Project description
Explaining ultra-fast, infinitely small and highly unusual interactions
Attempting to explain the relationships among multiple interacting objects on the visible scale is relatively straightforward. For example, classical physical laws govern the interactions among the cue ball and the other balls (and the cue stick and the table itself) during a game of billiards. If you take that down to the quantum level and interactions between lots of different particles with photons, the theoretical foundations are under construction. Correlated electron systems such as those in condensed matter systems are gaining intense interest both experimentally and theoretically. The EU-funded FASTCORR project aims to provide a novel theoretical foundation and numerical methods facilitating interpretation of the growing amount of experimental data regarding light-matter interactions involving materials with correlated electrons.
Objective
Experimental activities at advanced photon sources, such as pulsed lasers, high harmonic generation facilities, and X-ray free electron lasers, generate results that challenge our understanding of light-matter interaction and ultrafast dynamics at the femtosecond and sub-femtosecond timescales. These results are particularly difficult to interpret for materials with correlated electrons, where a driving pulse can produce strong non-linear effects.
In FASTCORR, we answer this challenge with the development of a theory for driven quantum many-body systems that goes well beyond existing methods. This will be accomplished by developing dynamical mean-field theory and its generalizations, e.g. the dual fermion and dual boson theory, to cover out-of-equilibrium phenomena.
We aim to create a solid theoretical foundation on which we will build practical tools that allow to interpret and predict ultrafast time-resolved phenomena of correlated electron systems. This involves (i) the development of fundamental mathematical and physical concepts, (ii) software implementation, and (iii) numerical simulations that will be compared to experiments. Synergies between the three applicants are crucial to achieving the goals of this project.
FASTCORR will result in novel high-performance software that we will distribute freely. These computational tools will enable designed and targeted calculations for driven materials where the electronic structure is determined by strong correlation effects. The developed theory will be used hand in hand with world-leading experimental works in the field of pump-probe measurements and spectroscopy, e.g. as investigated at X-ray free-electron laser laboratories.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- natural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsfermions
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physicspulsed lasers
- natural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsphotons
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
ERC-SyG - Synergy grantHost institution
751 05 Uppsala
Sweden