Talk
On the Entropic Stability of Spiral Galaxies

Bio
Dr. Michael C. Parker has over 30 years of experience researching the foundations of information theory and has applied his insights into thermodynamic principles to the theory of computation and communications. During his doctoral research at Cambridge University (1993–1996), he invented the use of liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) technologies to create dynamic holograms for use in photonic networking. He has also applied his knowledge to the optimisation of 5G and next-generation wireless networking and in the development of cryptographic wireless quantum communications systems. Latterly, he also innovated in the application of entropy theory to the design of future flexgrid elastic optical networking in telecoms. More recently, Dr. Parker has pioneered the application of geometric entropy (QGT: quantitative geometric thermodynamics) to explain the shapes and structures seen in the natural world, including the radii of isotopic nuclei, the stability of fullerene molecules, the double helix of DNA, and double-armed spiral galaxies including the role of the supermassive black hole at their centres.

Talk
Challenges and Successes of Current Dark Matter Models on Galaxy Scales

Bio
Dr. Andreea Font is a computational astrophysicist who models the formation of galaxies such as the Milky Way, including the properties of dark matter in these galaxies. She holds a PhD from the University of Victoria, Canada, and is currently a Reader (Associate Professor) at the Astrophysics Research institute at Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom.

Bio
Prof. Dr. Jose Gaite began his research career in fundamental physics at the University of Salamanca in 1983, with a thesis on the relativistic dynamics of subnuclear particles and a Ph.D. in String Theory. Then, he pursued post-doctoral studies in string theory in the late Prof. Steven Weinberg's excellent group at Texas U., while beginning work on applications of conformal symmetry, e.g., to the study of the quantum Hall effect. Prof. Dr. Gaite returned to Spain to work on quantum field and string theory in the project led by Prof. C. Gomez but soon moved to the University of Amsterdam and the NIKHEF, where he began work in statistical physics, in particular, on the renormalization group. Returning to Spain, he worked on a gravitation and cosmology project led by Prof. J. Pérez Mercader. He later helped found the Center for Astrobiology, where he carried out research for one year until his own project in astrophysics was granted. Finally, he acquired a permanent professorship at the Technical University of Madrid, where he worked in nonlinear physics and continued his work in cosmology. Now, he also works on applications of the renormalization group.

Bio
Prof. Chris Jeynes completed his PhD (Bristol) in 1981 and was immediately invited to join the University of Surrey Ion Beam Centre (IBC). Now retired, he was the IBC Liaison Fellow 1982–2017, being appointed Professor in 2015 and Visiting Professor in 2020-2023. He is an acknowledged expert in ion beam analysis and spectrometry, using his metrological background to help articulate the empirical basis of Quantitative Geometrical Thermodynamics (QGT). His collaboration with Mike Parker on QGT started when they met serendipitously in 2016. To date, they have published over nine major papers in the peer-reviewed literature since the first in 2019.