Research activity

Research and education in Condensed Matter Theory and Simulation at SISSA cover a wide spectrum of problems in condensed-matter physics, ranging from the chemical physics of surfaces, interfaces, and nano-structured materials, to the properties of strongly correlated systems and quantum fluids. Broadly speaking, our research can be described as technology-driven fundamental research: inspired by some of the outstanding challenges of present-day technologies (such as nano-electronics or energy storage and conversion), we develop new theoretical ideas, we implement them in state-of-the art software for computer simulation, and apply them to address some of the fundamental problems that hinder the development of these technologies. The following main research lines can be identified.

  1. Computer modeling of molecular, condensed-matter, and nano-structured systems
    1. Heterogeneous catalysis and chemical reactivity of metal and oxides surfaces and nanostructures [Baroni, de Gironcoli, Fabris (CNR), Piccinin (CNR)]
    2. Computational materials science for energy conversion and storage [Fabris (CNR), Piccinin (CNR)]
    3. Relativistic effects in molecules and solids [Dal Corso]
    4. Numerical simulation of electronic excitations in complex molecular and nano-structured systems [Baroni, Umari (CNR/UniPD)]
    5. Theory and computer simulation of friction and adhesion at the nano-scale [Santoro, Tosatti]
    6. Theory of molecular dispersion forces and new energy functionals for weak chemical bonds [de Gironcoli]
    7. Quantum Monte Carlo methods for molecules and solids [Moroni (CNR), Sorella]
    8. New algorithms and software engineering [Baroni, Dal Corso, de Gironcoli, Martin-Samos (CNR), Sorella]
  2. Physics of strongly correlated quantum systems
    1. Many-body theory [Capone (CNR), Fabrizio, Sorella, Tosatti]
    2. Stochastic simulation of lattice models [Becca (CNR), Sorella]
    3. Mean-field like approaches (DFT+U, DFT+Gutzwiller, DMFT …) [Capone (CNR), de Gironcoli, Fabrizio]
    4. Quantum systems out of equilibrium, open quantum systems, and quantum dissipation [Santoro]
    5. Quantum fluids, particularly in confined geometries [Baroni, Moroni (CNR)]