News from the Physics Department

Science is exciting! These pages keep you up to date on what is happening at the Physics Department: scientists report on research and campus life.

A new fur for the Quantum Cat

2022-09-02 – Be it magnets or superconductors: materials are known for their various properties. However, these properties may change spontaneously under extreme conditions. Researchers at the Technische Universität München (TUM) and the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) have discovered an entirely new type of such phase transitions. They display the phenomenon of quantum entanglement involving many atoms, which previously has only been observed in the realm of few atoms.

Obituary: Professor Dr. Wilhelm Brenig

2022-07-05 – On May 12, 2022, Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Jakob Rudolf Brenig, full professor emeritus for theoretical physics at TUM, passed away at the age of 92. He was one of the founding fathers of today's Physics Department at TUM.

When quantum particles fly like bees

2022-05-13 – A quantum system consisting of only 51 charged atoms can assume more than two quadrillion different states. Calculating the system’s behavior is a piece of cake for a quantum simulator. Yet even with today’s supercomputers it is almost impossible to verify the result. A research team from the University of Innsbruck and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now shown how these systems can be described using equations from the 18th century.

Fit for quantum

2022-03-25 – The universities in Augsburg, Bayreuth, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Munich, Regensburg, and Würzburg will each receive 144,000 euros for their physics departments from the Hightech Agenda Bayern funds – State Minister of Science Blume: “Bavaria is a top location internationally for quantum technologies.”

Waves on circular paths

2022-03-09 – Just as electrons flow through an electrical conductor, magnetic excitations can travel through certain materials. Such excitations, known in physics as “magnons” in analogy to the electron, could transport information much more easily than electrical conductors. An international research team has now made an important discovery on the road to such components, which could be highly energy-efficient and considerably smaller.

Coronavirus : Current information on studies, teaching and exams (rom 17 February 2022: “3G rule”))

2022-02-15 – In view of the dynamics of the current situation, we refer to the relevant information on the TUM website and restrict ourselves to a few specific instructions from the Faculty of Physics . In order to identify changes quickly, the date of the last change is added to the individual paragraphs.

Obituary: Professor Dr. Georg Michael Kalvius

2022-01-31 – Am 5. November 2021 starb Professor G. Michael Kalvius, emeritierter Ordinarius für Experimentalphysik der TUM, im Alter von 88 Jahren in seiner Wahlheimat Luzern.

TV report about TUM's corona research

2022-01-11 – On December 27 and 28, Sat.1 Bayern reported about corona research in Bavaria. Among the key topics was a new X-ray technology that could be used to diagnose Covid-19. Dark-field X-ray imaging is a novel technology developed by Franz Pfeiffer, Professor of Biomedical Physics and Director of the Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering (MIBE) at the Technical University of Munich.

New materials for quantum technologies

2021-12-23 – While conventional electronics relies on the transport of electrons, components that convey spin information alone may be many times more energy efficient. Physicists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart have now made an important advance in the development of novel materials for such components. These materials may also be the key to quantum computers that are less susceptible to interference.

The tetra-neutron – a miniature neutron star

2021-12-13 – While all atomic nuclei except hydrogen are composed of protons and neutrons, physicists have been searching for a particle consisting of two, three or four neutrons for over half a century. Experiments by a team of physicists of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) at the accelerator laboratory on the Garching research campus now indicate that a particle comprising four bound neutrons may well exist.

Twisting elusive quantum particles

2021-12-07 – While the number of qubits and the stability of quantum states are still limiting current quantum computing devices, there are questions where these processors are already able to leverage their enormous computing power. In collaboration with the Google Quantum AI team scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of Nottingham used a quantum processor to simulate the ground state of a so-called toric code Hamiltonian – an archetypical model system in modern condensed matter physics, which was originally proposed in the context of quantum error correction.

Prof. Dr. Rainer Blatt new TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professor

2021-11-26 – Prof. Dr. Rainer Blatt, experimental physicist and Scientific Director of the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, was awarded the TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professorship on 11 November 2021.

Obituary: Prof. Dr. Shawn Bishop (1971 - 2021)

2021-10-29 – The Physics Department mourns the untimely loss of Prof. Dr. Shawn Bishop. After a long and serious illness he passed away on 19 October 2021, just a few days before his 50th birthday.

New X-ray technology first used with patients

2021-10-26 – For the first time, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have successfully used a new X-ray method for respiratory diagnostics with patients. Dark-field X-rays visualize early changes in the alveolar structure caused by the lung disease COPD and require only one fiftieth of the radiation dose typically applied in X-ray computed tomography. This permits broad medical application in early detection and treatment follow-up of respiratory ailments.

Unusual superconductivity with two phases

2021-09-30 – Materials with multiple superconducting phases have so far rarely been observed. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids and the Technical University of Munich are now reporting on the discovery of a two-phase unconventional superconductivity in the heavy fermion superconductor CeRh\(_2\)As\(_2\). Their observations have been published in the journal Science.

The virus trap

2021-07-15 – To date, there are no effective antidotes against most virus infections. An interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now developed a new approach: they engulf and neutralize viruses with nano-capsules tailored from genetic material using the DNA origami method. The strategy has already been tested against hepatitis and adeno-associated viruses in cell cultures. It may also prove successful against corona viruses.

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