Theoretical Research

Top ⇑Quantum Simulation and Quantum Computing

Principal Investigator: Eliot Kapit

Tulane Group Members:



Top ⇑Quantum Chaos and Quantum Information

Principal Investigator: Lev Kaplan


Group Website


Specific areas of recent interest have included:

  1. Transport in nanostructures and quantum dots
  3. Statistics of extreme ocean waves (rogue waves)
  6. Superradiance and transport in open quantum systems
  7. Wave functions beyond Random Matrix Theory (RMT)
  8. Quantum-classical correspondence and the accuracy of semiclassical approximations
  11. Quantum metrology using coherent photon states
  12. Photons carrying orbital angular momentum and their interaction with matter

Top ⇑Theoretical Solid State Physics

Principal Investigator: James MacLaren



Top ⇑Theoretical Atomic Physics & Quantum Control




Top ⇑Materials Theory and Computation/Density Functional Theory

Principal Investigators: Jianwei Sun

Tulane Group Members:

The importance of materials is demonstrated by the names we use to identify human civilizations, from stone to bronze to iron to the modern silicon ages. On the microscopic scale, all materials exist as collections of atoms consisting of nuclei surrounded by much lighter electrons. The behavior of the electrons is governed by quantum mechanics and largely determines properties of materials. The grand challenge of developing the advanced materials that benefit society therefore becomes how to understand and control material processes at the level of electrons.

The high efficiency and useful accuracy of density functional theory (DFT) and its extensions (e.g., time-dependent or TD DFT), have caused them to become the most widely used electronic structure theories in chemistry, materials science, and condensed matter physics. In principle DFT is exact for the ground state energy and electron density, but in practice the exchange-correlation energy as a functional of electron density must be approximated. My research interests are in understanding the fundamental properties of the exchange-correlation energy (or the exchange-correlation potential and kernel in case of TD-DFT), using this understanding to derive more accurate and efficient approximations, and applying the approximations to predict properties and behaviors of materials and computationally design materials that are scientifically, technologically, or economically important.

I have constructed the strongly-constrained and appropriately-normed (SCAN) density functional that is physically justified, non-empirical, efficient, and accurate. SCAN predicts accurate material structures and energies, with improved electronic energy band gaps for diversely-bonded systems (including covalent, metallic, ionic, hydrogen, and van der Waals (vdW) bonds) simultaneously. SCAN significantly and systematically improves over conventional density functionals, and thus greatly advances the development of DFT and its applications in a wide range of materials. My group currently focuses on taking advantage of SCAN for density functional developments and applications, with an emphasis on:

  1. Development of a local hybrid density functional for solving the strong many-electron interaction (SMEI) originating from a degeneracy or near-degeneracy and the self-interaction error (SIE) due to the imperfect cancellation of the spurious classical Coulomb interaction between an electron and itself.
  2. New insights into difficult electron systems, e.g., strongly-correlated electron systems.
  3. Ionic dynamics for realistic modeling of materials, e.g., finite temperature and pressure effects, and for electron-phonon coupling.
  4. Computational design of cheap and environmentally friendly catalysts based on 2D materials for energy applications.
  5. Quantum materials including superconducting and topological materials.

Top ⇑Nuclear Physics

Principal Investigator: Daniel Purrington

Group Website

This group's research interests have been traditionally focused on the quantum theory of scattering, principally few-body problems, and nuclear structure. In recent years this has evolved into theoretical treatment of classical scattering, mostly in the ocean acoustics context, and primarily involving scattering from randomly rough interfaces, including fractal geometries.


Top ⇑History of Physics

Principal Investigator: Daniel Purrington (Emeritus)

Group Website



Top ⇑Mathematical Physics

Principal Investigator: George Rosensteel

Tulane Group Members: Farren Curtis, Nick Sparks


Top ⇑Physics Instruction

Tulane Group Members: Khazhgery "Jerry" Shakov, James McGuire




Top ⇑Relativity & Cosmology

Principal Investigator: Frank Tipler

Group Website


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