Curriculum Vitae
Yifan Liu
Research Interests
Boundary conformal field theory; universal data in microscopic quantum many-body systems; nonunitary and non-Hermitian critical phenomena; biorthogonal conformal dynamics and quantum quenches; finite-size scaling; quantum-information and entanglement diagnostics; boundary renormalization-group flows and conformal defects.
Education
The University of Tokyo
Ph.D. in Physics, Institute for Solid State Physics
Oct. 2024 - expected Sep. 2027
Official supervisor: Kohei Kawabata; former supervisor and academic mentor: Masaki Oshikawa
The University of Tokyo
M.Sc. in Physics
Oct. 2022 - Sep. 2024
Oshikawa Group, Institute for Solid State Physics
Nankai University
B.Sc. in Physics
2018 - 2022
Tianjin, China
Research Experience and Visits
Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo
Graduate research in theoretical condensed matter physics and conformal field theory
Oct. 2022 - present
Research using boundary CFT, conformal perturbation theory, finite-size scaling, quantum-information and entanglement diagnostics, and biorthogonal conformal methods for non-Hermitian critical systems and quantum quenches.
University of Oxford
GRASP-supported research visit; host: Natalia Chepiga
Planned late 2026
Planned collaboration on field-theoretic descriptions of boundary entanglement and edge-coupling control in incommensurate critical chains, with DMRG calculations provided by collaborators.
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
ISSP International Research Opportunities for Students Program
Apr. 29 - May 24, 2024
Research visit during the KITP program Correlated Gapless Quantum Matter, as an affiliate of Masaki Oshikawa.
Selected Schools and Workshops
- Prospects in Theoretical Physics 2024: Ultra-Quantum Matter, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, July 2024.
Presentations
Invited Talk
- Finite-size corrections in the presence of boundaries. Seminar on Theoretical Physics in Japan, co-organized with Chongqing University, online, February 2024.
Contributed Talk
- Finite-size corrections to the energy spectra of gapless one-dimensional systems in the presence of boundaries. 79th Annual Meeting of the Physical Society of Japan, Sapporo, September 2024.
Selected Poster Presentations
- Extracting Boundary Conformal Data from Non-Hermitian Critical Chains. de Sitter Holography Meets Non-Hermitian Quantum Matter, RIKEN, Japan, June 2026.
- Boundary critical phenomena in the quantum Ashkin-Teller model. Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Matter: From Symmetry to Dynamics, YITP, Japan, June 2026.
- Finite-size corrections to the energy spectra of gapless one-dimensional systems in the presence of boundaries. Prospects in Theoretical Physics 2024: Ultra-Quantum Matter, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, July 2024.
Awards and Fellowships
- Global Science Graduate Course (GSGC), Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Oct. 2022 - present. Selected for a five-year, scholarship-supported M.Sc.–Ph.D. program; secondary supervisor: Masahito Yamazaki.
- Best Poster Design Award, ISSP Student Presentation Competition, The University of Tokyo, March 2026.
Academic Activities and Service
Co-organizer, 2026 Japan Theoretical Physics Scholars Workshop
Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo
March 2026
Co-organized a theory workshop featuring researchers in theoretical condensed matter physics, quantum matter, and related areas.