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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.
TCM congratulates Kevin Duff on passing his PhD viva. Kevin now works for Enthought in its Cambridge offices.
TCM congratulates Edward Linscott on passing his PhD viva. Edward will be moving to the group of TCM alumnus Nicola Marzari at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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)
- 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)
- Topological magnon amplification. Nature Comm. 10 3937 (2019)
- Inhibition of 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) by indole amides abrogates de novo serine synthesis in cancer cells. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chem. Lett. 29 2503 - 2510 (2019)
- Cation Disorder and Lithium Insertion Mechanism of Wadsley-Roth Crystallographic Shear Phases from First Principles. J. Am. Chem. Soc. jacs.9b06316 (2019)
- Logarithmic Spreading of Out-of-Time-Ordered Correlators without Many-Body Localization. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 086602 (2019)
- Molecules with dipoles in periodic boundary conditions in a tetragonal cell. J. Phys. - Condens. Mat. 31 335901 (2019)
- Theory of quantum oscillations in quasicrystals: Quantizing spiral Fermi surfaces Phys. Rev. B 100 081405 (2019)
- Correlated Quantum Tunneling of Monopoles in Spin Ice Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 067204 (2019)
- Defining the Identity and Dynamics of Adult Gastric Isthmus Stem Cells. Cell Stem Cell 25 342 - 356.e7 (2019)
- Highly conductive doped hybrid carbon nanotube-graphene wires. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces acsami.9b08198 (2019)
- Quantum Brownian motion in a quasiperiodic potential Phys. Rev. B 100 060301 (2019)
- Generalized route to effective field theories for quantum systems with local constraints Phys. Rev. B 100 085113 (2019)
- Steady-state superconductivity in electronic materials with repulsive interactions Phys. Rev. B 100 060508 (2019)
- Conditional dynamics of optomechanical two-tone backaction-evading measurements Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 093602 (2019)
- Unitary circuits of finite depth and infinite width from quantum channels Phys. Rev. B 100 064309 (2019)
- Tracing the cellular dynamics of sebaceous gland development in normal and perturbed states. Nat. Cell Biol. 21 924 - 932 (2019)
- Seeing beyond the light: Vison and photon electrodynamics in quantum spin ice Phys. Rev. B 100 014417 (2019)
- Computing the self-consistent field in Kohn-Sham density functional theory. J. Phys. - Condens. Mat. 31 453001 (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
TCM congratulates Kevin Duff on passing his PhD viva. Kevin now works for Enthought in its Cambridge offices.
TCM congratulates Edward Linscott on passing his PhD viva. Edward will be moving to the group of TCM alumnus Nicola Marzari at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Recent Publications
- Predicting physical properties of alkanes with neural networks Fluid Phase Equilibria 501 112259 (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)
- Topological magnon amplification. Nature Comm. 10 3937 (2019)
- Inhibition of 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHGDH) by indole amides abrogates de novo serine synthesis in cancer cells. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chem. Lett. 29 2503 - 2510 (2019)
- Cation Disorder and Lithium Insertion Mechanism of Wadsley-Roth Crystallographic Shear Phases from First Principles. J. Am. Chem. Soc. jacs.9b06316 (2019)
- Logarithmic Spreading of Out-of-Time-Ordered Correlators without Many-Body Localization. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 086602 (2019)
- Molecules with dipoles in periodic boundary conditions in a tetragonal cell. J. Phys. - Condens. Mat. 31 335901 (2019)
- Theory of quantum oscillations in quasicrystals: Quantizing spiral Fermi surfaces Phys. Rev. B 100 081405 (2019)
- Correlated Quantum Tunneling of Monopoles in Spin Ice Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 067204 (2019)
- Defining the Identity and Dynamics of Adult Gastric Isthmus Stem Cells. Cell Stem Cell 25 342 - 356.e7 (2019)
- Highly conductive doped hybrid carbon nanotube-graphene wires. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces acsami.9b08198 (2019)
- Quantum Brownian motion in a quasiperiodic potential Phys. Rev. B 100 060301 (2019)
- Generalized route to effective field theories for quantum systems with local constraints Phys. Rev. B 100 085113 (2019)
- Steady-state superconductivity in electronic materials with repulsive interactions Phys. Rev. B 100 060508 (2019)
- Conditional dynamics of optomechanical two-tone backaction-evading measurements Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 093602 (2019)
- Unitary circuits of finite depth and infinite width from quantum channels Phys. Rev. B 100 064309 (2019)
- Tracing the cellular dynamics of sebaceous gland development in normal and perturbed states. Nat. Cell Biol. 21 924 - 932 (2019)
- Seeing beyond the light: Vison and photon electrodynamics in quantum spin ice Phys. Rev. B 100 014417 (2019)
- Computing the self-consistent field in Kohn-Sham density functional theory. J. Phys. - Condens. Mat. 31 453001 (2019)