Mathematical Physics

Klink, Meurice, Polyzou, Rodgers, Jorgensen, Muhly, Ton-That

Mathematical physics is an interdisciplinary subject where theoretical physics and mathematics intersect. The University of Iowa has held an ongoing mathematical physics seminar for the past twenty years, in which faculty from both mathematics and physics actively participate. Topics of interest include relativistic quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, representation theory of groups and quantum groups, theory of dynamical systems, quantum computing, phase transitions, quantum chaos, lattice gauge theory and C-star algebras.		Image gallery
Our program in Mathematical Physics is one of the few in the U.S. that is fully interdisciplinary, combining both physicists and mathematicians in a working relationship. Every semester our seminar includes talks given by distinguished visitors, including Field medallists. We also organize workshops held on campus here at Iowa, attracting speakers from around the world; we've organized two such workshops in six years. Students may work on interdisciplinary research topics involving mathematics and theoretical physics. They can obtain a PhD through the University's Applied Mathematical and Computational Sciences program, in which a physicist and a mathematician jointly supervise the dissertation. Two students have recently completed such dissertations; one teaches in a mathematics department, the other is doing economic research for a private company.

• Primary research area is the application of group theory to relativistic quantum mechanics
• Topics include: representation theory of groups, applied to relativistic nuclear theory and quantum field theory
• Professor with joint appointments in Physics and Mathematics
• Several PhD theses in the Applied Mathematics program have been completed in the last ten years, supervised jointly with Professor Ton-That

• Topics related to statistical mechanics include phase transitions in Ising models and global properties of renormalization group flows
• Studies of large-order behavior of perturbative expansions; large-field contributions to path integral
• Previous students now employed as: postdoc at University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign; instructor at Hawkeye College; senior research scientist in a driving-simulation project
• Students travel to summer schools and conferences

• Scattering theory, relativistic quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, dynamical systems
• Students also interact with other faculty in Physics and Mathematics departments
• Is a professor in two programs: Physics; Applied Mathematical and Computational Sciences
• Students develop skills in writing code in C or Fortran

• Infinite dimensional Lie algebras as related to string theory; co-adjoint representations and field theories
• Computation includes use of symbolic manipulation software
• Students participate with mathematics professors
• Students develop mathematical skills including analytical, numerical, and symbolic methods
• In most years, grant support is available for student travel to conferences

• Particles, fields, geometry, relativity, quantum computing algorithms, spectrum
• Mathematics professor, eligible to co-advise physics theses
• Author of book on wavelets
• Students develop theoretical and computational skills
• Former students are mostly employed in academia; some are employed in industry
• Previous students have often been supported as RA's

• Mathematical underpinnings of quantum mechanics, particularly those of quantum field theory and quantum statistical mechanics
• Mathematics professor, eligible to co-advise physics theses
• Students develop skills including a wide range of analytical tools from a number of fields of mathematics
• All former students are employed in mathematically oriented jobs, either in industry or in academia
• In most years, grant support is available for an RA stipend and student travel to conferences

• Group theory
• Mathematics professor, eligible to co-advise physics theses
• Two previous PhD theses were advised jointly with Professor Klink: one is now an associate professor at Eastern Louisiana State University, the other works for a high tech firm in Oregon
• Students develop theoretical and computational skills