PhD in Theory and Numerical Simulation of Condensed Matter
The PhD curriculum in Theory and Simulation of Condensed Matter is addressed to highly motivated students interested in undertaking a research activity in the multifaced and constantly evolving field of condensed matter theory.
Curricula
Quantum Science and Technologies
Courses offered by the curriculum:
- Introduction to Quantum Computation and Information (Giuseppe Santoro)
- Quantum Algorithms (Guglielmo Mazzola)
- Quantum Hardware (Rosario Fazio, Marcello Dalmonte)
- Quantum Physics with Tensors (Mario Collura)
- Quantum Many-Body Physics (Massimo Capone)
- Quantum Physics Out of Equilibrium (Alessandro Silva)
- Quantum Sensors and Metrology (Alessandro Silva)
High-performance Modeling of Materials
The PhD curriculum in High-performance Modeling of Materials is designed to equip students with advanced theoretical and computational tools to understand and design materials.
The program focuses on the development and application of methods ranging from classical and quantum atomistic simulations of many-body systems to machine learning and high-performance computing.
Courses and research projects deal with a wide range of materials and molecular systems, including low-dimensional matter, nanostructures and quantum materials, of fundamental scientific relevance and/or technological applications.
PhD theses address key challenges in the theory and numerical modelling of materials, possibly in collaboration with the CNR Materials Foundry, faculties of the SISSA-ICTP Master in HPC (https://www.mhpc.it/), leading industrial partners and startups.
Courses offered by the curriculum:
- Foundations
- Electronic structure and quantum simulation of materials I, II and III (Stefano de Gironcoli, Andrea Dal Corso, Antimo Marrazzo)
- Theoretical foundations of molecular dynamics (SBP – Bussi)
- Statistical mechanics (Giuseppe Santoro)
- Quantum many body systems and strongly correlated electrons I (Massimo Capone)
- Hands-on laboratories and practical applications
- How to train your network (Stefano de Gironcoli)
- Ab initio thermodynamics of materials (Andrea Dal Corso)
- High-performance computing for materials simulations (Pietro Delugas, Antimo Marrazzo)
- Make your mean-field dynamical! (Massimo Capone)
- Specialized and advanced modules
- Machine learning for materials science (Stefano de Gironcoli)
- Electronic structure: from blackboard to code (Stefano de Gironcoli)
- Scalar and fully relativistic pseudopotential theory (Andrea Dal Corso)
- Introduction to group theory for molecules and solids (Andrea Dal Corso)
- Strongly correlated systems: from the Fermi-liquid theory to DMFT and beyond (Massimo Capone)
- Quantum many body systems and strongly correlated electrons II (Michele Fabrizio)
- Advanced topological materials (Antimo Marrazzo)
- Monte Carlo methods (TBA)
Admission
Students are selected through an international selection based on academic qualifications, a written exam and an oral interview. The deadline for the Spring call is early March of every year (see details in "Online Application", at the bottom of the page).
The standard duration of the Ph.D. program is four years, but the defense can be anticipated up to the end of the third year.
All SISSA students are awarded a grant (currently € 1.195,00 net/month approximately). A contribution towards living expenses of the amount of € 1.800,00 per year will also be provided in the presence of a regular rental contract.
During the first year the students attend classes where they learn the most advanced tools for modeling and studying states of matter, from ab-initio simulation of real materials and molecules, to quantum simulation of lattice models, from the classical statistical theory of many-body systems to its quantum counterpart, and become familiar with the broad research carried on at SISSA through more focused courses (further information in the section Teaching). This preliminary stage provides students with a common background and all the information necessary to decide in full autonomy their research plan.
The subsequent three years in the PhD program are devoted to research activity under the guidance of one or more supervisors, chosen by the student in the second part of the first year. Yearly progress reports ensure timely detection and solution of possible difficulties. At the end of the program the students have to submit and defend their thesis in order to obtain the Ph.D. degree, equivalent to the Italian "Dottore di ricerca".
More information about admission can be found here: