DATE2026.04.07 #Awards & Prizes

Professor Masahito Yamazaki received The Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

Professor Masahito Yamazaki

Professor Masahito Yamazaki of the Department of Physics has been awarded The Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for 2026 in recognition of his research on “Integrable Systems via Quantum Field Theory.” We extend our heartfelt congratulations.

Prior to Professor Yamazaki’s work, many models in this field could not be solved exactly, and even within the study of the exceptional class of integrable systems, there was no established framework for understanding “integrability itself” from first principles. Professor Yamazaki constructed a general framework to reconstruct integrable systems from the ground up based on perturbation theory in quantum field theory. By identifying integrable lattices with quivers in supersymmetric quiver gauge theories, and by combining novel dualities with localization techniques, he derived the Yang–Baxter equation. Furthermore, through loop operators in four-dimensional Chern–Simons-type theory, he clarified the geometric origin of lattice models and spectral parameters. This work establishes a systematic route to deriving infinite-dimensional algebras and their representation theory—such as the Yang–Baxter equation, R-matrices, and Yangians—directly from quantum field theory, enabling a unified understanding without relying on ad hoc assumptions. In addition, he discovered infinite series of new integrable quantum field theories and quiver Yangians, significantly expanding the scope of integrable structures.

These achievements provide a unifying foundation across integrable systems, knot theory, and quantum groups, and are expected to accelerate the discovery of new theories and the advancement of related fields. In the long term, they are also anticipated to contribute indirectly to society, the economy, and public welfare through the strengthening of fundamental science and advanced computational infrastructures.

We wish Professor Yamazaki continued success in his future endeavors.

The Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

（Written by Professor Takeo Moroi, Department of Physics）