Macroscopic matter is composed of a huge number of quantum particles whose dynamics are typically dominated by interactions. In spite of this immense complexity, when a macroscopic object is in (or close to) an equilibrium state its gross properties are efficiently described by a rather simple set of macroscopic equations: the glorious laws of thermodynamics. One of the greatest challenges of theoretical physics is to devise a quantitative description of matter when, instead, it is far from any equilibrium state.
This project aims to study the out-of-equilibrium regime of quantum matter, which has become accessible experimentally only about twenty years ago, and is now used to realise the first noisy quantum computers. In particular, the main goals are to understand: (i) the non-equilibrium dynamics of interacting quantum matter; (ii) how thermodynamics emerges from it. The project will involve analytical and numerical approaches. The PhD work will involve techniques from quantum many-body physics, quantum information, quantum integrability, and quantum many-body chaos.
The project will be supervised by Dr Bruno Bertini.
Funding notes:
The project is directly funded by a research grant.
