Physics

 

Research Interests:

I am working with Prof. Anders Sandvik on condensed matter theory. I mainly focus on three projects during my PhD study:

1). Resonating Valence Bond (RVB) spin liquid was first proposed by P. W. Anderson in 1973, which may explain the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity and has become a popular research topic in recent decades. In collaboration with Prof. Chris Henley and Prof. Anders Sandvik, we successfully carried out a comprehensive study of the properties of exotic RVB states and proposed a plausibility of mapping these states to classical dimer models by classical Monte Carlo simulations. Later on, this plausibility was verified by another group (link). I am also interested in studying properties of other spin wavefunctions, for example, Amplitude Product States, which may be a good ansatz for certain Hamiltonians. This work is done in collaboration with Prof. Yu-Cheng Lin, Dr. Jie Lou and Prof. Anders Sandvik. 

2). I am working with Prof Sandvik on one type of novel quantum phase transitions: from Antiferromagnetic to Valence-Bond Solid states at zero temperature. This quantum phase transition looks continuous by a variety of work, which was not supported by the traditional Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson theory. Inspired by a newly proposed theory called deconfined criticality, we are trying to explore the novel physics existing in this quantum phase transition via our favorite quantum Monte Carlo simulations. One main goal is to study the elementary exciatations called spinons in this transition and look for explanations in the deconfined scenario. 

3). I am also learning the Renyi entropy measurement in quantum Monte Carlo from Prof. Roger Melko to study the entanglement entropy in quantum spin systems. 

Selected papers:

• 10/10/12 Correlated Valence Bond States
• 11/21/11 Properties of Resonating-Valence-Bond Spin Liquids and Critical Dimer Models
• 10/03/11 Method to Characterize Spinons as Emergent Elementary Particles

Education:

PhD Candidate, Boston University (2007-present)

B.S. in Science, Wuhan University (2004-2007, graduated with the first honor)

Undergraduate Student Exchange Program, Applied Physics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2005-2006)

Honors/Awards:

Invited Talk and Travel Award, ICAM, KITPC, Beijing, China, August 2012

Travel Award, Boulder Summer School, Boulder, CO, July 2010

Research Fellowship 2009-present

Teaching Fellowship 2007-2009