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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.
A neural network developed jointly by Intellegens and Optibrium is one of the winners of the Open Source Malaria prize for predicting new anti-malarial compounds. Their model was based on Alchemite, an algorithm developed by Dr Gareth Conduit, and TCM alumni Drs Whitehead and Irwin worked to apply it to this particular task.
We congratulate Andrea Pizzi on winning the Abdus Salam theory prize at the 2019 Cavendish Graduate Student Conference.
News archive(Click the above tab to reload the Seminars list.)
More seminars- Predicting physical properties of alkanes with neural networks Fluid Phase Equilibria 501 112259 (2019)
- Electrostatic force driven helium insertion into ammonia and water crystals under pressure Commun. Chem. 2 102 (2019)
- A cryptic hydrophobic pocket in the polo-box domain of the polo-like kinase PLK1 regulates substrate recognition and mitotic chromosome segregation. Scientific Reports 9 15930 (2019)
- Floquet dynamics in quantum measurement of mechanical motion Phys. Rev. A 100 053852 (2019)
- Long-range Coulomb interactions and non-hydrodynamic behaviour in thermal quenches in spin ice Phys. Rev. B 100 184411 (2019)
- Electronic heat transport versus atomic heating in irradiated short metallic nanowires Phys. Rev. B 100 155434 (2019)
- Mutations in thyroid hormone receptor α1 cause premature neurogenesis and progenitor cell depletion in human cortical development. P. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 201908762 (2019)
- Ionic and Electronic Conduction in TiNb2O7. J. Am. Chem. Soc. jacs.9b06669 (2019)
- Optimization of Protein-Ligand Electrostatic Interactions Using An Alchemical Free-Energy Method. J. Chem. Theory Comput. acs.jctc.9b00976 (2019)
- Two-tone optomechanical instability in backaction-evading measurements Phys. Rev. X 9 041022 (2019)
- Period-$n$ discrete time crystals and quasicrystals with ultracold bosons Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 150601 (2019)
- Topological semimetallic phase in PbO2 promoted by temperature Phys. Rev. B 100 161101 (2019)
- Dynamical generation of synthetic electric fields for photons in the quantum regime Quantum Sci. and Tech. 4 044001 (2019)
- International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. CVII. Structure and Pharmacology of the Apelin Receptor with a Recommendation that Elabela/Toddler Is a Second Endogenous Peptide Ligand. Pharmacol. Rev. 71 467 - 502 (2019)
- Transcriptional regulatory framework for vascular cambium development in Arabidopsis roots. Nat. Plants 5 1033 - 1042 (2019)
- Brain Networks Reveal the Effects of Antipsychotic Drugs on Schizophrenia Patients and Controls Frontiers in Psychiatry 10 611 (2019)
- Au - Ge Alloys for Wide-Range Low-Temperature On-Chip Thermometry Phys. Rev. Appl. 12 034024 (2019)
- Cation Disorder and Lithium Insertion Mechanism of Wadsley-Roth Crystallographic Shear Phases from First Principles. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141 15121 - 15134 (2019)
- Development and Validation of the Quantum Mechanical Bespoke Protein Force Field. ACS Omega 4 14537 - 14550 (2019)
- Topological magnon amplification. Nature Comm. 10 3937 (2019)
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
A neural network developed jointly by Intellegens and Optibrium is one of the winners of the Open Source Malaria prize for predicting new anti-malarial compounds. Their model was based on Alchemite, an algorithm developed by Dr Gareth Conduit, and TCM alumni Drs Whitehead and Irwin worked to apply it to this particular task.
We congratulate Andrea Pizzi on winning the Abdus Salam theory prize at the 2019 Cavendish Graduate Student Conference.
Recent Publications
- Predicting physical properties of alkanes with neural networks Fluid Phase Equilibria 501 112259 (2019)
- Electrostatic force driven helium insertion into ammonia and water crystals under pressure Commun. Chem. 2 102 (2019)
- A cryptic hydrophobic pocket in the polo-box domain of the polo-like kinase PLK1 regulates substrate recognition and mitotic chromosome segregation. Scientific Reports 9 15930 (2019)
- Floquet dynamics in quantum measurement of mechanical motion Phys. Rev. A 100 053852 (2019)
- Long-range Coulomb interactions and non-hydrodynamic behaviour in thermal quenches in spin ice Phys. Rev. B 100 184411 (2019)
- Electronic heat transport versus atomic heating in irradiated short metallic nanowires Phys. Rev. B 100 155434 (2019)
- Mutations in thyroid hormone receptor α1 cause premature neurogenesis and progenitor cell depletion in human cortical development. P. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 201908762 (2019)
- Ionic and Electronic Conduction in TiNb2O7. J. Am. Chem. Soc. jacs.9b06669 (2019)
- Optimization of Protein-Ligand Electrostatic Interactions Using An Alchemical Free-Energy Method. J. Chem. Theory Comput. acs.jctc.9b00976 (2019)
- Two-tone optomechanical instability in backaction-evading measurements Phys. Rev. X 9 041022 (2019)
- Period-$n$ discrete time crystals and quasicrystals with ultracold bosons Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 150601 (2019)
- Topological semimetallic phase in PbO2 promoted by temperature Phys. Rev. B 100 161101 (2019)
- Dynamical generation of synthetic electric fields for photons in the quantum regime Quantum Sci. and Tech. 4 044001 (2019)
- International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology. CVII. Structure and Pharmacology of the Apelin Receptor with a Recommendation that Elabela/Toddler Is a Second Endogenous Peptide Ligand. Pharmacol. Rev. 71 467 - 502 (2019)
- Transcriptional regulatory framework for vascular cambium development in Arabidopsis roots. Nat. Plants 5 1033 - 1042 (2019)
- Brain Networks Reveal the Effects of Antipsychotic Drugs on Schizophrenia Patients and Controls Frontiers in Psychiatry 10 611 (2019)
- Au - Ge Alloys for Wide-Range Low-Temperature On-Chip Thermometry Phys. Rev. Appl. 12 034024 (2019)
- Cation Disorder and Lithium Insertion Mechanism of Wadsley-Roth Crystallographic Shear Phases from First Principles. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141 15121 - 15134 (2019)
- Development and Validation of the Quantum Mechanical Bespoke Protein Force Field. ACS Omega 4 14537 - 14550 (2019)
- Topological magnon amplification. Nature Comm. 10 3937 (2019)