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Aims & Scope

The international SIGN25 workshop on the sign problem in QCD and beyond is dedicated to the computational complexity and obstacles related to the fermion and other sign problems as they occur in simulations of various physical systems. This includes condensed matter systems and quantum field theories at finite fermion density, such as Quantumchromodynamics (QCD) at finite baryon density, systems with frustration or topological terms, supersymmetric systems, and real-time quantum systems. It is therefore relevant for problems in nuclear physics, high energy physics, astrophysics, and condensed matter physics.
The main audience of the workshop consists of physicists working on lattice field theory and condensed matter systems, but due to the computational complexity of the sign problem the workshop is also of interest to researchers in computer science, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and quantum computing. We plan to bring together scientists from these different research areas with a schedule that allows for ample exchange and discussions.

SIGN25 is organised by the Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics (AEC) and the Institute for Theoretical Physics (ITP) at the University of Bern.

One day of the workshop will be organised as a mini-Symposium in honor of Prof. Uwe-Jens Wiese who is retiring from our institute in 2024. Uwe-Jens has been one of the leading figures over the last 30 years in the investigation of the fermionic sign problem. Apart from contributing fundamental insights, he has also provided several algorithmic breakthroughs leading to solutions of the sign problem in condensed matter systems and QCD-related theories. He has recently been awarded the prestigious Humboldt prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Dates & Venue

The workshop will take place 20-24 January 2025 at the Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics at the University of Bern.
A social dinner will be organised on the evening of Wednesday, 22 January 2025 for which you can sign in during registration. While there is no registration fee, we need to ask a fee of CHF 100 for participation in the dinner.

Deadline for registration is Saturday, 30 November 2024.

Previous Workshops

SIGN25 is the 10th meeting of the series. Previous workshops took place in:

  • SIGN 2022: International Workshop on the Sign Problem in QCD and Beyond, CECAM Flagship workshop, 4-9 September 2022, Tel Aviv University, Israel
  • SIGN 2019: 2-6 September 2019, CP3, Odense, Denmark
  • SIGN 2018: 10-14 September 2018, Bielefeld, Germany
  • SIGN 2017: International Workshop on the Sign Problem in QCD and Beyond, 20-24 March 2017, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
  • SIGN 2015: 29 September-2 October 2015, Debrecen, Hungary
  • SIGN 2014: International EMMI Workshop on the Sign Problem in QCD and beyond, 18-21 February 2014, GSI, Darmstadt, Germany
  • SIGN 2012: University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
  • SIGN 2009: Workhop on Sign Problems and Complex Actions, 2-6 March 2009, ECT* Trento, Italy
  • SIGN 2003: The Sign Problem in Quantum Simulations, 23-25 July 2003, CECAM-FR-RA Lyon, France