Conductance of quantum impurity models from quantum monte carlo

Prof. Chandrasekharan is interested in understanding quantum field theories non-perturbatively from first principles calculations. His research focuses on lattice formulations of these theories with emphasis on strongly correlated fermionic systems of interest in condensed matter, particle and nuclear physics. He develops novel Monte-Carlo algorithms to study these problems. He is particularly excited about solutions to the notoriously difficult sign problem that haunts quantum systems containing fermions and gauge fields. He has proposed an idea called the fermion bag approach, using which he has been able to solve numerous sign problems that seemed unsolvable earlier. Using various algorithmic advances over the past decade, he is interested in understanding the properties of quantum critical points containing interacting fermions. Some of his recent publications can be found here. Recently he is exploring how one can use quantum computers to solve quantum field theories. 

The broad focus of Prof. Baranger's group is quantum open systems at the nanoscale, particularly the generation of correlation between particles in such systems. Fundamental interest in nanophysics-- the physics of small, nanometer scale, bits of solid-- stems from the ability to control and probe systems on length scales larger than atoms but small enough that the averaging inherent in bulk properties has not yet occurred. Using this ability, entirely unanticipated phenomena can be uncovered on the one hand, and the microscopic basis of bulk phenomena can be probed on the other. Additional interest comes from the many links between nanophysics and nanotechnology. Within this thematic area, our work ranges from projects trying to nail down realistic behavior in well-characterized systems, to more speculative projects reaching beyond regimes investigated experimentally to date.

Correlations between particles are a central issue in many areas of condensed matter physics, from emergent many-body phenomena in complex materials, to strong matter-light interactions in quantum information contexts, to transport properties of single molecules. Such correlations, for either electrons or bosons (photons, plasmons, phonons,…), underlie key phenomena in nanostructures. Using the exquisite control of nanostructures now possible, experimentalists will be able to engineer correlations in nanosystems in the near future. Of particular interest are cases in which one can tune the competition between different types of correlation, or in which correlation can be tunably enhanced or suppressed by other effects (such as confinement or interference), potentially causing a quantum phase transition-- a sudden, qualitative change in the correlations in the system.

My recent work has addressed correlations in both electronic systems (quantum wires and dots) and photonic systems (photon waveguides). We have focused on 3 different systems: (1) qubits coupled to a photonic waveguide, (2) quantum dots in a dissipative environment, and (3) interfaces between graphene and a superconductor, particularly when graphene is in the quantum Hall state. The methods used are both analytical and numerical, and are closely linked to experiments.