Further Opportunities for Young Researchers at PGI-2
We don’t always advertise our vacancies. Anyone with an interest in our research topics is welcome to send in an application.
| If interested, please feel free to contact | Prof. Dr David DiVincenzo | |
| Phone: Fax: Email: | +49 2461 61 3428 +49 2461 61 2620 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 realisticcalculations of structures and properties of metals like iron- and aluminium alloys, semiconductors like silicon or GaAsand 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 methodslike 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. Thedevelopment 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 achallenge for theoreticians. The prediction of properties of such a disordered solid state is even more difficult. Questionsof 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 hydrodynamicflow. 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 nonequilibriumprocess. We observe regular and irregular, compact and fractal structures.
In solid phases, these nonequilibrium patterns can freeze during the production process. Often, hydrodynamic flow isinvolved in these processes. We analyze this type of nonlinear dynamical systems (especially those with many degrees offreedom) with analytical methods (perturbation theory, multiple scaling analysis) and numerical techniques (Monte-Carlosimulations, phase field methods, Green function methods, general nonlinear partial differential and integro-differentialequations).