Newsroom
Stay informed with our latest news and announcements on this page. For more in-depth content, we also encourage visitors to explore our bimonthly STRUCTURES Newsletter magazine, which features a variety of articles, interviews with members, and background information on our latest research and activities.
An international team of researchers involving STRUCTURES member Thomas Pfeifer has achieved a long-sought milestone in X-ray science.
When intense laser light passes through a gas, it can undergo Raman scattering, a process where photons exchange energy with molecular vibrations and emerge at new frequencies. At high intensities this weak effect becomes self-amplifying, a regime known as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), first observed in the 1960s. By analyzing the scattered light, researchers can extract detailed information about the molecular structure of the gas. For decades, theorists predicted that a similar effect should occur with X-rays, where the interaction would probe the motion of electrons in atoms rather than molecular vibrations. The effect, known as stimulated X-ray Raman scattering, was demonstrated in earlier studies, but without the resolution needed to spectroscopically resolve electronic excitations.
In a new study published in Nature, researchers from the Argonne National Laboratory (USA) along with the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg and the European X-ray Free Electron Laser (European XFEL) in Hamburg, have overcome this barrier. In an experiment carried out at the European XFEL, they directed intense X-ray pulses through a compact, high-pressure neon gas cell designed at MPIK. As the pulses propagated, they drove the characteristic stimulated Raman amplification, producing distinct X-ray “fingerprints” of the neon atoms' excited states.
The breakthrough came from analyzing the scattered X-rays with a stochastic approach that turns the inherent noise of XFEL pulses into an advantage. Each pulse has a noisy, spiky spectrum; correlating the spectral spikes of incident and scattered X-rays for over 18,000 individual shots, the team could effectively bypass the limits of the spectrometer itself. This “super-resolution” approach – reminiscent of the optical super-resolution techniques recognized by the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry – proved crucial. It enabled the recovery of narrow Raman features that would normally be blurred by both the finite bandwidth of the source and the resolution of the spectrometer. Thomas Pfeifer, STRUCTURES member at MPIK and co-author of the study, emphasizes: “The experience of our Heidelberg team on high-pressure gas-phase targets for quantum-physics research as well as the data-analysis idea of the super-resolution approach were key contributions to the success of this experiment.”
The findings not only confirm SXRS as a powerful tool for probing matter but also demonstrate dramatic improvements in signal strength and efficiency compared to traditional Raman techniques. Supported by detailed simulations, they also reveal the competition between Raman scattering in neutral atoms and lasing in ionized ones during X-ray propagation. Together, these advances open the door to a new era of X-ray science, where researchers can track the ultrafast movements of electrons that govern the outcome of chemical reactions. This paves the way for deeper insights into materials, catalysis, and biological processes.
Further information:
We are happy to announce the public lecture “Mathematische Experimente” by Prof. Albrecht Beutelspacher (Mathematikum Gießen), taking place on Wednesday July 2, 2025 at 5pm in the Hörsaal of the Mathematikon (INF 205), Heidelberg. In his talk, which will be in German, Prof. Beutelspacher will explore how simple materials can be used to create objects and experiments. The event is organized by the Research Station Geometry + Dynamics, with support by the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence.
Abstract:
Ausgehend von der Formel des Pädagogen Pestalozzi, die das Lernen "mit Kopf, Herz und Hand" thematisiert, werden aus einfachsten Materialien Objekte und Experimente hergestellt ("Hand"). Wenn man diese Objekte sorgfältig gestaltet, treten automatisch Fragen des Zusammenpassens und der Übereinstimmung von Kanten, Flächen und Winkeln auf ("Kopf"). Und da jedes dieser Objekt ein Erfolgserlebnis verspricht, entstehen auch positive Gefühle ("Herz"). In dem Vortrag werden Experimente zu Körpern (etwa zum Tetraeder und Dodekaeder) und zu Zahlen vorgeführt und auf den mathematischen Hintergrund und das didaktische Potential eingegangen. Ein Vortrag, der für alle Altersgruppen geeignet ist und sowohl Erkenntnis als auch Unterhaltung bietet.
The talk is free of charge, a registration is not necessary.
Further information:
We are delighted to announce this year's iteration of the Schöntal Discussion Workshop on “Inverse Problems,” taking place from 26th to 29th of August 2025 – once again in the tranquil and idyllic location of Schöntal Abbey. The Schöntal workshop aims to bring together early-career researchers from different scientific areas of STRUCTURES to engage in discussion over topics that go beyond the standard physics and mathematics curriculum. It especially aims at fostering vivid interdisciplinary scientific exchanges.
This year's overarching topic is “Inverse Problems,” allowing in particular interdisciplinary discussions between physicists, mathematicians and computer scientists without requiring specialized knowledge in advance. The sub-topics of the Workshop are:
- Regularization and Stability
- Bayesian Methods & Uncertainty Quantification
- Sampling & Learning-Based Methods
- Inverse Problems in Soft Matter & Liquid State Theory
The application is open until July 01, 2025. Registration is free of charge for participants from STRUCTURES. Please register via this link:
https://structures.uni-heidelberg.de/events/schoental2025/register.php
This workshop is funded by STRUCTURES' Young Researchers Convent (YRC), a subgroup of the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence that brings together early-career researchers of our scientific community and supports them in realizing their own projects. Any early-career researcher who is working in a field that fits into the concept of STRUCTURES can apply for a YRC membership. If your supervisor is a STRUCTURES member, you are directly eligible.
Further information:
We are delighted to announce the next event in our Machine Learning Galore! series, focusing on Scientific Machine Learning, which will take place on Thursday, July 08, from 4:30 to 6:00 pm at INF 205 Mathematikon (5th floor). The event features lab presentations by principal investigators, followed by brief presentations from junior scientists showcasing their latest work. Extended discussions will offer ample opportunity for in-depth exchanges.
Event Details:
- Lab presentations:
- Klaus Maier-Hein
- Florian Nieser
- Wolfram Pernice
- Science Talks:
- Saikat Roy (Maier-Hein lab): Flash over Function: A cautionary tale of trend-chasing from Medical AI
- Daniel Schiller (Nieser-Plehn-Heneka labs, STRUCTURES): Repurposing Large Language Models for Cosmology
- Frank Brückerhoff-Plückelmann (Pernice lab): Probabilistic Photonic Computing
Registration is free but required via the ML-AI portal:
https://www.mlai.uni-heidelberg.de/en/machine-learning-talks-on-campus
About Scientific Machine Learning
Scientific Machine Learning is a collaborative initiative by the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR) and the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence. Its mission is to foster interaction and exchange within the local machine learning community, and to support its development by consolidating activities and resources that might otherwise remain scattered across individual institutions or disciplines. The initiative aligns closely with the objectives of STRUCTURES, which aims to advance fundamental research, and with IWR’s focus on applying machine learning to address long-standing challenges in the natural and life sciences, engineering, and the humanities.
Further information:
From Massive Stars to Gravitational Waves: Michela Mapelli Secures ERC Advanced Grant to Decode Black Hole Origins
Michela Mapelli, STRUCTURES Professor of Computational Physics, receives an ERC Advanced Grant
An ERC advanced grant has been awarded to Michela Mapelli, Professor of Computational Physics at the Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH). Her project “IMBLACK: Intermediate-Mass Black Holes in the Era of Gravitational-Wave Astronomy” aims to study the formation of intermediate-mass black holes with a mass ranging from 100 to 10'000 times the mass of our Sun.
“Black holes in this mass range are the most enigmatic.” – says Michela Mapelli – “We need them to explain the formation of supermassive black holes lying at the center of most galaxies, but their observational evidence is still scant, and their origin is puzzling. Gravitational-wave and electromagnetic measurements are starting to probe this mass regime, and the next-generation gravitational-wave detectors (Einstein Telescope, Cosmic Explorer, and LISA) will capture their mergers across almost the entire Universe. But even if we had such data tomorrow, we would not be able to interpret them, because theoretical models are still too uncertain.”
To gain insight into the formation of such enigmatic objects, IMBLACK will generate an ambitious set of models of very massive star evolution, runaway stellar collisions, and hierarchical mergers of binary black holes in dense star clusters across cosmic time. The new models will be compared against the data from ground-based gravitational-wave detectors (LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA) and electromagnetic candidates, including the one recently discovered by Heidelberg researchers in the Galactic globular cluster Omega Centauri.
Short Bio
Michela Mapelli studied Physics at the University of Milano-Bicocca and received her PhD in Astrophysics in 2006 from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste. After two postdoctoral fellowships in Zurich and Milan, she became permanent research staff at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in 2011. She was then a fixed-term full professor at the University of Innsbruck (2017-2018), and an associate professor at the University of Padova (2018-2023). In 2023, Michela Mapelli became STRUCTURES Professor of Computational Physics and joined the Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (ITA) at the Center for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH) as well as the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR). She has received several recognitions for her research on massive stars and black holes, including the MERAC Prize for the Best Early Career Researcher in Theoretical Astrophysics (2015) and an ERC Consolidator grant (2017).
Further Information:
The European Research Council (ERC) has granted STRUCTURES member Wolfram Pernice an ERC Advanced Grant.
Physicist Wolfram Pernice works in the field of photonic computing on artificial neural networks, which use light instead of electrons for data processing and data communication. His current research aims to link these new technologies with processes of probabilistic computing. It involves machine learning models which, unlike determinist approaches, work with probability statements and use noise as a resource.
The project aim is to develop hybrid integrated photonic circuits that use physical randomness for ultrafast computing. This is expected to enable optical computers performing at operation rates well beyond the limits of conventional digital computing. For his ERC project “Probabilistic Photonic Computing” (PICNIC) Prof. Pernice is to receive just under 3.5 million euros in funding. The scientist has been Professor of Experimental Physics at Heidelberg University since 2021 and heads the working group on neuromorphic quantum photonics at the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics (KIP). For his research on information processing and rapid computation using light he was awarded the German Research Foundation’s Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize for 2025. The Advanced Grant marks the second time he has received funding from the ERC, after having been awarded a Consolidator Grant in 2016.
Short Bio
Wolfram Pernice studied microsystems engineering at the University of Freiburg and computer science at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. He obtained his doctorate at the University of Oxford, UK, in 2007. A year later, he moved to Yale University, USA, sponsored by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and in 2011, he became head of an Emmy Noether junior research group at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. In 2015, he accepted a professorship at the University of Münster. Since 2021, Pernice has been a professor at KIP and the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence at the University of Heidelberg. In 2013, he was elected to the Junge Akademie at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He received an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2016, and in 2019, he was a successful participant in the Volkswagen Foundation’s programme Momentum. In 2025 he received the German Research Foundation’s prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize.
Weblinks:
The MuT programme (Mentoring and Training) for early-career female researchers offers workshops on appointment processes, profile building, leadership, and negotiation for postdoc researchers in Baden-Württemberg. Funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts, the programme aims to support female academics, especially on the path to a professorship, through mentoring and training. Interested individuals can join the programme at any time and participate in workshops independently.
The event programme and registration form can be found here:
https://lakog-bw.de/veranstaltungen/ (in German only).
LaKoG is an association of equal opportunities officers at research universities, universities of education, as well as universities of art and design and universities of music and performing arts in Baden-Württemberg. Its core activities aim to encourage women to take up an academic career and to make their contributions visible, as well as supporting them by reducing structural barriers and discriminatory structures, promoting equal opportunities and enhancing the compatibility of career and family.
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