Physics (Internal)
Office Hours: Monday from 11:00AM to 12:00PM and by appointment
Research Interests:
Computational and High Energy Physics
My research spans a range of topics in computational and high energy physics. These include applications of simulation techniques to field theory and particle theory, quantum lattice gauge theories, calculations of non-perturbative properties of Quantum Chromodynamics, lattice investigations of strong coupling models of electroweak symmetry breaking and other “beyond the standard model” theories, renormalization group methods for quantum field theories and spin systems, semiclassical methods for quantum field theory, algorithm development, inclusion of fermionic degrees of freedom in computer simulations, and multigrid methods.
Selected Publications:
"Large scale separation and resonances within LHC range from a prototype BSM model" by A. Hasenfratz, C. Rebbi, and O. Witzel, Physics Letters B773, 86 (2017)
"Semiclassical study of baryon and lepton number violation in high-energy electroweak collisions" by F.~Bezrukov, D. Levkov, C. Rebbi and V. Rubakov, Physical Review D68, 036005 (2003)
"Experiments with a gauge-invariant Ising system" by M. Creutz, L. Jacobs, and C. Rebbi, Physical Review Letters 42, 1390 (1979)
"Quantum dynamics of a massless relativistic string" by P. Goddard, J. Goldstone, C. Rebbi, and C. Thorn, Nuclear Physics B56, 109 (1973)
"Vacuum periodicity in a Yang-Mills quantum theory" by R. Jackiw and C. Rebbi, Physical Review Letters 37, 172 (1976)
For a full list of publications, please see the attached CV.
Education:
- B.S in Physics, University of Turin
- Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics, University of Turin
Honors/Awards:
- Fellow of the American Physical Society
- 2013 Gitner Award for distinguished teaching in the College of Arts and Sciences
In the news:
Research Descriptions:
Quantum Chromodynamics
A crucial component of the scientific process consists of deriving quantitative predictions from assumed theoretical models. The power of modern computers has added a new dimension to this aspect of research. Today, physicists can use advanced numerical techniques to simulate the behavior of very complex systems and thus solve problems that defy the more traditional methods of mathematical analysis. Scientists in the particle theory group have been applying forefront computational methods to the study of quantum chromodynamics (QCD, the theory of interacting quarks and gluons) and to other particle models. Space-time is approximated by a lattice of points, and the fundamental fields, defined over this lattice, are represented by an extremely large collection of numbers stored in the memory of a supercomputer. Calculating at the rate of billions of operations per second, the computer simulates the effects of quantum fluctuations of the fields. From such techniques, one can calculate fundamental observables such as particle masses or the temperature at which quarks and gluons become unbound and evaluate matrix elements crucial for the interpretation of collider experiments. Students, research staff, and faculty working on these problems avail themselves of the supercomputer resources and support structure of the Center for Computational Science. While doing research in the fascinating and challenging field of subatomic particles, students also acquire invaluable expertise in the use of the most modern and powerful supercomputer technologies.