"PhD Studentship: Non-equilibrium Quantum Many-body Dynamics"

PhD Studentship: Non-equilibrium Quantum Many-body Dynamics

University of Birmingham - School of Physics and Astronomy

Qualification Type:	PhD
Location:	Birmingham
Funding for:	UK Students, EU Students, International Students
Funding amount:	£20,780 p.a.
Hours:	Full Time

Placed On:	22nd December 2025
Closes:	23rd January 2026

Macroscopic matter is composed of a huge number of quantum particles whose dynamics are typically dominated by interactions. In spite of this immense complexity, when a macroscopic object is in (or close to) an equilibrium state its gross properties are efficiently described by a rather simple set of macroscopic equations: the glorious laws of thermodynamics. One of the greatest challenges of theoretical physics is to devise a quantitative description of matter when, instead, it is far from any equilibrium state.

This project aims to study the out-of-equilibrium regime of quantum matter, which has become accessible experimentally only about twenty years ago, and is now used to realise the first noisy quantum computers. In particular, the main goals are to understand:

1. the non-equilibrium dynamics of interacting quantum matter;
2. how thermodynamics emerges from it.

The project will involve analytical and numerical approaches. It will be supervised by Dr Bruno Bertini (b.bertini@bham.ac.uk).

Funding notes:

This is a fully funded position which includes the standard UK PhD stipend (currently set at £20,780 per year) and lasts for four years.