TIT: Tokyo Inst. of Technology

MPI: Max

Institute (Germany)

Our WPI center’s activity is mainly centered within the field of mathematical and physical sciences, while integrating pure math with soft and quantum condensed matter physics, subatomic and biological physics, chemistry, as well as planetary sciences and cosmology. The new KCM2 paradigm introduced and developed by our center leads to a new level of fusion of these research fields. The fusion of topology and chirality research in this paradigm-changing context will allow for new concepts and material/structural design strategies that may otherwise seem impossible. While the bulk of our research will focus on experimentally highly accessible systems, like liquid crystals, colloids, magnets and biopolymers, our findings will have immediate impacts for the studies of objects and phenomena on less accessible scales, like the still elusive types of elementary particles and cosmic strings, for which even their very existence remains unknown. Conversely, theories of particle physics and cosmology will inspire us to develop a deeper understanding and practical utility of related phenomena based on these highly accessible systems. The potential technological applications that could be enabled by emergent knot chirality research will range from energy-efficient building technologies to thermally insulating materials, to biodetection and treatment of diseases, as well as spintronics, electro-optics and data storage.

Planck Sasaki (UW) Shigaki (HU) Tate (HU) Hsu (AS) Haino (HU) Inoue (HU) Leonov (HU) Smalyukh (HU & CU) Dijkstra (UU) Matsumoto (GT) Donnelly (MPI) Senyuk (HU) Yabuta (HU) Kálmán (TIT) Kuroda (HU) Sato (HU) Dunkel (MIT) Vignolini (UCam) Math & Theory (Bio)polymers Quantum Matter Kotorii (HU)

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Fusing Topology & Chirality Knowledge

Topology and chirality manifest themselves in phenomena on many length and time scales, across the natural hierarchy, from elementary particles to biological and cosmic systems, as well as in pure math, like in the knot theory, in planetary sciences and cosmology, and so on. Topology and chirality are both examples of a “poster child” for emergence, the notion of the sum of the parts being less than the whole, so that a reductionist goal of reassembling understanding from well-understood components is not possible. Promising significant new discovery, the emergent synergy of knot topology and chirality requires dealing with a hierarchy of length and time scales as well as with creation of entirely new concepts, laws and generalizations, which are only possible within an interdisciplinary international research network, like the one we propose to establish. For example, chirality of structure can enable spatial-time configurations with the chirality of motion and vice versa, but understanding these emergent phenomena is hindered by disciplinary boundaries. This motivates us to cross-pollinate and fuse the topology- and chiralityfocused research domains, bringing together researchers that rarely meet. We will create a new interdisciplinary knotted chiral meta matter emergence-focused research domain that is not a branch of physics, chemistry, biology, or material science, nor that is a subfield of engineering, but rather is an intrinsically interdisciplinary mixture of these, a pursuit in which substantial progress is made simultaneously in the context of all these fields. Our Center will holistically explore the enabling role of chirality and knot topology at subatomic-to-cosmic scales, with a focus on the tabletop research and translation of fundamental knowledge into applications, leading to the new field of knotted chiral meta matter. Mathematical concepts, like the ones of knot and homotopy theories, will aid us with understanding, classification and generalization of findings. Our research findings will have immediate impacts for the studies of phenomena in systems raging from liquid crystals to magnets, black holes and elementary particles. Theories of particle physics and cosmology will inspire us to develop deeper understanding and practical utility of related phenomena based on experimentally accessible biological and condensed matter systems.

Anticipated Outcomes

The outcomes of our interdisciplinary fundamental KCM2 research will lead to breakthroughs and key developments in pure math, physical, biological, planetary and other sciences, as well as will be of transformative importance for future technologies and humankind’s ability to address global challenges like climate change; we expect that our WPI research efforts will lead to both Fields Medals and Nobel Prizes. The centuries of prior research focused on understanding and using the ordinary matter around us, but we go well beyond this approach by creating our own, pre-designed meta matter based on the notion that knots can act as its building blocks. Our WPI Center will integrate chirality- and knot topology-focused research in math, different branches of physics, chemistry, biology and material science while using fundamental breakthroughs to develop foundations for future new technologies. We will explore and exploit the power of emergent knots and chirality to bring benefits for a sustainable future and human health.

The paradigm of KCM2 has its own analogs of fundamental particles and antiparticles, with profoundly deep insights ranging from the inner workings of the World to the origins of life and to fundamental breakthroughs capable of enabling green technologies needed for sustaining it. Aiming to create entirely new embodiments of everything, from fundamental (anti)particles to quasi-atoms and quasi-molecules to both liquid and solid crystals of knots and to materials with highly unusual properties, our WPI’s KCM2 paradigm will deepen fundamental understanding of natural phenomena through creating their pre-designed analogs. KCM2 will share and explain many properties of ordinary matter and antimatter, but also overcome their fundamental limitations. A large network of interdisciplinary collaboration with top participating researchers within Japan and in other countries around the World enriches this effort. The anticipated future technological applications enabled by the Center’s fundamental research will range from sustainable energy-efficient building technologies to materials for extraterrestrial habitats to biomedical detection and treatment of diseases and to spintronics and data storage devices. Cumulatively, these future values of our research will help assure a sustainable future.

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International Collaboration Global Perspectives for Young Talent

Fostering next-generation human resources

A key goal of our center is to develop the next generation of talented researchers and educators who have deep expertise in the interdisciplinary fields of knotted chiral meta matter. To promote highly interdisciplinary research, we introduced a system of co-mentoring young talented researchers, doctoral students and postdocs, who will have 3 co-advisors with different backgrounds. For example, a doctoral student in Physics at Hiroshima University might be coadvised by PIs at Hiroshima University in chemistry or math and by another PI from an international node. Specialized graduate coursework is being co-designed and taught by our WPI PIs. We take advantage of the top international research centers in this area, allowing students and postdocs from Hiroshima University, Tokyo Institute of Technology and RIKEN-University of Tokyo to spend extended periods of time at the other WPI nodes, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Cambridge and University of Colorado Boulder. Conversely, Japanese institutions will host young researchers and PIs from the international nodes, including through the SKCM2’s InternKNOTship program. Special arrangements will allow doctoral students to take specialized courses at the partner institutions. Our WPI seeds reforms of education and research at Hiroshima University and throughout Japan, promotes internationalization and gender balance in academia, reinforces global research efforts for a sustainable, peaceful future. Young researchers will connect top global centers like MIT and Cambridge with Hiroshima University and will erase disciplinary boundaries between the fields ranging from math to physics, chemistry, biology and planetary science.

We partner with institutions outside Japan, including 3 American Universities, the University of Colorado Boulder, MIT, and Georgia Tech, the Academia Sinica in Taiwan, as well as 3 European institutions, the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, the Max Planck Institute in Germany and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Beyond being the home of our international PIs, these institutions host postdoctoral fellows and PhD students from Japan for collaborative visits and long-term stays. Beyond research and the use of various facilities, arrangements will be made to allow young Japanese scholars to take specialized courses while visiting these institutions so that the breadth of interdisciplinary training of young researchers can be boosted. The PIs from these international institutions co-mentor PhD students and are the primary advisors for postdocs based in Japan. Additionally, other students and postdocs belonging to the labs of international PIs have the opportunity to conduct exchanges at Hiroshima University or other SKCM2 nodes.

Hiroshima University

Overseas PI and co-PI

Affiliate members

Collaborators

Establishing international research environment

We are establishing a robust, highly effective environment with optimal conditions for international collaborations and young researcher exchanges. For this, we hired bilingual support staff and established infrastructure to receive international scholars at Hiroshima University. PIs from international institutions have their research group footprints at Hiroshima University and direct collaborative research, mentoring and co-mentoring postdocs and students at Hiroshima University. Close communication among members is the top priority of this WPI’s management. Current efforts to further boost the international research environment include (1) international research exchanges, InternKNOTships, schools, conferences and forums, (2) organizing visits of international students and renowned scholars to Hiroshima University, (3) efforts to hire at least 20 % of staff from outside of Japan to benefit from the best administrative practices in other countries, (4) efforts to assure handling paperwork and all WPI activities in English, (5) setting an effective environment for international engagements of foreign researchers, including things like schooling of children, and (6) developing procedures for effective sample exchange and visitor support.

Alenka Mertelj, Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia.

Andrzej Wereszczynski, Jagiellonian University, Poland.

Daniel Peralta-Salas, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Spain.

Danqing Liu, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.

Dora Altbir Drullinsky, University of Santiago, Chile.

Guilhem Poy, CNRS, University of Montpellier, France.

Javier Campo, University of Zaragoza, Spain.

Katarzyna Matczyszyn, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland.

Konstantin Guslienko, University of the Basque Country, Spain.

Louis H. Kauffman, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.

Qiwen Zhan, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, China.

Renzo L. Ricca, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.

Rui Zhang, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong.

William E. Uspal, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, USA.

Yijie Shen, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

In addition, we collaborate with many affiliated members of SKCM2 including the following.

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Leadership Leadership

Ivan I. Smalyukh Director

Research Field

Topological solitons, knotted matter, predesigned building blocks of matter

https://www.colorado.edu/soft-matter-physics/

Smalyukh’s research spans from liquid crystals, to magnets, colloids, metamaterials, bacterial biofilms, knot topology, chirality, photonics, renewable energy, and new characterization techniques. He experimentally discovered liquid crystal hopfions and helikonotons and new condensed matter phases like monoclinic nematics and biaxial colloidal ferromagnets. Smalyukh developed materials for unusual thermoelectrics and waste heat recovery and transparent aerogels to boost efficiency of building envelopes.

Shin-ichi Tate 楯真一

Research Field

Molecular biophysics

https://www.mls.sci.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/biophys/index.html

Tate has the research background in the field of protein structure dynamics and their roles in biological functions. As a researcher, he has explored structural dynamics of intrinsically disordered proteins unstructured in cells using NMR, small-angle X-ray scattering, and molecular dynamics simulations. As the administrative director, he leads 14 support staff.

Hikaru Yabuta

薮田

Deputy Director for Science

Research Field

https://seeds.office.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/profile/en.889ea2fe20660c05520e17560c007669.html

Yabuta’s research focuses on the origin and evolution of organic molecules in space. Her study aims to understand the chemical history of the early Solar System through chemical and isotopic analysis of organic matter in meteorites and cosmic dusts. Yabuta has contributed to JAXA’s asteroid sample return mission “Hayabusa2” since its pre-project phase. She led the organic macromolecule sub-team in the initial analysis of the asteroid Ryugu samples collected and returned by the Hayabusa2 spacecraft.

Katsuya Inoue 井上克也

Deputy Director for Education

Research Field

Experimental material sciences, chemistry & physics

https://kotai.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/en/ https://kotai.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/chiral/en/

Inoue has opened up the field of chiral science by extending the geometric and magnetic structures of chiral magnetic materials and their dynamics to other fields. He has succeeded in creating chiral magnetic materials consisting of molecular to intermetallic compounds, and has synthesized about 80 % of the chiral magnetic materials known in the world today. His research on physical properties induced by asymmetry, including chiral magnetism, has attracted attention from various fields, and he has opened up new interdisciplinary research fields.

Yuka Kotorii 小鳥居祐香

Deputy Director for Outreach and Dissemination

Mathematics (topology, knot theory)

Based on combinatorial methods and algebraic methods, Kotorii studies knot theory in topology. In particular, she focused on link invariants and the classification of links by applying local deformation theory. Kotorii elucidated the properties of invariants including higher-order linking numbers and generalized them. Furthermore, she figured out the classification for link-homotopy. Kotorii has advanced interdisciplinary research involving topology with knot theory.

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Cosmochemistry, geochemistry ひかる

Administrative Director Research Field

https://seeds.office.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/profile/ en.d6ea28a9d963db21520e17560c007669.html

Principal Investigators

Silvia Vignolini

Research Field

Principal Investigators

Research Field

Condensed matter theory, topology

Primary Affiliation

University of Cambridge

Chiral bio-materials, self-assembly https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/person/sv319

Vignolini has conducted research on photonic structures in nature and on bio-mimetic materials. Based on the understanding of the physical and chemical properties of natural systems, she tries to reproduce them artificially using bio-based nanoparticles and biopolymers. Vignolini also creates new materials with embedded living organisms to adapt the materials to the needs of the environment. Her research aims to reveal how living organisms are capable to control structure and properties at the nanoscale.

Research Field

Soft matter, physics of liquid crystals, optical microscopy

Primary Affiliation

Hiroshima University

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tqNxO_sAAAAJ&hl=en

Senyuk studies experimentally soft matter systems including liquid crystals, colloids, bacteria and their photonics and electro-optical applications. His research interests also include optical, confocal and nonlinear optical multi-photon microscopy and other methods of materials characterization. He is known for his work on topological colloids and elastic multipoles in liquid crystals including chiral liquid crystals.

佐藤弘志

Research Field

Materials science, chemistry

Primary Affiliation

Hiroshima University

http://cems.riken.jp/en/laboratory/emaru?lang=en

In the field of materials science, Sato has created unique metal-organic crystals. One such metalorganic framework is made of molecules known as catenanes. He showed that such soft crystals have a function like a “sponge” absorbing and desorbing gas molecules, offering a potential application in capturing carbon dioxide.

Primary Affiliation

Utrecht University

https://colloid.nl/people/marjolein-dijkstra/

With statistical physics methods and computer simulations, Dijkstra studies colloidal model systems. She revealed the role of particle shape and particle interactions on colloidal selfassembly and determined crystal structures and phase behavior of shape-anisotropic particles. Furthermore, Dijkstra predicted the existence of entropy-driven chiral nematic phases, leading to the experimental discovery of a long-sought-for splay-bend nematic phase of colloidal bent rods.

Research Field

Condensed matter theory, skyrmionics

Primary Affiliation

Hiroshima University

https://seeds.office.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/profile/en.4891e40f75420e14520e17560c007669.html

Leonov’s research focuses on magnetically ordered crystals with the tools of modern computational nano-magnetism. He has worked on a phenomenological description of magnetic phenomena on the nanoscale in non-centrosymmetric magnets with chiral DzyaloshinskiiMoriya interaction, chiral liquid crystals, and frustrated magnets, predominantly related to skyrmionics. Even before the experimental discovery of magnetic skyrmions, Leonov reported precursor effects on skyrmion states in cubic helimagnets.

Research Field

Geometry and topology of soft matter

Primary Affiliation

Georgia Institute of Technology

https://matsumoto.gatech.edu/

Matsumoto’s research focuses on the geometry and topology of soft materials, in particular, the effects of nonlinear elasticity on emergent structural and mechanical properties in complex systems. She has tackled problems including programmable matter, pattern formation and elastic instabilities and the structure of membranes and interfaces.

Marjolein Dijkstra Elisabetta A. Matsumoto Andrey Leonov Bohdan Senyuk Hiroshi Sato

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Principal Investigators

Research Field

Structural biology, biophysical chemistry

Primary Affiliation

Academia Sinica

https://www.ibc.sinica.edu.tw/Faculty/ViewPI?Lang=En&DatetimeStr=20210916145602

Hsu studies the dynamics of proteins and biomolecules in structure-activity relationships that underlie important biological phenomena. Using multiplex spectroscopic and thermodynamic tools, he has revealed how proteins and nucleic acids fold into their native structures and how biomolecular recognition is achieved with high specificity and high affinity. His research tries to understand protein folding that is topologically knotted and the functional importance of protein knots.

Principal Investigators

Chihiro Sasaki

Research Field

High energy particle & nuclear physics (theory)

Primary Affiliation

University of Wrocław

https://usosweb.uni.wroc.pl/kontroler.php?_action=katalog2/ osoby/pokazOsobe&os_id=184237

Sasaki’s research topics are chiral dynamics of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) matter in free space and in a medium, and their critical behaviors. She explores the unknown domain of the QCD phase diagram under extreme conditions at which QCD phase transitions emerge. Based on chiral effective field theories and phenomenological models, Sasaki revealed the nature of fundamental (quarks and gluons) and composite (hadrons) degrees of freedom in a hot/dense medium.

Research Field

High energy nuclear & particle physics

Primary Affiliation

Hiroshima University

https://seeds.office.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/profile/ en.ec69b40be11eda4b520e17560c007669.html

Shigaki investigates the properties of the extraordinary matter utilizing the particle accelerators, LHC at CERN (Switzerland) and RHIC and future EIC at Brookhaven National Laboratory (US). He works on high energy nucleus-nucleus collision experiments to study the new state of matter with deconfined quarks and gluons, which must have filled the early universe within ~10 microseconds after the Big Bang. His main interest is to elucidate phenomena with restored chiral symmetry, the key mechanism to generate the mass of matter.

灰野岳晴

Research Field

Chiral supramolecular chemistry

Primary Affiliation

Hiroshima University

https://seeds.office.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/profile/en.2c24955038ffd449520e17560c007669.html

Haino leads research in the field of supramolecular polymer science and graphene materials. He developed a synthetic method of sequence-controlled supramolecular terpolymers made up of multiple kinds of monomers. White light-emitting nanographene was realized by him for the first time.

Research Field

3D topology in magnets, nanoscale imaging

Primary Affiliation

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids

https://www.cpfs.mpg.de/3371011/Dr_-Claire-Donnelly

In the field of three-dimensional nanomagnetism where new topological textures and geometrical magnetic effects may appear, Donnelly has advanced both fabrication and characterization techniques necessary to study this subject. In particular, she has developed magnetic tomography techniques to visualize three-dimensional magnetic textures and fabrication techniques to realize three-dimensional magnetic nanostructures.

Research Field

Applied mathematics (topology)

Primary Affiliation

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

https://math.mit.edu/~dunkel/

Dunkel has made pioneering contributions in the fields of topological soft and active matter, and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. His research on the topological mechanics of knots and fracture of thin elastic materials was widely featured in the international press.

Claire Donnelly Jörn Dunkel

佐々木千尋

Shang-Te Danny Hsu Kenta Shigaki 志垣賢太 Takeharu Haino

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Principal Investigators

Research Field

Solid state physics, momentum-space topology in quantum matter

Primary Affiliation

Hiroshima University

https://srphys.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/

Kuroda conducts research on spin-related functional materials using angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (ARPES) with ultra-short pulse lasers and synchrotron radiation. He has discovered various types of topological phases in quantum materials, including topological insulators and magnetic Weyl semimetals. In these materials, Dirac and Weyl particles appear as quasiparticle excitations with helical and chiral spin textures in momentum space. In addition, Kuroda is actively developing novel ARPES techniques imaging three-dimensional spin textures directly.

Co-Principal Investigators

Mykola Tasinkevych

The University of Lisbon, Portugal; Nottingham Trent University, UK

Research Field: Computational soft condensed matter, active colloids

Kyota Yasuda

Hiroshima University, Japan

Research Field: Cell biology, neurodegenerative diseases

Chiho Nonaka

Hiroshima University, Japan

Research Field: Hadron physics, high-energy nuclear physics

Akio Kimura

Hiroshima University, Japan

Research Field

Low-dimensional topology, combinatorics

Primary Affiliation

Tokyo Institute of Technology

http://www.math.titech.ac.jp/~kalman/

Kálmán demonstrated that the space of smooth knots has different topology than its subspace of Legendrian knots. He also established the first direct link between Floer theoretical knot invariants and the Homfly polynomial. This leads him to a great extension of the Tutte polynomial, from graphs and matroids to hypergraphs and polymatroids. He also designed an algorithm to compute the volume and h*-vector of the symmetric edge polytope of a graph.

Research Field: Condensed matter physics, Spin resolved electron spectroscopy

Yair Shokef

Tel Aviv University, Israel

Research Field: Soft condensed matter physics

Yuta Nozaki

Yokohama National University, Japan

Research Field: Low-dimensional topology

Muneto Nitta

Keio University, Japan

Research Field: High energy physics, field theory, string theory

Yuya Koda

Keio University, Japan

Research Field: Low-dimensional topology, mapping class groups

Masakazu Teragaito

Hiroshima University, Japan

Research Field: Mathematics (low-dimensional topology, knot theory)

Kenta Kuroda 黒田健太 Tamás Kálmán

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Administrative Support System

To expeditiously achieve the center’s goals and missions, Administrative Director Tate cooperates with the Director and coordinates the administrative support. Tate executes plans designed by the Director and supervises administrative staff in the course of all administrative duties. Research administrators dedicated to the Center are assigned to provide full support for the acquisition of large-scale research grants. In addition, support staff with excellent English language skills is assigned to ensure smooth and productive interactions and collaboration among the very diverse personnel at the Center. Tasks are delegated to the support personnel if they are not to be done by persons with a professor-level skillset.

In addition, a "Knot-Chiral Steering Committee" (Figure below) has been established to help with the Center's management, facilitated by the Administrative Director and Deputy Directors. In particular, the committee assists the Director in assuring the effective administrative and technical support of not just research and education but also other operations; they include aspects related to extended stays of the foreign PIs and co-PIs at Hiroshima University, exchange research visits of young researchers at overseas institutions and Hiroshima University, enrolment of foreign PI’s children into English-speaking schools in Hiroshima, as well as related housing and local transportation matters.

Aida leads promotion of gender balance and helps fostering young researchers.

Shiomitsu leads grant management and fundraising program with both local and global funding sources. She also builds SKCM2’s relations with the local government of Prefecture and Higashi

Hiroshima city, as well as industry partners.

Duration: 3 weeks to 3 months per stay, up to 6 months total; can be combined with SKCM2 schools and symposia

Location:

Who:

Hiroshima University

Graduate students, postdocs, and other early-career researchers from overseas institutions. Preference is given to members from groups of SKCM2 PIs, coPIs, and affiliated members

Support:

Coverage of travel and accommodation expenses during the stay in Hiroshima. Potential replacement of salary from overseas institutions, subject to request and approval

Host PI:

SKCM2 PIs at Hiroshima University, who should be contacted by the applicant prior to application submission

Certificate:

Provided to all InternKNOTshipers after meeting the minimum requirements defined at the time of the initial application approval

The SKCM2 InternKNOTship Program is an academic internship designed to allow young researchers from all over the World to work in collaboration with SKCM2 members in the field of knotted chiral meta matter. This program provides opportunities for overseas participants to stay in Japan and perform their experiments or develop their theories under supervision or in collaboration with SKCM2 PIs. Participants can request financial support for travel and accommodation at Hiroshima University for periods of 3 weeks to 3 months. They can join multiple InternKNOTships, but the combined duration must not exceed 6 months. If necessary, participants can also request a suitable stipend to compensate for the funding they would typically receive from their home institutions during the InternKNOTship.

Through the program, overseas participants will contribute to developing an international research environment at SKCM2 with the exchange of young talents between SKCM2 and overseas institutions. This will help enhance SKCM2’s international recognition. Certificates will be issued to all successful participants to acknowledge their inclusion in the SKCM2 ‘family’. We anticipate that the InternKNOTship will lead to sustained collaborations with SKCM2 members.

Before applying, candidates should contact SKCM2 PIs or co-PIs and develop a detailed plan of research activities for the entire duration of stay. We encourage applicants to combine their stays in Japan with SKCM2 winter/summer schools, conferences, and symposia.

https://wpi-skcm2.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/internknotship/.

SKCM2 InternKNOTship

Program

Inoue Shiomitsu Kotorii

Admin.

ChiefOfficeof Operations ChiefOfficeof Operations ChiefOfficeof Operations ChiefOfficeof Operations ChiefOfficeof Operations ChiefOfficeof Operations ChiefOperatingOfficer

Diversity/HR

Lead DeputyDirector forEducation

DeputyDirectorfor Outreach/Dissemination Tate

Director DeputyDirector forScience

Aida Aida Aida Aida Aida Aida Aida Aida Smalyukh Smalyukh Smalyukh Smalyukh Smalyukh Smalyukh Smalyukh Smalyukh Director Director Director Director Director Director

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Duration: 5 years starting in April or October

(2-year Master’s Degree obtained automatically as an intermediate step)

Location:

Hiroshima University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, and University of Colorado Boulder or other SKCM2 nodes

WPI-SKCM2 was established in 2022 and began showing its presence in the scientific community only recently. In a short time, many papers have been published in top-quality journals like Science, Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Physics, and Nature Energy.

Who:

Persons with an undergraduate degree in Physics, Mathematics, Material Science, Biology, Chemistry, Cosmology, Earth and Planetary Science, or other related disciplines

Salary:

2M yen/year for Doctoral students, 1M yen/year for Master’s students (subject to additional financial support)

Host:

A SKCM2 PI or co-PI affiliated with Hiroshima University Program:

Mentor: Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Mathematical and Life Sciences, Earth and Planetary Systems Science

Any SKCM2 PI or co-PI you would like to work with and, additionally, co-mentors as scientific advisors

SKCM2 PhD Program collaborates with programs offered in Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering and Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Mathematical and Life Sciences at Hiroshima University. On top of the regular programs, students in the SKCM2 PhD Program can spend extended periods of time at other SKCM2 nodes, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, and University of Colorado Boulder. These arrangements allow doctoral students to take specialized courses at partner institutions. SKCM2 dedicates significant resources and financial support to sponsor their stays. In addition, under SKCM2 PhD Program, students are employed as Research Assistants and paid a salary sufficient to live in Hiroshima with their partner and a child.

In cooperation with local governments, we provide English-language support for the daily lives of researchers and accompanying persons, including schooling and housing. All international residents living or working in Higashi Hiroshima city are also eligible to apply for Japanese classes.

Donation Opportunity

SKCM2 introduces a new research paradigm that develops artificial analogs of nature’s building blocks. This work will allow for a deeper understanding of the world and the ability to design materials with highly desirable properties not encountered in nature. Such materials create the foundations for technological innovation to solve global problems and enable a sustainable future. While pursuing this research, we will create a testbed for research-based graduate education reforms in Japan and beyond, connecting young talent globally. To achieve our goals, SKCM2 needs your support in acquiring funds for our early stages of development. We are in the process of designing a state-of-the-art research facility that will connect all of our researchers and students to encourage brain circulation and provide our team with the resources and facilities needed to conduct groundbreaking discoveries. We have naming opportunities for this new building and graduate student fellowships to express our gratitude for your contribution to supporting science for sustainability. Please find the instructions from the following URL.

https://www.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/en/iagcc/kifu/kifuflow.

https://wpi-skcm2.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/graduate-application/.

SKCM2 PhD Program

Early Accomplishments

Pursue your PhD in a family-like setting while also learning about the culture and traditions of Japan with friends from all over the world!

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We strive to convey to both scientific communities and the general public how our fundamental research helps address many knotty problems that the entire World faces, like the growing energy demand and its impact on climate change. For example, buildings consume 40 % of all generated energy for cooling and heating; 20 % out of it is lost through windows, the least efficient part of the building envelopes. Could one maintain the desired environment within a building interior without energy consumption? Sato and Smalyukh collaborate to develop such transparent superinsulating materials by cost-effective fabrication of novel aerogels via knotting/linking molecules. Learning from nature, we also develop low-cost energy-efficient chiral photonic materials from nanocellulose. From yet another perspective, further developments of electronics require miniaturization, which is limited by quantum effects at small scales. These limits can be overcome by our chiral magnetic spin systems and topological insulators. For example, the superior racetrack memories can utilize topologically protected multi-dimensional solitons like hopfions as information carriers to design entirely new principles of future electronic devices, where topological objects like knots in fields can serve as information carriers. From the standpoint of biomedical applications, our fundamental research may help to achieve missions of Japan’s Society 5 0.

countries (including Jay from the UK and Brian from the USA, pictured in the left with Deputy Director Yuka Kotorii) helped to do outreach during several school visits and public events. VR helmets and our specially developed software and plastic models help to show knot visualizations and illustrate chirality concepts to students and the public.

The WPI-SKCM2 took two significant approaches to widely disseminating the results of its basic research to the general public: (a) interacting closely with young talents in secondary schools and (b) engaging the general public in the world of science. Both approaches not only increased public awareness of state of the art in science related to chirality but also contributed to understanding of issues regarding sustainability and the value of basic research for the development of society.

We started our endeavor by conducting an intensive workshop for students at a high school affiliated with Hiroshima University. Forty students in a mathematics class were introduced to chirality/topology science and mathematics of knots. Later, the students were introduced to material science that achieved, for instance, the artificial making of materials with extreme thermal insulation that realize very little energy consumption. Such introduction of science and its application facilitated them to envision the future in which fundamental knowledge can help accomplish a more environmentally sustainable world. The students were favorably impressed with the introduction of advanced science and innovation. These images along with hundreds of others, capture the genuine interest and enjoyment of high school students.

We pursue a vast variety of outreach activities designed to elevate public awareness of our sustainability enabling KCM2 research paradigm, as well as to attract talented young people to science careers. These efforts are conducted under the leadership and the oversight of Prof. Kotorii, Deputy Director for Outreach and Dissemination. Mimicking the US NSF’s guidance for dissemination of research outcomes to public, we recommend that each PI develops his/her own unique and creative outreach component of the WPI-related activity to broadly share the excitement about the research.

In addition, our WPI also has developed several dedicated SKCM2-centered outreach efforts, where outreach teams of PIs, postdocs, students and staff members visit schools in Hiroshima prefecture, organize outreach demonstrations in conjunction with public events like various festivals, represent our WPI at outreach-related events in both Japan and overseas, etc. One type of outreach that we conduct stands out as being particularly effective. Our WPI researchers (PI Matsumoto and her students) developed Virtual Reality (VR) toolkits to help convey the excitement related to the geometry and topology of knots, where they coded VR demonstrations to display complex science in very cool and exciting ways, revealing geometry and topology of various research constructs that our center members study. Students and postdocs from other

The WPI-SKCM2 has also been attracting attention from many people in the general public. For example, we held a public outreach event in collaboration with a Mizuhiki-making class on Miyajima Island. Such a historically inherited Japanese tradition is connected to the science of knots regarding topology; Almost 200 people attended the event and were often surprised and inspired to learn by how fundamental knowledge in society and history can facilitate a better future with sustainability. Many international PIs, postdocs and students took part in conducting the outreach activities. The photos below illustrate the diversity of visitors our outreach event attracted, engaging people of all ages and backgrounds.

SKCM2 aims to also attract significant interest in outreach from the broader academic community. SKCM2’s winter and summer schools not only offer public lectures but also serve as platforms to exchange best practices for conducting outreach activities in various countries worldwide. The goal of such collaboration is to enable researchers to conduct outreach more effectively.

Outreach & Dissemination Outreach & Dissemination

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The World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) was launched in 2007 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology with the aim of building globally visible research centers with high research standards and excellent research environments to accommodate globally prominent researchers. There are 17 centers throughout Japan, and SKCM2 was adopted starting in October 2022.