Autumn School on Correlated Electrons: Understanding Correlated Materials with DMFT
22-26 September 2025, Forschungszentrum Jülich
Scope
Dynamical Mean-Field Theory (DMFT) has established itself as the method of choice for dealing with emergent phases in strongly correlated materials. In fact, its combination with density-functional theory via the construction of materials-specific models has opened the path to the description of correlation effects beyond the level of generic models.
This, together with the development of powerful and flexible quantum-impurity solvers, and the help of modern massively-parallel supercomputers, provides powerful tools for understanding correlation effects in materials and has revolutionized the field of correlated materials science.
The goal of this year’s school is to provide students with an overview of the method and its application to materials, with a view towards the future of many-body simulations. The program will start with fundamental models and concepts, introducing the Hubbard model and its physics, density-functional theory and the principles of DMFT. More advanced lectures will introduce the DFT+DMFT approach and its extensions.
A core aspect of the technique are quantum-impurity solvers. For the latter, lectures will cover quantum Monte Carlo methods, exact diagonalization and DMRG, currently the most powerful and flexible solvers. Additional lectures will present explorative approaches, such as variational methods suitable for quantum computers. Lectures will then show how the approach can be used to unravel the mechanism of paradigmatic emergent phenomena in materials: non-conventional superconductivity, orbital ordering, Mott phases, disorder, Hund’s metal behavior, and pseudogap phases. The topics will be treated with a focus on explaining key experiments in a realistic setting and with an outlook on materials design.
Application deadline is 31 May 2025.
The school is intended for advanced graduate or PhD students and postdocs in the field of electronic structure of materials.
Students can apply using the registration form. Accepted applicants will be informed via e-mail two weeks after the deadline for applications.
School Organizers
- Eva Pavarini, Forschungszentrum Jülich
- Erik Koch, Forschungszentrum Jülich
- Alexander Lichtenstein, Universität Hamburg
- Dieter Vollhardt, Universität Augsburg
