Theoretical Research

Professor Bedell's Group – Theory of the high temperature superconductivity; Fermi liquid theory. Program supported by the Department of Energy.

Professor Broido's Group – Phonon and electron transport in semiconductors and metals using first principles approaches; ab initio thermal transport in bulk and nanostructured materials; thermal properties of strongly anharmonic materials; temperature dependent spin-lattice interactions in magnetic materials; interaction of phonons with plasmons.

Professor Chen’s Group – Non-equilibrium many-body quantum dynamics in closed and open systems, such as transport property and quantum information dynamics. Topological phases of matter, such as topological insulator, topological ordered phase and topological defect.

Professor Engelbrecht's Group – Strongly correlated electron systems, including pairing correlations in high-temperature superconductors, Fermi liquid vs. non-Fermi liquid behavior in two-dimensional systems, and the theory of local Fermi liquids and the metal-insulator transition. Computational physics.

Professor Flebus’s Group – Condensed matter theory; non-Hermitian topological classifications, twistronics and Floquet engineering in magnetic systems, quantum-impurity relaxometry and collective spin and heat transport as probes of magnetization dynamics.

Professor Kempa's Group – Collective phenomena at surfaces of solids.

Professor Ran's Group – Quantum condensed matter theory, electronic systems with strong interaction. Frustrated magnets, high-Tc superconductors. Topological aspects of condensed matter system such as topological defects and topological band insulators.

Professor Wang's Group – Theory of correlated electron materials including high temperature superconductors and other complex oxides such as cobaltates and ruthenates. Itinerant and localized magnetism and heavy fermion systems. Quantum spin systems. Unconventional superconductivity. Emergent quantum electronic states and topologically ordered phases of matter. Fractional and integer quantum Hall systems and other mesoscopic systems including graphene. Program supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy.