- About
- Research
- People
- Events
- Join us
- Impact
- Intranet
Theory of Condensed Matter
Theoretical Condensed Matter physics is about building models of physical processes, often driven by experimental data, generalising the solutions of those models to make experimental predictions, and transferring the concepts gained into other areas of research. Theory plays an important role in understanding known phenomena and in predicting new ones.
With over seventy members, the TCM Group is one of the largest research Groups in the Cavendish Laboratory, and the largest university Condensed Matter Theory group in the country. Able to trace its history back for over sixty years, it has been home to many leading theoreticians.
Starting at the first principles microscopic level - with the Schrödinger equation - many properties of materials can now be calculated with a high degree of accuracy. We work on refining and developing new calculational tools and applying them to problems in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology.
Solids often show unusual collective behaviour resulting from cooperative quantum or classical phenomena. For this type of physics a more model-based approach is appropriate, and we are using such methods to attack problems in magnetism, superconductivity, nonlinear optics, mesoscopic systems, polymers, and colloids.
Collective behaviour comes even more to the fore in systems on a larger scale. As examples, we work on self-organising structures in "soft" condensed matter systems, non-linear dynamics of interacting systems, the observer in quantum mechanics, and models of biophysical processes, from the molecular scale up to neural systems.
Three TCM researchers, Liu Yang, Bart Andrews, and Gareth Conduit, had their paper "Direct evaluation of the force constant matrix in quantum Monte Carlo" selected as Editors' Pick in the Journal of Chemical Physics 150, 034104 (2019). Well done!
TCM congratulates Bart Andrews on passing his PhD viva. Bart is currently working as a postdoc in the University of Zurich.
News archive(Click the above tab to reload the Seminars list.)
More seminars- Direct evaluation of the force constant matrix in quantum Monte Carlo J. Chem. Phys. 150 034104 (2019)
- Slow growth of entanglement and out-of-time-order correlators in integrable disordered systems Phys. Rev. Lett. 122 020603 (2019)
- Metabolic regulation of pluripotency and germ cell fate through α-ketoglutarate. Embo J. 38 e99518 (2019)
- Competition for Mitogens Regulates Spermatogenic Stem Cell Homeostasis in an Open Niche. Cell Stem Cell 24 79 - 92.e6 (2019)
- Prediction of equilibrium isotopic fractionation of the gypsum/bassanite/water system using first-principles calculations Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac. 244 1 - 11 (2019)
- Role of spin in the calculation of Hubbard U and Hund's J parameters from first principles Phys. Rev. B 98 235157 (2018)
- Effect of magnetism and temperature on the stability of (Cr-x, V1-x)(2)AlC phases Phys. Rev. Mat. 2 123603 (2018)
- Carbon nanotube functionalization as a route to enhancing the electrical and mechanical properties of Cu-CNT composites. Nanoscale 11 145 - 157 (2018)
- Temperature Dependence of the Butterfly Effect in a Classical Many-Body System Phys. Rev. Lett. 121 250602 (2018)
- The chaperone effect in scientific publishing. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115 12603 - 12607 (2018)
- Disordered flat bands on the kagome lattice Phys. Rev. B 98 235109 (2018)
- Unconditional preparation of nonclassical states via linear-and-quadratic optomechanics Phys. Rev. A 98 063801 (2018)
- Excitations in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state of alpha-RuCl3 npj Quantum Materials 3 8 (2018)
- Prediction of GABARAP interaction with the GABA type A receptor. Proteins - Structure Function and Bioinformatics 86 1251 - 1264 (2018)
- Statistical theory of branching morphogenesis. Devel. Growth Differ. 60 512 - 521 (2018)
- Quantum oscillations and criticality in a fermionic and bosonic dimer model for the cuprates Phys. Rev. B 98 184512 (2018)
- Noisy coupled qubits: Operator spreading and the Fredrickson-Andersen model Phys. Rev. B 98 195125 (2018)
- Extreme value statistics of mutation accumulation in renewing cell populations Phys. Rev. E 98 050401 (2018)
- Analysis of a capped carbon nanotube by linear-scaling density-functional theory. Ultramicroscopy 198 26 - 32 (2018)
- Inverted hysteresis and negative remanence in a homogeneous antiferromagnet Phys. Rev. B 98 180403 (2018)
Theoretical Condensed Matter physics is about building models of physical processes, often driven by experimental data, generalising the solutions of those models to make experimental predictions, and transferring the concepts gained into other areas of research. Theory plays an important role in understanding known phenomena and in predicting new ones.
With over seventy members, the TCM Group is one of the largest research Groups in the Cavendish Laboratory, and the largest university Condensed Matter Theory group in the country. Able to trace its history back for over sixty years, it has been home to many leading theoreticians.
Starting at the first principles microscopic level - with the Schrödinger equation - many properties of materials can now be calculated with a high degree of accuracy. We work on refining and developing new calculational tools and applying them to problems in physics, chemistry, materials science and biology.
Solids often show unusual collective behaviour resulting from cooperative quantum or classical phenomena. For this type of physics a more model-based approach is appropriate, and we are using such methods to attack problems in magnetism, superconductivity, nonlinear optics, mesoscopic systems, polymers, and colloids.
Collective behaviour comes even more to the fore in systems on a larger scale. As examples, we work on self-organising structures in "soft" condensed matter systems, non-linear dynamics of interacting systems, the observer in quantum mechanics, and models of biophysical processes, from the molecular scale up to neural systems.
News
Three TCM researchers, Liu Yang, Bart Andrews, and Gareth Conduit, had their paper "Direct evaluation of the force constant matrix in quantum Monte Carlo" selected as Editors' Pick in the Journal of Chemical Physics 150, 034104 (2019). Well done!
TCM congratulates Bart Andrews on passing his PhD viva. Bart is currently working as a postdoc in the University of Zurich.
Recent Publications
- Direct evaluation of the force constant matrix in quantum Monte Carlo J. Chem. Phys. 150 034104 (2019)
- Slow growth of entanglement and out-of-time-order correlators in integrable disordered systems Phys. Rev. Lett. 122 020603 (2019)
- Metabolic regulation of pluripotency and germ cell fate through α-ketoglutarate. Embo J. 38 e99518 (2019)
- Competition for Mitogens Regulates Spermatogenic Stem Cell Homeostasis in an Open Niche. Cell Stem Cell 24 79 - 92.e6 (2019)
- Prediction of equilibrium isotopic fractionation of the gypsum/bassanite/water system using first-principles calculations Geochim. Cosmochim. Ac. 244 1 - 11 (2019)
- Role of spin in the calculation of Hubbard U and Hund's J parameters from first principles Phys. Rev. B 98 235157 (2018)
- Effect of magnetism and temperature on the stability of (Cr-x, V1-x)(2)AlC phases Phys. Rev. Mat. 2 123603 (2018)
- Carbon nanotube functionalization as a route to enhancing the electrical and mechanical properties of Cu-CNT composites. Nanoscale 11 145 - 157 (2018)
- Temperature Dependence of the Butterfly Effect in a Classical Many-Body System Phys. Rev. Lett. 121 250602 (2018)
- The chaperone effect in scientific publishing. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115 12603 - 12607 (2018)
- Disordered flat bands on the kagome lattice Phys. Rev. B 98 235109 (2018)
- Unconditional preparation of nonclassical states via linear-and-quadratic optomechanics Phys. Rev. A 98 063801 (2018)
- Excitations in the field-induced quantum spin liquid state of alpha-RuCl3 npj Quantum Materials 3 8 (2018)
- Prediction of GABARAP interaction with the GABA type A receptor. Proteins - Structure Function and Bioinformatics 86 1251 - 1264 (2018)
- Statistical theory of branching morphogenesis. Devel. Growth Differ. 60 512 - 521 (2018)
- Quantum oscillations and criticality in a fermionic and bosonic dimer model for the cuprates Phys. Rev. B 98 184512 (2018)
- Noisy coupled qubits: Operator spreading and the Fredrickson-Andersen model Phys. Rev. B 98 195125 (2018)
- Extreme value statistics of mutation accumulation in renewing cell populations Phys. Rev. E 98 050401 (2018)
- Analysis of a capped carbon nanotube by linear-scaling density-functional theory. Ultramicroscopy 198 26 - 32 (2018)
- Inverted hysteresis and negative remanence in a homogeneous antiferromagnet Phys. Rev. B 98 180403 (2018)