Invitation to Salam Distinguished Lectures 2017, on 25,26 and 27 January.

[ICTP Director]

_*ICTP 2017 Salam Distinguished Lecture Series: *_*"Superoscillations: 
unexpected fine detail and extreme values in mathematics and quantum and 
wave physics". *

*ICTP is pleased to announce that Professor Sir Michael Berry, a 
renowned physicist and Dirac Medal recipient in 1995, will deliver this 
year’s Salam Distinguished Lecture Series on 25, 26 and 27 January in 
the Budinich Lecture Hall, ICTP, at 16:30.*

*Abstract:* Functions can exhibit structures much smaller that their 
finest Fourier components, in ways that are not only mathematically 
interesting but have implications in several areas of science, ranging 
from optics and quantum physics to signal processing. The lectures will 
include some or all of the following topics: Basics, shifted fourier 
transforms, phase–space interpretations (Wigner and Husimi functions), 
optical singularities (‘vorticulture’), supershifts in weak 
measurements, superoscillation statistics (in optical fields, backflow, 
Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations), quantum supershifts, sensitivity to 
noise, Goos-Hänchen and related shifts, proagation of superoscillations, 
radar superdirectivity and optical superresolution.

*Biosketch: *After graduating from Exeter and St Andrews, Michael Berry 
entered Bristol University, where he has been for more than twice as 
long he has not. He is a physicist, focusing on the physics of the 
mathematics…of the physics. Applications include the geometry of 
singularities (caustics on large scales, vortices on fine scales) in 
optics and other waves, connections between classical and quantum 
physics, and the physical asymptotics of divergent series. He delights 
in finding the arcane in the mundane – abstract and subtle concepts in 
familiar or dramatic phenomena: Singularities of smooth gradient maps in 
rainbows and tsunamis; The Laplace operator in oriental magic mirrors; 
Elliptic integrals in the polarization pattern of the clear blue sky; 
Geometry of twists and turns in quantum indistinguishability; Matrix 
degeneracies in overhead-projector transparencies; Gauss sums in the 
light beyond a humble diffraction grating. The lectures take place at 
16.30 hrs each day. The Salam Distinguished Lecture Series is sponsored 
by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science.


*/The ICTP Salam Distinguished Lecture Series is sponsored by the Kuwait 
Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences./*

The lecture series will also be livestreamed from the ICTP website at: 
www.ictp.it

For more information, see also: http://indico.ictp.it/event/8040/

You are all warmly invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served 
after the lectures.

Kind regards,

Fernando Quevedo
Director