Quantum Fluids SISSA Group


Quantum Liquids, Solids and Gases

We study the structure and the dynamical properties of quantum fluids by means of ab initio calculations, based on a completely microscopic description of the system given typically by the bare hamiltonian. The many-body methods emphasized and developed are the following:

variational hyper-netted-chain methods;
correlated basis function theories;
quantum Monte Carlo simulations.
The fundamental perspective of these studies is to bridge the gap between heuristic or phenomenological treatments with calculations, based on first principles. We also seek the possibility of understanding fundamental microscopic details of strongly interacting many-body systems, such as
highly correlated electron and spin systems;
quantum liquids and solids and their coexistence and interface;
nuclear matter under extreme condition of density and temperature.
We study quantum coherence effects on macroscopic scale in superfluid systems. These include trapped Bose-Einstein condensates and 3He-B, the former being a new form of weakly interacting quantum fluid.
The most relevant problems under investigation include:
non-linear Josephson oscillations
collapses and revivals of macroscopic coherence
damping of collective modes at zero-temperature
simmetry breaking in finite systems


Members of the group
Stefano Fantoni, full professor
A. Smerzi, Research Associate
S. Moroni, Research Associate

Current projects

Impurities and vacancies in solid He4
Polarized and unpolarized He3
Spin-spin correlations in Fermi liquids and solids
Macroscopic quantum coherence phenomena
Inelastic lepton-nucleus processes and microscopic nuclear structure
Equation of state of neutron matter and superfluidity in the study of the physics of neutron stars
A relevant effort is devoted to the development of new algorithms.

Publications since 1996


Liquid and solid Helium
Electron systems
Macroscopic quantum coherence
Nuclear physics
For information please contact
fantoni@sissa.it