QMat Student Seminars
The QMat Student Seminars are courses organized by QMat students at the Faculty of Physics and Engineering, in partnership with the Tutoring Division of the ARIANE, the GeQS group and the Strasbourg Students Physical Letters.
They are intended to foster a better understanding of quantum sciences among physics students. When not stated otherwise, all seminars are held at the Institut de Physique in Strasbourg, and the proceedings are published in the 2SPL.
For more information regarding the QMat Student Seminars, please contact Loris DELAFOSSE.
2025-2026 Second Semester
The seminar schedule should be released by January.
We are preparing seminars on:
- Spin and quantum statistics (L3),
- The EPR paradox and Bell's inequalities (L3),
- Initiation to quantum computing (L3-M1),
- Classical field theory II - gauge theories (M1-M2),
- Groups and representation theory (to be confirmed),
- Path integrals: a formal calculus for quantisation (L3-M2).
2025-2026 First Semester
9th October (16h-18h): Tensor calculus for physicists
Target audience: L3-M1
Carnot Amphitheater
Tensors are quite general mathematical objects, used in almost all areas of physics, from continuum mechanics to general relativity and quantum physics. Beginning with a reminder of some useful concepts of linear algebra, this seminar introduces the notion of tensor, discusses its relation with metrics, covariance and contravariance in Euclidean and Minkowski spaces, and eventually presents tensor products in the context of quantum mechanics.
4th November (16h-18h): Classical field theory I - Symmetries and fields
Target audience: M1-M2
Room 163
Classical field theory is the branch of mathematical physics dealing with non-quantized fields as representations of physical objects. The first historical motivation for using fields was of course Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism, which revealed how convenient this formalism was to handle relativistic theories. This seminar introduces the mathematical notion of field, and how it can be connected to physics through Lagrangians, namely in the context of General Relativity. The consequences of field symmetries are investigated, with an emphasis on Noether’s theorem on conserved currents and charges.
20th November (16h-18h): Construction of the quantum state space
Target audience: L3-M2
Room 150
The first postulate of Quantum Mechanics states that a system’s state is completely characterized by some vector, which is an element of an abstract space called the state space. The features of this space may vary considerably from one system to another, and even for simple systems, the physical interpretation of the state vectors is not always straightforward. This seminar aims at elaborating a rigorous, step-by-step, construction of the state space associated to real space variables, first for systems with 1 degree of freedom (one particle evolving in one dimension), and then for 3D and many-body systems. Generalized kets (non-normalizable states) are tackled from the mathematical and physical point of views.
To be announced: Experimental platforms in condensed matter physics
Target audience: ...
Room ...
Various experimental platforms are used in condensed matter physics, and students are often not aware of their existence, let alone how they work and how they perform measurements. This seminar will be given by a series of PhD students who will present the experimental platforms they work with.