People

Gen YUE

PhD Candidate

My name is Yue Gen, and I’m currently a year 2 (turning to year 3 this autumn) PhD student under the supervision of Professor Lan.

I was first introduced to the field of category theory and topological order by a talk given by Professor Kong Liang titled “TQFT is not more complicated than 1+1=2” when I was a undergraduate student in SUSTech. I was very impressed by the power of modern mathematics and the new perspectives about using “relations” to understand objects, and have been passionate about this field since then.

My current research interests are the physical structures and mathematical foundations of topological phases as well as gapless quantum liquid phases, using the tool of higher category theory. I’m working on the categorical description of symmetry fractionalization and gauging of SET orders, and also the gapless boundary theory of 2+1D SPT orders.

I believe that quantum liquid phases provide a relatively manageable platform to develop new physical theories, new mathematics, and innovative philosophies of nature. By leveraging these insights, we may be able to find general solutions to quantum many-body physics or gain a deeper understanding of quantum gravity.

Besides research, I like singing, hiking, traveling and playing video games (especially Resident Evil 4 RE).

Longye WANG

PhD Candidate

I am a PhD student in The Chinese University of Hong Kong. My study is mainly focus on topological phases and category theory. More concretely, my recent research is on condensation theory and 2-category, such as condensation completion of a modular tensor category (a paper arXiv:2402.19253 in collaboration with Tian Lan, Gen Yue) and an ongoing project about using a lattice realization of separable algebras in a fusion 2-category. Another work (arXiv:2312.15958v2) is also in collaboration with Tian Lan, Gen Yue about a category of SET orders.

Donghan WANG

PhD Student

Shengyu (Holiverse) YANG

PhD Student

Shengyu (Holiverse) Yang is a PhD student at CUHK in Prof Lan’s group. His research interests are mathematical physics, including category theory in quantum field theory and quantum many-body systems. He also has interest in algebraic quantum gravity.

Yizhou MA

PhD Student

Ying CHAN

Undergraduate

I am starting my Masters at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in the coming August! My research interests lies within the elegance of mathematical physics and some exciting applications of category theory. I have recently written the manuscript around Torus algebra with Tian and Linqian, feel free to check it out! One more fact about me is that I am also an active member of experimental group called the Quantum Matter Group here! My dream is to one showcase the abstract beauty in mathematics into the rigid world! So don’t gauge me away just yet!

Kar Kee (Kelly) CHAN

Undergraduate

My name is Kelly and I am an undergraduate student in Professor Lan’s group. The idea of focusing on morphisms - the relations between objects, rather than the internal structure has greatly impressed me. While some may find it too abstract, I think it is quite interesting.

I am currently working on topological quantum computation in gapped boundaries, where the topological bulk meets the boundary of the hole. I am studying the categorical structure of gapped boundaries.

In daily time, I love cooking so much. If you cannot find me in the campus, maybe I am in the kitchen!

Linqian WU

Undergraduate

Hi I am an undergraduate in Prof. Lan’s group, mainly working on the intersection of topological phases of matter and category theory. I am also interested in categorical symmetry. Besides physics and math, I am also interested in philosophy and sociology.

Tin Hay (Giovanni) LEUNG

Undergraduate