Our research group is mainly interested in the following main directions:
Nonequilibrium Statistical Physics
Statistical mechanics in equilibrium is quite simple: If a system is in equilibrium with a heat bath, the probability to find a microscopic configuration is proportional to exp(-E/T). Not so under non-equilibrium conditions. Here one has so many new interesting phenomena such as non-trivial phase transitions, fluctuation relations, and much more. In addition, there are numerous applications, including traffic jams, spin chains, percolation systems, fluctuation relations and more. The methods are very diverse, ranging from analytical methods to high-performance computing.
Quantum Information Theory
Combining Statistics and Quantum Physics is the first step to get in touch with the theory of Quantum Information, a new interdisciplinary field between physics, mathematics, and information science. In our group we are paticularly interested in the fundamental aspects of quantum information, especially in the context of AdS/CFT correspondence. A very interesting recent approach deals with so-called tensor networks, which can be seen as highly regular quantum computation circuits and at the same time as a kind of explicit realization of a bulk/boundary duality.