Graphene–metal interfaces provide a versatile platform for engineering novel electronic phases
through intercalation, proximity effects and electronic correlations. This talk explores the
modification of graphene's structural and electronic properties through metal intercalation at the
graphene–SiC interface, focusing particularly on Pb-, Sn- and Bi-based systems. The emergence
of distinct two-dimensional structures and electronic phases, including twisted plumbene,
reconstructed Pb layers and correlated Sn superlattices, will be discussed.
The talk will also highlight advanced scanning probe microscopy approaches, particularly
harmonic analysis and Darkfield-STM, for extracting structural information from complex STM
datasets and understanding the underlying electronic and structural properties. Combining low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy with complementary surface-sensitive techniques, these studies demonstrate how interfacial engineering and advanced
microscopy can enable the discovery and characterisation of designer electronic phases in
graphene-based heterostructures.

Atoms and ions have been a great `playground' for (atomic) theory in order to understand
the interactions in matter and especially with light from a wide range of frequencies. Apart
from the ubiquitous electric-dipole interaction of optical plane-wave radiation, which
determines our everyday's life and experiences, strong-field processes and vortex beams
have attracted much interest during the past 20 years. Up to the present, however, rather
little is known how (clouds of) atoms and molecules respond to intense fields and how
the properties of the incident light affect their excitation, ionization and subsequent
relaxation dynamics. In this contribution, I shall review and discuss from the viewpoint
of computational atomic physics some recent results on the ionization and recombination
of atoms and ions in intense fields.

Quantum degrees of freedom in two-dimensional (2D) materials offer exciting opportunities for quantum information processing, quantum communication, and quantum sensing. Optically active quantum defects in 2D materials provide distinct advantages over their three-dimensional counterparts, including reduced total internal reflection, enhanced light extraction, and the potential for seamless integration with photonic architectures. In this talk, I will discuss our journey toward the discovery, characterization, and control of quantum emitters in 2D materials, with an emphasis on understanding their optical properties and developing strategies to manipulate their emission. In particular, I will highlight how van der Waals heterostructures provide a versatile platform for engineering the electronic and optical environments of quantum emitters. By integrating 2D semiconductors with magnetic materials, we explore how magnetic proximity interactions and spin-dependent charge transfer can influence the polarization and emission characteristics of localized excitons. These emitters also serve as sensitive optical probes of interfacial magnetism, providing insights into magnetic ordering in layered materials such as CrPS₄. Together, these studies demonstrate the potential of 2D quantum emitters as both tunable quantum light sources and nanoscale probes, opening new opportunities for integrated quantum photonic technologies.

Quantum degrees of freedom in two-dimensional (2D) materials offer exciting opportunities for quantum information processing, quantum communication, and quantum sensing. Optically active quantum defects in 2D materials provide distinct advantages over their three-dimensional counterparts, including reduced total internal reflection, enhanced light extraction, and the potential for seamless integration with photonic architectures. In this talk, I will discuss our journey toward the discovery, characterization, and control of quantum emitters in 2D materials, with an emphasis on understanding their optical properties and developing strategies to manipulate their emission. In particular, I will highlight how van der Waals heterostructures provide a versatile platform for engineering the electronic and optical environments of quantum emitters. By integrating 2D semiconductors with magnetic materials, we explore how magnetic proximity interactions and spin-dependent charge transfer can influence the polarization and emission characteristics of localized excitons. These emitters also serve as sensitive optical probes of interfacial magnetism, providing insights into magnetic ordering in layered materials such as CrPS₄. Together, these studies demonstrate the potential of 2D quantum emitters as both tunable quantum light sources and nanoscale probes, opening new opportunities for integrated quantum photonic technologies.

In recent times, Large Language Models have taken the spotlight worldwide. The mechanism behind them is astonishingly simple, yet their pace in Mathematics has been extraordinary. A similar trend will likely be observed in Physics. In this talk, after a pedagogical overview of how these models work, I will discuss their impact on the Theoretical Physics community.

The solar atmosphere is highly dynamic, with a variety of structures and
energetic events occurring at different spatial and temporal scales. The
chromosphere, the layer between the Sun’s visible surface and its outer
atmosphere, exhibits fascinating phenomena, such as chromospheric surges,
which are jets of relatively cool plasma ejected into the upper atmosphere.
These surges can be observed in the wings of the strong Hα spectral line,
which is an important diagnostic tool for studying the solar chromosphere.
Since the first reports of solar surges in the early 1940s, they have been
studied extensively to understand their physical properties and the
mechanisms responsible for their formation. Recent advances in
high-resolution observations, numerical simulations, and data analysis have
provided new insights into these small-scale ejections. In this
presentation, I will discuss recent progress in understanding the formation
and evolution of chromospheric surges. I will highlight how observations and
modeling help us investigate the dynamic processes that shape the solar
atmosphere.

Particle production in the early universe can leave distinctive signatures in primordial correlation functions, offering a possible window into the spectrum and interactions of particles present during inflation. This is the central idea behind cosmological collider physics, where massive particle exchanges give rise to characteristic non-analytic features in cosmological correlators. Computing these correlators, however, is technically challenging, even at tree level, due to the presence of nested time integrals and complicated mode functions associated with massive fields.

In this talk, I will introduce a class of diagrams called massive family trees, which arise naturally in the computation of cosmological correlators involving massive exchanges. I will then discuss how the Method of Brackets, a generalization of Ramanujan's Master Theorem, provides a systematic way to evaluate these diagrams by reducing complicated integrals to algebraic rules for constructing series representations. This leads to a diagrammatic approach to computing cosmological correlators and studying their analytic continuation.

Finally, I will discuss how similar ideas can be applied to momentum-space conformal correlators, where the relevant multiple-K integrals admit new series representations that converge throughout the physical kinematic region.