Mathematical Physics

Profile of the division

The Division of Mathematical Physics applies general methods from theoretical
physics towards todays demands in science and engineering. The research activities span a broad range of topics including nanoscience, nuclear theory, condensed matter theory, non-linear science, and related topics. Particular emphasis is put on quantum effects, but also on electrodynamic and thermodynamic properties. In general, the theoretical research is conducted in close contact to experimental developments.

Research

Nuclear structure theory has a long tradition dating back to S.G. Nilsson, the founder of the Nilsson model. Current research is oriented towards nuclei at their extremes: extreme values of angular momentum or isospin, i.e. a neutron to proton ratio very different from that for stable nuclei. Large parts of the research are traditionally carried out in close collaboration with experimental nuclear structure groups in Lund and around the world. One highlight are the so called triaxially superdeformed bands. The interpretation of bands of this kind, recently discovered in 157,158Er, were described as 'a new class of many-body symmetries describing nuclei at the phase transitional region' in 2007 in the DOE/NSF long range plan. Other highlights include the study of superdeformed and terminating bands with a close collaboration with the experimental nuclear structure group at Lund University, and the investigation of consequences of chaos in the nucleus.

Electronic structure and excitations constitute a central topic in condensed matter physics both experimentally and theoretically. These activities started in Lund 1972 when L. Hedin, the founder of the GW approximation, was recruited. His scheme has turned out to be the standard model for treating excitations in real systems. Current applications are the analysis of photoemission spectroscopy data such as surface core-level shifts measured at the division for Synchrotron Radiation. In addition the group actively works on the formulation of quantum dynamics on the basis of time-dependent density functional theory that has the potential to revolutionize the quantitative description of transport through interacting systems.

Nanoscience deals with the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale in the nanometer range and the fabrication of such devices for a large variety of purposes. Frequently, quantum effects dominate the behavior of such systems and ongoing research at the division focuses on the interplay between quantum correlations and interactions. One aspect is the complex spatial and dynamical structure of many-particle states occurring both in quantum dots and trapped atoms. A significant part of the research concerns rotating quantum systems in analogy to magnetic fields and the quantum Hall regime. Detailed calculations demonstrate the occurrence of vortex structure in quantum dots and traps, where fundamental similarities between fermionic and bosonic systems can be found even at low temperatures. Another important topic is transport through nanosystems in direct connection to experiments at the division of solid state physics. Here, Coulomb blockade effects strongly depend on the detailed manyparticle interaction. The spatial separation of transport channels in nanosystems allows for a new scheme of quantum information processing based on orbital entanglement, where pioneering work has been done by researches of the division.

To Mathematical physics website

• Print version