Theory of Quantum Fluids/Solids/Gases @ UMASS Amherst
We are a group studying quantum fluids/solids/gases which is an exciting and large vibrant area of physics



    Book in progress: B. Svistunov,  E. Babaev, N. Prokof'ev "Superfluid States of Matter" To be published by Taylor & Francis      
We have openings for PhD Students and two open postdoctoral positions
 applications should be sent electronically to
postdoc10  at  gmail.com
We are also happy to provide a host for postdocs with overseas stipends. Please feel free to ask any questions by email
For prospective graduate students and postdocs: Amherst named top college town in North America
 

News:

Kun Chen  (this years receipient of the highest USTC Hefei scholarship) is new long term visitor in the group.

Johan Carlstrom Phd Student from the  Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm  visits our group for Spring Semester.

Group alumis Barbara Capogrosso-Sansone (PhD 2008) joins faculty at University of Oklahoma, former postdoctoral research associate Lode Pollet offered faculty position at Ludwig Maximilian University Munchen,
former postdoc Felix Werner joined the faculty of the Ecole Normal Superior, Paris. Congratulations Barbara, Lode, and Felix!
 

Science Magazine, in its listing of the Top Ten Breakthroughs of the Year cited the work of the team involving Prokofiev and Svistunov who provide theoretical support of quantum simulations of ultracold atoms on an optical lattice. More information can also be seen on Nature magazine.

Roal Swedish Academy of Science awarded 2010 Tage Erlanders prize  in physics to Egor Babaev for "Pionering works predicting superfluids with novel properties"

The award comes with funds to organize an international conference "Frontiers in Condensed Matter Physics" which took place in Stockholm in January 2011



Older news:
June  2010 Former PhD student Evgeny Burvsky (PhD in 2007) accepted assistant professor (Lecturer in UK system) at Lancaster University
Prof. Youjin Deng will be a long-term visitor at UMass Amherst
Egor Babaev is organizing 2010 NORDITA Workshop on quantum fluids gases and solids 

Recent media/popular articles coverage:
ScienceNow: New Type of Superconductivity Spotted
PhysicsWorld Type-1.5 superconductor shows its stripes
Phys. Rev. Focus Supersolid, with a Twist
Physics.aps.org: How could a solid be superfluid?
Recent other  media coverage related to our work A Super Mix Inside Neutron Stars
Link to the page on UMass worm algorith and quantum Monte-Carlo methods
Our papers in arxive
Our papers in ADSABS


Group members

Professors


Egor Babaev      

Nikolay Prokofiev


Boris Svistunov


Jon Machta

Current group members

Youjin Deng
Visiting professor


Sergey Kulagin
Visiting professor


Julien Garaud
Postdoctoral Research Associate



Quinze Wang
Graduate Student

Kun Chen
Visiting graduate student from USTC


Johan Carlstrom
Visiting graduate student from
KTH Stockholm









 

Recently graduated students
and former group members: 


Felix Werner  (former Postdoc)
->CNRS faculty position  Ecole normale supérieure




Lode Pollet (Postdoc) ->
  -> postdoc at Harvard ->
offered Ass. Prof. postion at LMU Munchen



Barbara Capogrosso-Sansone (PhD 2008)
->postdoc at Harvard ->
-> Assistant Professor Univesity of Oklakhoma
 

Evgeny Kozik (PhD 2007)
Presently postdoc at  ETH, Zurich
 
 
Evgeny Burovsky (PhD 2007)->
-> Postdoc  Paris Sud->
 Assistant Professor Lancaster University
                    

Kris Van Houcke  (former postdoc)
Presently postdoc at Ghent University



Gunes Soyler
Presently postdoc at ICTP Trieste

 


Collaborations:
CSI CUNY
ENS, UPMC, CNRS, Paris
U. Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
U. Trento, Italy
U. Innsbuck, Austria
ETH
Station Q, Microsoft
Harvard
MIT
Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm
Norwegian Institite of Science and Technology
University of Maryland
Georgetown University
University of Turku
Leeds University
BEC Center @ Trento
LMU
Cambridge

Research:
Ultra-cold gases

- Our research is focusing on novel phases, vortex matter, phase transitions, and  other properties of cold bosons
in optical lattices.  The most recent efforts are on multi-component systems.

- We are the first group to calculate the BCS-BEC crossover curve for the  resonant Fermi gas  with controlled error bars.
Recently we developed a Diagrammatic Monte Carlo technique for numerically exact solution of the fermi-polaron problem
(resonant gas near 100% polarization) and work on  generalizing it to the many body case.

-We found new complex states of three-dimensional vortex matter in binary mixtures of Bose Condensates

- Our calculations established universal properties of weakly-interacting Bose gases in the fluctuation region (including the
critical temperature dependence on interactions). We are now working on the generic approach to the thermodynamics of
the system at all temperatures.

- We participate in the Optical Lattice Emulator project as part of the MIT-Harvard-Amherst-Innsbrouck-Paris-Mainz
collaboration to  perform high accuracy benchmark simulations of bosonic systems "as is''.

- We also work on the phase diagram and excitation spectrum Dipole gases.


Projected new states of matter and metallization of hydrogen

We work on the proposal of possible metallic quantum ordered states of hydrogen at ultrahigh compressions and low temperatures
which we predict are projected new states of matter endowed with exotic properties. Our works on this topic introduced the notion
of metallic superfluid and received front page billing in Nature and Nature Physics magazines.


Type-1.5 superconductivity
 
In multicomponent systems there could be a new type superconductivity falling outside the usual type-I/type-II dichotomy

Supersolidity in Helium

After we proved that ideal crystals of He-4 are not supersolid we discovered that disordered crystals are. Grain boundaries, ridges,
screw, and some edge dislocations have complex structural and superfluid properties in quantum crystlas. Most of the issues have
 never been explored before.

Monte Carlo methods

We have pioneered several key techniques in the field: Worm Algorithm, Diagrammatic Monte Carlo, and Bold Diagrammatic
Monte carlo. They have broad applications across all fields in physics and statistical mechanics.  Currently, we actively work
on the method for stochastic summation of all relevent Feyman diagrams (up to  some high order) for many-body systems,
including self-consistency conditions for efficient treatment of geometrical series and parquet.

New topological defects in condensed matter Knotted Solitons:

We study properties and condensed matter realizations of novel type of complex topological defects: the knotted solitons.
We also study collective propertis, aggregate states and phase transitions in the systems of  exotic topological defects such
as fractionally quantized quantum vortices.

Statistical models
We are interested in performing high precision tests of the hyperscaling relation, fractional dimensions for vortex lines at
criticality in neutral and charged XY-models in 3D, the phase diagram of the deconfined critical action with SU(2) symmetry,
superfluidity in structured networks, etc.


Polarons
Physics of Neutron Stars
Quantum dots
Atom tunneling