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ZIHAN YAN

I build machines for scientific discovery.
AI 4 SCIENCE RL BLACK HOLES QUANTUM GRAVITY
EXPLORE RESEARCH VIEW PAPERS
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[ RECENT NEWS ]

NEW 2026
🚀
Transitioned to AI Research
I recently transitioned from a theoretical physicist to an AI researcher working on automated scientific discovery.
PHYSICS 2026
🎓
PhD Completed
Degree conferred on 23 July 2026. Thesis: Thermodynamics of Non-Stationary Black Holes in Diffeomorphism Invariant Theories.
PAPER 2026
📄
New Publication in JHEP
"Dynamical entropy of charged black objects" — with M. R. Visser. JHEP vol. 02, p. 003, 2026. arXiv:2510.20747

[ ABOUT ]

zihan@cambridge:~$

$ whoami

Zihan Yan (闫子涵), AI Researcher & Theoretical Physicist

$ cat about.txt

I build machines for automated scientific discovery. The mind, the body, and the way it learns.

Before this I spent a PhD proving second laws for black hole entropy, which turns out to be decent training for teaching a machine to find quantities that matter.

$ cat background.txt

PhD in Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics at DAMTP & Trinity College, University of Cambridge, supervised by Prof. Aron C. Wall. BA and MMath at Trinity College before that.

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AI / physics / mathematics / piano / 🐱 cats

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Old personal site containing teaching and notes from undergrad.

https://zihanyan.wordpress.com/

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Zihan Yan
AFFILIATION 🐈‍⬛ Stealth
EMAIL
ORCID 0000-0003-2998-7040
PAPERS 8
CATS ∞

// RESEARCH INTERESTS

🤖 Artificial Intelligence
  • → Scientific discovery by AI
  • → Reinforcement learning
  • → AI imagination & curiosity
  • → Statistical physics of scaling laws & learning dynamics
⚛️ Theoretical Physics
  • → Black hole thermodynamics
  • → Holographic principle
  • → Quantum gravity
📐 Mathematics
  • → Differential geometry
  • → Algebraic topology
UNIFIED BY: ENTROPY & EMERGENCE

// EDUCATION

PhD — Applied Maths & Theoretical Physics
DAMTP & Trinity College, University of Cambridge
Supervisor: Aron C. Wall
MMath in Mathematics
Trinity College, Cambridge
Distinction (86%)
BA Natural Sciences (Physics)
Trinity College, Cambridge
First Class

[ RESEARCH ]

BLACK HOLE
entropy is increasing...
dS/dv ≥ 0
AI for Science
Machines that propose, test and refine scientific hypotheses on their own. The models, the harnesses they act through, and the loops that improve them.
In progress
Reinforcement Learning
Reward and verifier design for open-ended problems, and the algorithms that learn from them. Teaching machines to be curious and imaginative.
In progress
AI × Gravity
Machine learning applied to discover dynamical black hole entropy formulae in general theories of gravity.
In progress
Black Hole Thermodynamics
Dynamical entropy of non-stationary black holes in diffeomorphism-invariant theories. Proving the second law for higher-curvature gravity.
Papers: [1][5][8]
Gravitational Focusing
Generalised focusing theorems and dynamical horizon entropy for bosonic fields in diffeomorphism-invariant theories.
Papers: [2][3]
Fluid Dynamics
Thin-film flows over slippery fluid-saturated substrates. Basal sliding of ice sheets, a controllable sliding law.
Paper: [6]

[ PUBLICATIONS ]

[ CONTACT ]

zihan@cambridge — bash

$ cat contact_info.txt

📧

🐦 X / Twitter: @physicscat0x7d

🔗 ORCID: 0000-0003-2998-7040

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