Highlights

We cordially welcome the arrival of our new group at the institute, headed by Alexander Wietek, who joins us from the Flatiron Institute. Alex's group is interested in the way quantum particles, like electrons or atoms, organize themselves while interacting with one another. This way, Alex and his colleagues aim at understanding how the macroscopic behavior of materials, like various forms of magnetism or superconductivity, emerges. Besides trying to explain existing experimental phenomena in solid-state physics, they investigate under which circumstances entirely new states of matter, like quantum spin liquids, can occur. To solve these questions, the new group is developing numerical technology to simulate quantum many-body systems. The quantum many-body problem is considered to be exponentially hard in the number of particles. One approach Alex is pursuing is to push the limits of exact simulations by developing high-performance computing software and distributed parallel algorithms for quantum many-body systems. Furthermore, the team is also embracing tensor network methods to reduce computational complexity by representing data efficiently. Welcome at MPI-PKS!!

Application deadline: 17 November 2022. Distinguished PKS postdoctoral fellows appear personally along with the departments and groups on the main research page of the institute and are expected to have at least one year of postdoctoral experience at an institution other than the one at which their PhD was awarded. Applications for this fellowship directly after completion of the PhD might be considered in exceptional cases. Please click on the link- button to see the full advertisement!

The research in our new group "Nonequlibrium Quantum Dynamics" lies at the intersection of many-body dynamics, quantum simulation, quantum control, and applications of machine learning in physics. It is headed by Marin Bukov, who joins MPI-PKS from the University of Sofia. Marin and his coworkers are interested in problems of both fundamental nature and immediate applications. They develop approximate analytical methods, and design numerical techniques in order to investigate different problems in quantum dynamics, and collaborate with theory groups and experimental labs to test the theoretical predictions against experiment. Welcome to the institute, Marin!

A warm welcome to Pieter Claeys! Coming to our institute from the University of Cambridge, Pieter establishes the research group "Dynamics of quantum information". The group’s research lies at the interface of condensed matter physics and quantum information, using a variety of theoretical and numerical approaches to study the dynamics of quantum many-body systems. Research topics include the dynamics of entanglement, quantum chaos and thermalization, unitary circuit models, and general aspects of non-equilibrium quantum dynamics. The group will also focus on bridging recent advances in the dynamics of quantum systems and quantum computation.

We cordially welcome Christina Kurzthaler at the institute! Christina joins MPI-PKS from Princeton University and establishes the research group "Transport and flows in complex environments“. The group aims to unravel physical phenomena arising in soft and active matter, with emphasis on the role of transport and flows for biological systems and microfluidics. Its research topics range from the hydrodynamics of swimming bacteria and their interactions with their environments to the statistical physics of active transport in porous materials to the motion of colloidal suspensions in microfluidic settings. While the group's work is theoretical, it seeks to establish collaborations with experimentalists of the Dresden research community.

We offer Emergency Fellowships to researchers at all career stages in Ukraine. Applications are considered continuously.

Application deadline: 13 March 2022. The ELBE postdoctoral fellows program addresses independent researchers on the postdoctoral level, who come with their own research proposal and freely choose which groups to affiliate with. The program provides an ideal springboard to an independent research career in systems biology, theoretical biophysics, computational biology, and related areas. Please click on the link- button to see the full advertisement!

Application deadline: 24 November 2021. Distinguished PKS postdoctoral fellows appear personally along with the departments and groups on the main research page of the institute and are expected to have at least one year of postdoctoral experience at an institution other than the one at which their PhD was awarded. Applications for this fellowship directly after completion of the PhD might be considered in exceptional cases. Please click on the link- button to see the full advertisement!

We cordially welcome Ricard Alert at the institute! Ricard joins MPI-PKS from Princeton University and establishes the research group "The Physics of Living Matter". The group aims at uncovering physical principles of living matter. In particular, it will develop the physics of active matter to understand collective behaviors in cells and tissues. The group's research topics include collective cell migration, self-organization in bacterial colonies, active turbulence, mechanochemical patterns in tissues, mechanically-regulated tissue growth, and active fluctuations in cells. Ricard is also a member of the Center for Systems Biology Dresden and strengthens the collaboration of MPI-PKS with experimental groups at MPI-CBG.

A warm welcome to three new research group leaders at the institute! Pierre Haas joins us from the University of Oxford and heads the research group "Self-Organization of Multicellular Systems". The group is based jointly at the Center for Systems Biology Dresden, the MPI-PKS and the MPI-CBG and will focus on the mechanics of cells and tissues. In particular, Pierre's group is interested in deriving the continuum theories that represent the rich mechanical behavior of tissues during development and thus allow understanding how robust development is compatible with mechanical constraints and biological variability. While the research of the group is theoretical, it will work in close collaboration with experimental groups at the MPI-CBG and beyond. Matt Eiles originally joined MPI-PKS from Purdue University and was a Distinguished PKS Postdoctoral Fellow until December, now heading the new group "Correlations and Transport in Rydberg Matter" associated with the Finite Systems Division. Via the study of Rydberg matter the group aims to answer fundamental questions about atomic structure, low-energy collisions and scattering, and the behavior of ultracold gases, while also raising new questions related to localization, transport, highly correlated systems, quantum chaos, semiclassical dynamics, and quantum simulation. A strong relationship with ongoing experimental work and the flexibility of Rydberg atoms to shed insight into new theoretical inquiries motivate their research. Marko Popovic comes to Dresden from the EPFL Lausanne and establishes the research group "Order and Disorder in Driven Systems" associated with the Biological Physics Division. The group will investigate mechanical and rheological properties of out-of-equilbrium systems, with an emphasis on development of biological tissues and the role of structural disorder. Furthermore, emergence of order in biological systems and its relation to tissue mechanical properties will be of particular interest. Welcome to the institute and have a great start!