Open positions for students and postdocs

Master's/diploma or doctoral theses in theoretical physics

If interested, please feel free to contact Prof. Dr. David DiVincenzo

Phone: +49 2461 61-9069
Fax: +49 2461 61-2620
Email: d.divincenzo@fz-juelich.de

Theory of Electronic Properties of Solids and Surfaces

Electrons are the 'glue' which keeps the atoms of a solid or a liquid together. Nowadays, we are able to perform realistic calculations of structures and properties of metals like iron- and aluminium alloys, semiconductors like silicon or GaAs and also of ceramic compounds, based on the fundamental quantum-mechanical equations.

We use workstations, workstation clusters and huge parallel computers for the numerical approaches. Adopted methods like KKR (Kohn-Korringa-Rostoker) and pseudo-potential techniques are employed for different classes of substances. They are combined with molecular dynamics calculations to describe the complicated dynamics of the atoms. The development of new and the improvement of existing methods also leads to a better analytical understanding.

Theory of Disorder and Phase Transitions

The description of spatial disorder, for example the irregular arrangement of atoms or molecules in glasses, is still a challenge for theoreticians. The prediction of properties of such a disordered solid state is even more difficult. Questions of this type are strongly related to phase transitions, e.g. solidification and melting of a substance.

Recently, we are particularly interested in the influence of long-ranged forces, as elastic deformations and hydrodynamic flow. We use a huge variety of analytical and numerical methods from statistical physics (renormalization group theory, scaling, Monte-Carlo and Molecular Dynamics simulations).

Theory of Pattern Formation

The formation of all kinds of structures in solid and liquid phases is - in a thermodynamical sense - a nonequilibrium process. We observe regular and irregular, compact and fractal structures.

In solid phases, these nonequilibrium patterns can freeze during the production process. Often, hydrodynamic flow is involved in these processes. We analyze this type of nonlinear dynamical systems (especially those with many degrees of freedom) with analytical methods (perturbation theory, multiple scaling analysis) and numerical techniques (Monte-Carlo simulations, phase field methods, Green function methods, general nonlinear partial differential and integro-differential equations).