Jácome Armas

Jácome Armas
Jay Armas
Born (1985-05-29) May 29, 1985
Azores, Portugal
Other namesJay Armas
Alma materUniversity of Aveiro (Licenciatura); University of Cambridge (Part III of the Mathematical Tripos); Niels Bohr Institute (PhD); KU Leuven (BA)
Scientific career
FieldsTheoretical physics, String theory, Black holes, Hydrodynamics, Active matter
InstitutionsUniversity of Amsterdam; Niels Bohr Institute
Doctoral advisorN. A. J. Obers
Websitejacomearmas.org

Jácome "Jay" Armas is an Azorean theoretical physicist, science event producer and science communicator based in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. He is an associate professor at the University of Amsterdam and an affiliate associate professor at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen.[1][2] His research spans quantum gravity, higher‑dimensional black holes and branes, holography, and the hydrodynamics of soft and active matter; he has also worked on complex systems.[1] Armas founded the international science series Science & Cocktails[3] and edited the interview volume Conversations on Quantum Gravity (Cambridge University Press, 2021).[4] For his outreach work he received the Genius‑prisen of the Danish Association of Science Journalists (2014)[5] and the 2023 Outreach Prize of the European Physical Society High‑Energy Physics Division.[6]

Early life and education

Armas is from the Azores. Local press in Faial has profiled him as a faialense recognised for achievements in physics and mathematics.[7] He earned a Licenciatura in Engineering Physics from the University of Aveiro (2007), completed Part III of the Mathematical Tripos at the University of Cambridge (2008), received a PhD in theoretical physics from the Niels Bohr Institute (2012), and later a BA in Philosophy from KU Leuven (2017).[1]

Career and research

After his PhD, Armas held postdoctoral positions at the University of Bern (2013–2014) and the Université libre de Bruxelles (2015–2017), before joining the University of Amsterdam in 2018, where he is now associate professor.[1] His research includes work on black‑hole effective theories[8] and horizon geometries,[9] and contributions to modern hydrodynamics, including magnetohydrodynamics,[10] Carrollian fluids[11] and fracton superfluids.[12] He has also co‑authored work on odd viscoelastic responses in active matter,[13] and in social cooperation.[14]

Armas serves as research lead and coordinator of the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP), an interdisciplinary hub hosted at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) that connects physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science, logic, ecology to social sciences and economics.[15][16]

Outreach and public engagement

In 2010 Armas founded Science & Cocktails, a series that blends public science lectures with music/art performances and bespoke cocktails in order to present science in a more informal, less academic way.[17][18] Originally, the events were formatted much like normal academic talks, and took place in a small cocktail bar run by Armas; since then, they have expanded to much larger events, with music, video, and a party-like atmosphere.[19] The programme now runs in several cities (including Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen and Johannesburg).[3] In recognition of his outreach, Armas received the Genius‑prisen (2014)[5] and the EPS‑HEPP Outreach Prize (2023).[6][20]

Armas has moderated and participated in public‑science events, including the 2024 CERN panel "The case of the (still) mysterious universe", a public discussion on dark matter, symmetry, string theory and black holes.[21] He has also given public talks, including a 2024 TEDx event in Amsterdam.[22]

Major projects and grants

In November 2024 Armas' consortium Emergence at all Scales was awarded an NWA–ORC grant of €7.1 million by the NWO.[23][24] The project, coordinated from UvA with partners across Dutch universities, investigates emergence across many orders of magnitude and includes outreach and education components.[23][25]

Publications

Books

  • Armas, Jácome (Jay), ed. (2021). Conversations on Quantum Gravity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bibcode:2021cqg..book.....A. doi:10.1017/9781316717639. ISBN 978-1-107-16887-9.[26]

Selected papers

Awards

  • Outreach Prize, European Physical Society High‑Energy Physics Division (2023).[6]
  • Genius‑prisen (Genius Prize) for science communication (2014).[5]
  • AJIFA Prémio de Mérito (Faial, 2018).[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Dr. J. (Jácome) Armas". University of Amsterdam. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  2. ^ "Jácome Saldanha N d O B Armas — Affiliate Professor". Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen. 10 September 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  3. ^ a b "What we do". Science & Cocktails (official site). Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  4. ^ Armas, Jácome (Jay), ed. (2021). Conversations on Quantum Gravity. Cambridge University Press. Bibcode:2021cqg..book.....A. doi:10.1017/9781316717639. ISBN 978-1-316-71763-9. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  5. ^ a b c "Genius-prisen". Danske Videnskabsjournalister (in Danish). Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  6. ^ a b c "Outreach Prize winners". European Physical Society (HEPP Division). Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  7. ^ a b "Cinco jovens recebem Prémio de Mérito no 4.º aniversário da AJIFA" (PDF). Tribuna das Ilhas (in Portuguese). 20 July 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  8. ^ Armas, Jay (2013). "How fluids bend: the elastic expansion for higher-dimensional black holes". Journal of High Energy Physics. 2013 (9) 073. arXiv:1304.7773. Bibcode:2013JHEP...09..073A. doi:10.1007/JHEP09(2013)073. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  9. ^ Armas, Jay; Blau, Matthias (10 July 2015). "New geometries for black hole horizons". Journal of High Energy Physics. 2015 (7) 048. arXiv:1504.01393. Bibcode:2015JHEP...07..048A. doi:10.1007/JHEP07(2015)048. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  10. ^ Armas, Jay; Jain, Akash (12 April 2019). "Magnetohydrodynamics as Superfluidity". Physical Review Letters. 122 (14) 141603. arXiv:1808.01939. Bibcode:2019PhRvL.122n1603A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.141603. PMID 31050455. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  11. ^ Armas, Jay; Have, Emil (2024). "Carrollian Fluids and Spontaneous Breaking of Boost Symmetry". Physical Review Letters. 132 (16) 161606. arXiv:2308.10594. Bibcode:2024PhRvL.132p1606A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.161606. PMID 38701471. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  12. ^ Armas, Jay; Have, Emil (2024). "Ideal fracton superfluids". SciPost Physics. 16 (1): 039. arXiv:2304.09596. Bibcode:2024ScPP...16...39A. doi:10.21468/SciPostPhys.16.1.039. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  13. ^ Duclut, Charlie; Bo, Shuangfei; Lier, Ruben; Armas, Jay; Surówka, Paweł; Jülicher, Frank (2024). "Probe particles in odd active viscoelastic fluids". Physical Review E. 109 (4) 044126. arXiv:2310.08640. Bibcode:2024PhRvE.109d4126D. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.109.044126. PMID 38755925. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  14. ^ Armas, Jay; Merbis, Wout; Meylahn, Janusz M.; Rafiee Rad, S.; Del Razo, Mauricio J. (17 February 2025). "Risk aversion can promote cooperation". Journal of Physics: Complexity. 6 (1) 015010. arXiv:2306.05971. Bibcode:2025JPCom...6a5010A. doi:10.1088/2632-072X/adb234. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  15. ^ "Emergence (DIEP cluster) — Research lead: Dr. J. (Jácome) Armas". Institute for Advanced Study, University of Amsterdam. 9 January 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  16. ^ "Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP)". Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  17. ^ Sørensen, Asbjørn Mølgaard (31 July 2016). "Science should be a part of our nightlife". ScienceNordic. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  18. ^ "Science & Cocktails: making science cool". News24. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  19. ^ "Snaartheoreticus probeert met wetenschappers en cocktails complottheorieën tegen te gaan". www.folia.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 October 2025.
  20. ^ "Jay Armas wins Outreach Prize of the European Physical Society for 'Science & Cocktails'". University of Amsterdam — Institute of Physics. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  21. ^ "The case of the (still) mysterious universe". CERN. 6 June 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  22. ^ "TEDxAUCollege — Event page". TED. 23 March 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  23. ^ a b "Emergence at all Scales — consortium led by Jay Armas receives €7.1M NWO ORC grant". University of Amsterdam — Institute of Physics. 14 November 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  24. ^ "Emergence at all scales". Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). 11 May 2025. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  25. ^ "Emergence at all scales consortium receives NWA ORC funding". Utrecht University. 22 November 2024. Retrieved 3 October 2025.
  26. ^ Blum, Alexander S. (2022). "Jácome (Jay) Armas (ed.): Review of "Conversations on Quantum Gravity": Cambridge University Press, 2021". Foundations of Physics. 52 (1): 21. Bibcode:2022FoPh...52...21B. doi:10.1007/s10701-021-00537-7. ISSN 0015-9018.
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