Research interests
Microscopic physics, such as quantum mechanics, and macroscopic physics, such as thermodynamics, have developed independently and succeeded in describing each of the scales. My main goal is to understand macroscopic many-body phenomena, particularly universality of nonequlibrium dynamics, from microscopic dynamics.
These problems have long history. Indeed, von Neumann first discussed (a hundred years ago!) why isolated quantum many-body systems relax to thermal equilibrium only via unitary time evolutions. On the other hand, recent experimental developments of artificial quantum systems, represented by ultracold atomic systems, have enabled us to control microscopic quantum dynamics with high precision and observe emergent many-body phenomena. This means that we can now test foundation of statistical mechanics in laboratory. Motivated by this, the last decades have witnessed a great progress on theoretical understanding of relaxation to thermal equilibrium in isolated quantum systems.
Nevertheless, our understanding of nonequlibirium states is still poor. We expect that discovering the relationship between nonequlibrium macroscopic systems and quantum dynamics pioneers new frontiers of quantum physics. We also think that it can pioneer interdisciplinary fields, along with recent developments on e.g., condensed matter, quantum information, and high-energy physics.
We are now particularly interested in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of open quantum many-body systems, which are associated with dissipation or measurement. Such external environment can lead to a nontrivial consequence on nonequlibrium dynamics and stationary states. Moreover, dissipation and measurement can be controlled using e.g., cold atomic systems, which offers an experimental platform to investigate nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of open quantum systems.
With this background, we theoretically try to understand and control open quantum many-body systems from the knowledge of microscopic dynamics. Moreover, we also hope to discuss and contribute to interdisciplinary study on dissipative classical systems (e.g, biological systems and soft matter systems).
Of course, even without recent motivations mentioned above, I think it physicists' dream to elucidate nonequilibrium phenomena. We hope to contribute to understanding of nonequilibrium physics in some way through discussions and collaborations, as well as the above-mentioned topics.