Condensed Matter Theory Group Website

What makes Condensed Matter Physics a fascinating subject is the fact that a wide range of physical phenomena and properties of matter emerge from the relatively simple interaction laws that govern the behavior of electrons and atoms - the basic building blocks of the "ordinary" matter around us. Can we understand the variety of emergent phases and the transitions between them? Which of the properties are peculiar to the microscopic details of interactions and which are universal for wide classes of physical systems? How does disorder, surfaces, confining geometry (e.g. nanostructures) affect these properties? These are some of the fundamental questions that condensed matter theory addresses.

Cond-Mat Theory @ UCR

The Condensed Matter Theory Group at the UCR Department of Physics is represented by Professors Vivek Aji, Leonid Pryadko, Michael Mulligan, Kirill Shtengel, Shan-Wen Tsai, Chandra Varma and Roya Zandi. The research interests of the group include both "hard" and "soft" condensed matter physics. The former category refers to the studies of quantum phenomena in condensed matter, particularly in the strongly correlated systems. The research topics include superconductivity, quantum phase transitions, the physics of novel materials and nanostructures, and quantum computation. The soft condensed matter physics includes classical statistical mechanics and its applications to the physics of polymers and biological systems.

Participating Faculty