Current Project Description

Courtney Lannert –Condensed Matter Theory and Many-Electron Systems

My research focuses on collective properties of electrons in condensed matter systems. Many highly-studied materials (such as the high-temperature superconductors) seem to exhibit properties which cannot be explained by the simplest, non-interacting electron models. Theoretically, including electron-electron interactions into models of these systems can be quite difficult but can also lead to fascinating properties. In my research, I hope to understand better the experimental consequences and physical meaning of these theoretical ideas. This summer, I am looking for students who would like to study electron-electron interactions on a very basic level-- by looking at the effect of these interactions on the quantum mechanical wavefunction of the system. In particular, I am working to develop simple numerical methods for analyzing many-body wavefunctions, such as variational Monte Carlo algorithms. For strongly-correlated electron systems, the many-electron wavefunction displays cooperation between the electrons. By choosing a wavefunction with a certain type of cooperation, one can use variational methods to determine whether this behavior "matches" a certain physical system. This is a particularly direct approach, which cuts to the heart of the question: "what are the electrons doing in these mysterious materials?"

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