Lorenzo Maffi
Location: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Paolotti building, room Ex-Alsi
E-mail: lorenzo.maffi[at]unipd.it
About
Lorenzo is a Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Padua. During his PhD in Florence, he studied conformal field theories and critical phenomena in 1D, with emphasis on massless edge states in topological phases. Later, he investigated superconducting-semiconducting heterostructures at the Niels Bohr Institute. His research interests include quantum many-body physics and simulations of strongly interacting systems. In particular, his work focuses on designing theoretical proposals to observe exotic emergent phases, such as topological states hosting the long-sought non-abelian anyons.
Interactions play a determinant role in quantum many-body physics and can lead to exotic emergent phenomena, such as topological phases hosting non-abelian anyons. In particular, close to a quantum phase transition, the system exhibits strong quantum correlations that can affect the dynamical properties of low-energy excitations. Vortices in the 2D Bose-Hubbard model become strongly interacting as the system approaches the Mott insulating phase, where exotic physics may emerge.