Theoretical Physics
With 21 faculty members conducting research in Theroetical Physics, our department offers a tremendous variety of research opportunities that span the gamut from Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology, Gravity and Relativity, String Theory, High Energy Physics, and Condensed Matter Theory, to Quantum Information and Biophysics. Research techniques include exact methods, field theoretic and perturbative approaches as well as numerical methods and computer simulations that make extensive use of Canada's High Performance Computing networks. The "Theory Centre" offers an ideal venue for group meetings and frequent interaction between faculty, students and postdoctoral fellows.
The Condensed Matter Theory group is pursuing research at the forefront of many of the most exciting current developments: high-temperature superconductivity, quantum dots, polaron physics, spintronics, topological insulators, transition metal oxides, large scale quantum phenomena, quantum magnetism, superfluidity and cold atomic gases, geometrical phases of strongly correlated particles, quantum information, nonequilibrium statistical physics of disordered solids, and protein folding.
The Pacific Institute of Theoretical Physics is an international research institute located in the department. It facilitates interactions between theorists all over the world and operates a visitor center for scientific exchanges.
Faculty Engaged in Theoretical Physics Research
| Ian Affleck |
Professor, Condensed Matter Theory |
Research Website Topics include: Superconductivity, Quantum Magnetism, Quantum Impurities, Field Theory Methods in Condensed Matter Physics |
| Mona Berciu |
Associate Professor, Condensed Matter Theory |
Research Website Research Field: Strongly correlated systems Topics include: polarons, bipolarons, correlated electrons, spintronics, magnetic and transport properties |
| Matthew Choptuik |
Professor, Relativity/Computational Physics |
Research Website |
| Marcel Franz |
Professor, Graduate Chair, Condensed Matter Theory |
Research Website |
| Jeremy Heyl |
Associate Professor, Astronomy/Theoretical Physics |
Research Website Research Field: High-Energy Astrophysics Topics include: Compact Objects, Cosmology, Strong-field QED |
| Joanna Karczmarek |
Assistant Professor, |
Research Website Research Field: String theory Topics include: Matrix models, emergent spacetime, time dependence |
| Steven Plotkin |
Associate Professor, Theoretical Physics |
Research Website Research Field: Biophysics Theory and Computation Topics include: Protein Misfolding & Aggregation, DNA Structure and Dynamics with Coarse-Grained Models, Dielectric Properties of Proteins, The Role of Osmolytes and Denaturants on Protein Stability, Generalization of Distance to High-Dimensional Objects and Applications to Protein Folding Order Parameters, Electronic Polarization Effects in Protein Function and Ligand Binding |
| Robert Raussendorf |
Assistant Professor, Quantum Information |
Research Website Research Field: Quantum computation, quantum error correction Topics include: measurement-based models for quantum computation, fault-tolerant quantum computation under geometric constraints, quantum cellular automata |
| Joerg Rottler |
Associate Professor, Condensed Matter/Computational Physics |
Research Website Research Field: Soft Condensed Matter Topics include: Nonequilibrium dynamics of glassy systems, polymer physics, deformation and flow of amorphous materials, nucleation and growth phenomena, electrostatic effects in complex fluids |
| Moshe Rozali |
Associate Professor, Particle Theory |
Research Website Research Field: String Theory |
| George Sawatzky |
Professor, Condensed Matter Theory |
Research Website |
| Kristin Schleich |
Associate Professor, General Relativity |
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| Douglas Scott |
Professor, Astronomy/Cosmology |
Research Website Research Field: Cosmology Topics include: Structure formation, Cosmic Microwave Background, Early Universe, High redshift galaxies, Sub-mm Observations |
| Gordon Semenoff |
Professor, Particle Theory |
Research Field: Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics Topics include: String Theory, quantum field theory, quantum gravity, statistical mechanics |
| Kris Sigurdson |
Assistant Professor, Theoretical Physics and Cosmology |
Research Website Research Field: Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology Topics include: Particle Dark Matter, Early Universe Cosmology, Particle Cosmology, Cosmological Perturbation Theory, Dark Energy, Inflation, Cosmic Microwave Background, Cosmic 21-cm Fluctuations |
| Philip Stamp |
Professor, Condensed Matter Theory |
Research Website |
| William Unruh |
Professor, Theory |
Research Website Research Field: Gravity, Quantum Gravity, Quantum Foundations, Quantum Computing, Cosmology |
| Mark Van Raamsdonk |
Associate Professor, High Energy Theory/String Theory |
Research Website Research Field: String Theory, Quantum Field Theory, Quantum Gravity |
| Don Witt |
Senior Instructor, Relativity/Math. Physics |
Research Website Topics include: Relativity, Quantum Gravity and String Theory |
| Ariel Zhitnitsky |
Professor, Particle Theory/Astrophysics/Cosmology |
Research Website |
| Fei Zhou |
Associate Professor, Theoretical Atomic Physics, Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics |
Research Website Research Field: Quantum magnetism, few- and many-body physics of ultra cold atoms Topics include: Correlated Ultra-Cold Quantum Matter, Fractionalized Topological Excitations, Quantum-Fluctuation Driven Phenomena, Cold Gases near Resonances, Resonance Scattering in Optical lattices |
Adjunct Professors and Associate Members
| John Ng |
Adjunct Professor, Particle Phenomenology/Triumf |
Research Website |
