Haruki Watanabe

Haruki Watanabe

Professor of Physics & IAS Professor
Department of Physics and HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Office: Room 4453, HKUST, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Phone: +852 2358-7476
Email: hwatanabe [at] ust.hk

Profiles: Physics Dept. · IAS Profile · Research Portal · arXiv · Google Scholar · ORCID

Download CV (PDF)

Academic Appointments

  • Mar 2026 – Present — Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, and IAS Professor, HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  • Jan 2019 – Feb 2026 — Associate Professor (PI), Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo
  • Feb 2016 – Dec 2018 — Lecturer (PI), Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo
  • Jul 2015 – Jan 2016 — Pappalardo Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Education

  • Aug 2011 – May 2015 — Ph.D. in Physics, University of California, Berkeley (Advisor: Prof. Ashvin Vishwanath)
  • Apr 2010 – Mar 2012 — M.Sc. in Physics, University of Tokyo (with honors)
  • Apr 2006 – Mar 2010 — B.A. in Physics, University of Tokyo (with honors)

Research Interests

I am a theoretical condensed matter physicist working on the universal properties of quantum many-body systems, primarily through the lens of symmetry. My current work spans:

  • Spontaneous symmetry breaking and Nambu–Goldstone bosons — counting rules in nonrelativistic systems and the (im)possibility of time crystals.
  • Topological phases and symmetry indicators — diagnosing band topology in all 230 (and 1651 magnetic) space groups, including topological superconductors.
  • Nonlinear electromagnetic responses in superconductors — gauge-invariant theory and rigorous sum rules.
  • Frustration-free quantum many-body systems — rigorous bounds on dynamical critical exponents and finite-size gaps.
  • Spin ice and water-ice phases — topology of pyrochlore spin ice and quantum-many-body perspectives on high-pressure ice.

See the Research page for details →

Selected Awards

Publications

Over 60 refereed publications, including 14 in Physical Review Letters, 5 in Physical Review X, 3 in Science Advances, 2 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and 1 in Nature Communications. Seven papers have been selected as Editors' Suggestions. Author of an invited review article in Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics 11, 169 (2020).

See the full publication list → · Google Scholar · arXiv

Selected Publications

(Asterisk denotes corresponding author. Watanabe is bolded.)

  1. R. Masaoka, T. Soejima, and H. Watanabe*, Rigorous lower bound of dynamic critical exponents in critical frustration-free systems, Phys. Rev. X 15, 041050 (2025).
  2. H. Watanabe*, H. Katsura, and J. Y. Lee, Critical Spontaneous breaking of U(1) symmetry at zero temperature in one dimension, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 176001 (2024). Editors' Suggestion.
  3. F. Tang, S. Ono, X.-G. Wan, and H. Watanabe*, High-throughput Investigations of Topological and Nodal Superconductors, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 027001 (2022). Editors' Suggestion.
  4. H. Watanabe and H. C. Po*, Fractional Corner Charge of Sodium Chloride, Phys. Rev. X 11, 041064 (2021).
  5. S. Ono, H. C. Po, and H. Watanabe*, Refined symmetry indicators for topological superconductors in all space groups, Sci. Adv. 6, eaaz8367 (2020).
  6. H. C. Po, H. Watanabe, and A. Vishwanath*, Fragile Topology and Wannier Obstructions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 126402 (2018). Editors' Suggestion.
  7. E. Khalaf, H. C. Po, A. Vishwanath, and H. Watanabe*, Symmetry indicators and anomalous surface states of topological crystalline insulators, Phys. Rev. X 8, 031070 (2018).
  8. H. Watanabe and M. Oshikawa*, Inequivalent Berry phases for the bulk polarization, Phys. Rev. X 8, 021065 (2018).
  9. H. C. Po, A. Vishwanath*, and H. Watanabe, Symmetry-based indicators of band topology in the 230 space groups, Nat. Commun. 8, 50 (2017).
  10. H. Watanabe and M. Oshikawa*, Absence of Quantum Time Crystals, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 251603 (2015).
  11. H. Watanabe and H. Murayama*, Effective Lagrangian for Nonrelativistic Systems, Phys. Rev. X 4, 031057 (2014).
  12. H. Watanabe and H. Murayama*, Unified Description of Nambu–Goldstone Bosons without Lorentz Invariance, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 251602 (2012). Editors' Suggestion.

Research Grants

  • JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) — US$123.9k (2024 – 2028)
  • JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) — US$115.3k (2021 – 2024) (Co-Investigator)
  • JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) — US$107.5k (2020 – 2024)
  • Japan Science and Technology Agency, PRESTO — US$200k (2018 – 2021)
  • JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) — US$27.7k (2017 – 2019)
  • Grant for the University of Tokyo Excellent Young Researchers — US$40k (2017 – 2018)

(Currency conversion assumes approx. 1 USD = 150 JPY.)

(Co-)Organized Workshops