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ERC5 project "AdS/CMT"

CCTP and its Research

The Crete Center for Theoretical Physics has been conceived to enhance research and education in theoretical physics through postdoctoral fellowships and research programs that identify and explore forefront issues in theoretical physics.

It has as a goal to address current mysteries and problems in the physical universe. In particular, issues related to the nature of the fundamental interactions, the content of the universe at large, as well as the knowledge and understanding of the various forms of matter are at the forefront of the research efforts by the physicists of the center.

Currently we are in an era where important experimental and observational data are suggesting that our view and knowledge of the universe is very incomplete. Confirmation of the problems of dark matter and dark energy suggest that more than 95% of the energy of the universe contains new forms of matter and energy. And although physicists have some well motivated guesses for dark matter, they are more or less at a loss with dark energy.

The goal of the research in the Center is to address questions that pertain to understanding the universe and its functioning components. It is more obvious than ever that different basic physics questions pertaining to different areas of research are interrelated. The issues and problems in Cosmology are closely connected to those of high energy physics. The problems of theories of quantum gravity are interrelated with those of extreme astrophysics and cosmology. And string theories of quantum gravity may be interrelated with several phenomena of dense/extreme matter.

The Center has researchers with expertise in all these different directions and places particular importance in the strong interaction between different approaches.

The Center is composed of select faculty members working mostly in high energy physics and cosmology, postdoctoral fellows that are selected yearly by an international search for the most talented individuals, and visiting and adjunct fellows. The Center also hosts workshops, conferences, seminars, public lectures and other activities.

It is supervised and advised by a three-member advisory committee, consisting of C. Callan (Princeton), J. Iliopoulos (ENS) and G. Veneziano (CERN and College de France). More information on the committee members can be found at the committee site.

It is supported in its starting steps by an FP7 Capacities Grant, CreteHEPCosmo, as well as several other research grants from the EU and Greek Secretariat of Research and Technology.

The Center is located at the Physics department at the University of Crete, in the Voutes area of Heraklion.

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Research Team

The research team for this project involves several participants from the Crete Center for Theoretical Physics (CCTP) in Crete and also several external scientists. In Crete, the scientists that participate except the Coordinator of the project are V. Niarchos, C. Panagopoulos, N. Papanicolaou, X. Zotos, T. Tomaras and N. Tsamis. Tassos Petkou is also part of the research team, butu the past few years he has been at the University of Thessaloniki.

V. Niarchos is a senior scientist at CCTP. He has done important work in determining the tachyon condensation action, the search for higher-dimensional Black Holes, a key ingredient in holographic gravity and the present project, as well as on recent extensions of ABJM theories breaking new ground for 2+1 critical theories.

C. Panagopoulos is a distinguished condensed matter experimentalist. His research focuses on the physics and applications of condensed matter systems with spontaneous tendencies toward complex electronic pattern formation.

N. Papanicolaou is a senior distinguished theorist with expertise on the large-N expansion and integrable theories, spin systems and their applications to High-Tc superconductors, as well as solitons and their implications in condensed matter systems.

T. Petkou is an associate professor in Thessaloniki since beginning 2013. He is well known in the field. He is a world expert on various aspects of the holographic correspondence. His works on d>2 conformal field theories has been influential as well as his work on testing the AdS/CFT correspondence.

X. Zotos is a professor at the Physics Department of the University of Crete and worldwide known for his works on ballistic conductivity. He has long experience with strongly correlated electronic systems and the numerical solution of models of transport. He is also one of the world experts of integrable spin chains and their use in modeling real-world condensed matter systems.

The coordinator of this project is E. Kiritsis and has a rather wide experience in the topics of the project. He is involved in the whole spectrum of issues described.

An important component of the research relevant for this project is accomplished by young researchers. Several young researchers were hired in various rounds for the purposes of the project. The CCTP had access as a participating institution to a list of more than 400 applicants every year, from all academic institutions world-wide. The following researchers have been hired on this grant:

• Joao Laia (PhD University of Cambridge)
• Christopher Rosen (PhD University of Colorado)
• Fransesco Aprile (PhD university of Barcelona)
• Dylan Albrecht (PhD William and Mary College)
• Daniel Fernandez (PhD university of Barcelona)
• Francisco Jose Pena-Benitez (PhD University of Madrid)
• Jie Ren (PhD University of Princeton)
• Li Li (PhD Chinese Academy of Sciences)
• Weijia Li (PhD Beijing Normal University)
• Takaaki Ishii (PhD university of Osaka)
• Di - Lun Yang (PhD Duke University)
• David Chow (PhD University of Cambridge)


A senior researcher was also hired on a part time basis


• Nikolaos Christakis

Postgraduate Students:

• Ioannis Iatrakis
• Ioannis Constantinou

Several other young researchers from QCN also contribute to this effort, namely

• Yoshinori Matsuo (PhD University of Kyoto )
• Ayan Mukhopadyay (PhD Harish Chandra Research Institute)

Finally contribution are made by the following external Researchers:

• Matti Jarvinen (ENS, Paris)
• Umut Gursoy (University of Utrecht)
• Blaise Gouteraux (Stanford University)
• Fransesco Nitti (APC, Paris)

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