Pacific Quantum Center to open at Far Eastern Federal University.
In Pacific Quantum Center at Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), young scientists and leading physicists from Russia, Europe, and Asia-Pacific region will apply particle physics knowledge in basic research of prospect quantum materials, the initial state of matter in the Universe, and to solving medical problems. Grant to establish the new entity was awarded to FEFU physicists by the Russian Ministry of Higher Education and Science. Funding provided until 2023 with the possibility of extension.
Pacific Quantum Center, with partnerships among leading international research institutes, opens at the basis of the FEFU Center for Chiral Biophotonics (Vladivostok, Russia), where for already five years, a wide range of studies have been conducted in three main areas, i.e., High-energy Physics, Quantum effects in New Materials (graphene, semimetals), and Physics of Living Matter.
The new Center will be equipped with unique gear. Researchers will probe to fundamental processes in the promising quantum materials known as Weil and Dirac semimetals. An understanding of the effects of these materials will bring about the opportunity to develop an elemental base for quantum computers. Other areas to spot in the Center are a study of quark-gluon plasma (the initial state of matter in the first instants of the Universe formation), medicine, and pharmacology.
The research work conducts via high-performance computing, machine learning, and digital twins. For this purpose, the FEFU supercomputer's performance of 26 teraflops (1 teraflop - 1 trillion operations per second), is planned to be three-fold increased.
"We expect to discover physical principles based on which we can develop materials with basically new properties, e.g., high-temperature superconductors, quantum materials for qubits, etc. The area of research will hugely affect the technology and applied science of the next decades. Potential applications of the center research are in the fields from terahertz electronics, high-speed transistors, and failsafe quantum computing to new technologies for energy sources and storage, as well as in the creation of fundamentally new materials and nanostructures with controlled properties", said prof. Alexander Molochkov, Head of the Center for Chiral Biophotonics, and the Pacific Quantum Center, head of the lab for Living Matter of the FEFU School of Biomedicine.
The scientist went on that the universal methods of theoretical physics also be applied in the fields of medicine and pharmacology, including paving the way to new antiviral drugs.
In particular, researchers are looking to find out what happens in different environments with the structure of long protein molecules that underlie all life.
The problem to resolve is which sections of the proteins, folding in a certain way depending on the circumstances, are responsible for biological functions. That can shed light on the nature of such diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, type 2 diabetes, many types of cancer. A scientific breakthrough in the study of protein folding will have a significant impact on biology, pharmacology, and medicine. The research results will help in the development of new drugs and therapeutic methods.
Using supercomputer calculations and machine learning methods, scientists in Pacific Quantum Center will continue to study a dense quark-gluon plasma that is supposed to be the initial state of the substance in the first instants of the formation of the Universe. This research is carried out in close collaboration with the NICA Collider project team in Dubna, Russian town of science.
Alexander Molochkov said about the plans to call in the Science Council Board of Pacific quantum center Matt Larson, director of the AlbaNova University Center (Stockholm University), and professor of Stony Brook University Dmitri Kharzeev. A representative science council board will bring the Center to the future work not only within the framework of the government grant program but also to unfolding the world-class scientific tasks.
The restructuring of the FEFU Center for Chiral Biophotonics to the Pacific Quantum Center to be accomplished in late April-May 2020. This will be announced at the FEFU Academic Council. The official kick-off meeting with honored participants is scheduled in October 2020.
Among partners of the Pacific Quantum Center already are A.I. Alikhanov Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics of National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", University of Tours (CNRS, France), NORDITA (Sweden), Stockholm University and AlbaNova University Center (Sweden), RIKEN, Osaka University (Japan). The one of leading experts in the field of quantum chromodynamics Atsushi Nakamura, professor at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka University (Japan) also takes part in the center's research.
Provided by Far Eastern Federal University