Current Trends in Strongly Correlated and Frustrated Systems

The workshop — SCFS25: Current Trends in Strongly Correlated and Frustrated Systems — held
at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden during 10-14
November 2025, was an international assemblage of researchers working across the many facets
of strongly correlated and frustrated quantum matter. It also celebrated the scientific legacy of
Professor Sriram Shastry on the occasion of his 75th birthday, whose pioneering ideas have
shaped much of the field’s modern evolution. The workshop featured an outstanding roster of
invited speakers, carefully selected to reflect both established expertise and new leadership.
Senior figures who have shaped the field over decades shared the stage with rising research
leaders among postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty. This balance provided an opportunity to
take stock of foundational developments while highlighting the most dynamic directions in
contemporary many-body physics. The program covered a broad spectrum of themes, including
highly correlated electrons, high-Tc superconductivity, frustrated magnetism and quantum spin
liquids, topological and moiré materials, integrable and open quantum systems, dynamical
quantum matter, and advanced numerical and analytical methods for strongly correlated
problems.
A particular highlight of the scientific program was the colloquium by Sriram Shastry, who
presented an insightful overview of the Extremely Correlated Fermi Liquid (ECFL) formalism.
Shastry’s lecture traced the conceptual origins of the approach, its recent quantitative progress—
ranging from applications to resistivity in the two-dimensional t–J model to comparisons with
experiments on the cuprates—and the open problems that remain for the next generation of
researchers. Besides the colloquium, a total of 42 talks grouped into 15 thematic sessions were
delivered in a format that encouraged depth and interaction: 25-minute presentations followed by
5 minutes of discussion, with many speakers welcoming questions throughout their lectures. The
resulting discussions were lively and often extended into coffee breaks and informal evening
gatherings, where participants continued to exchange ideas and challenge one another on
technical and conceptual points. The workshop also included two well-attended poster sessions,
held on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. These sessions provided an excellent platform for
students and early-career researchers to present their work and engage directly with senior
scientists. The diversity of poster topics reflected the breadth of the field—from new
developments on frustrated magnets and tensor-network methods to unconventional
superconductivity, quantum dynamics, and emerging phenomena in moiré materials. The format
fostered meaningful exchanges between researchers working on complementary problems and
helped seed new collaborations.
The scientific atmosphere throughout the week was dynamic, collegial, and forward-looking.
While the workshop honored Shastry’s remarkable contributions—spanning nearly fifty years of
influential work—it also made clear that the field of correlated and frustrated quantum systems
continues to expand in vibrant and unexpected directions. New themes, such as correlation
effects in moiré systems, non-equilibrium dynamics, quantum materials with emergent topology,
and modern approaches to strongly interacting open systems, were especially prominent. Even
long-standing topics, like high-temperature superconductivity and quantum spin liquids, were
invigorated by recent theoretical and experimental breakthroughs.
Participant feedback was uniformly enthusiastic. Many attendees emphasized how the meeting
fostered genuine scientific exchange across subfields that often operate in parallel. Others noted
that the workshop format—combining high-level invited talks, active discussions, and numerous
opportunities for informal interaction—created an ideal environment for cross-pollination of ideas.
As a tribute to Sriram Shastry’s enduring influence, the workshop also served as a reminder of the
intellectual depth and conceptual creativity that continue to define the study of strongly correlated
systems.
In summary, SCFS25 succeeded in its dual goal: celebrating Sriram Shastry’s exceptional
scientific legacy while advancing current research frontiers in correlated and frustrated manybody
physics. The workshop made a lasting contribution to the community by connecting diverse
groups of researchers, inspiring new collaborations, and highlighting the remarkable vitality and
innovation that characterize the field today.