Theory of nuclei and many-body systems

  • Theoretical nuclear physics

Our research focuses on a detailed microscopic description of the structure of atomic nuclei. We start from solving the quantum mechanical many-body problem, where individual nucleons (protons and neutrons) interact via an effective internucleon force. This approach allows us to model the nucleus as a complex quantum system and study its properties based on fundamental principles.

We develop theoretical and numerical methods that are particularly suitable for analyzing the collective nuclear dynamics, i.e., phenomena where nucleons behave in a strongly correlated manner, such as vibrations or rotations of the nucleus as a whole. At the same time, we strive to link these collective motions with single-particle excitations that reflect the behavior of individual nucleons.

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  • Quantum phase transitions and chaos

 Our research into quantum many-body systems can be divided into two main areas:

The first area focuses on the study of quantum critical phenomena, in particular quantum phase transitions for ground and excited states of bound quantum systems. We investigate the precursors of these phenomena in finite systems and their impact on dynamics.

Typical models are systems of interacting qubits or qubits coupled to quantum fields. For example, we study how critical phenomena affect the preparation of entangled quantum states in quantum computing or how they manifest themselves in response to external excitation of the system. We also study the emergence of critical structures in quantum tunneling and scattering.

The second key area of research focuses on manifestations of quantum chaos in time correlations and other dynamic properties of complex quantum systems. This area also includes the study of the correspondence between classical and quantum dynamics in regular and chaotic systems and the issue of so-called thermalization of stationary states.

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