Master project in Prof. Botti’s Condensed Matter Theory group

Has advanced mathematics never scared you?
Do you have fun solving complex problems of quantum mechanics?
Would you like to get more familiar with Green’s functions, operators in second quantization, Feynman’s diagrams, and at the same time remain close to applications and experiments?

Come and talk with us! We can propose you a bachelor or master project in the field of quantum many-body theory for condensed matter physics.

The focus can range from formal aspects to applications to real systems, including nanostructured and low-dimensional materials, new materials for optics or photovoltaics, topological insulators and semi-metals, superconductors and Majorana fermions, strongly correlated electron systems… and other suggestions are welcome!

As an example, this picture from a News and Views article of Manoharan in Nature Nanotechnology [5, 477 (2010)] illustrates the schematic band structures of 3D solids. In (b) we can see topologically protected surface states in the energy gap between the filled valence band and empty conduction band of a 3D insulator. The Möbius strips represent the number of topological twists of the band structure: an odd number of twists gives the right geometric phase for topological behavior

The student's profile

We require a sound knowledge of quantum mechanics. Programming capabilities are a plus.