NEW HOT PAPERS

Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

This paper is a comprehensive review of Dynamical Mean Field Theory (DMFT), a new approach to predict the physical properties of “strongly correlated materials” starting from first principles, namely without using any empirical information.

Would you summarize the significance of your paper in layman’s terms?

Strongly correlated materials are systems displaying a wealth of remarkable properties, ranging from high-temperature superconductivity (high-Tc), giant changes in resistivity as a response of applied magnetic fields or pressure, a high thermoelectric figure of merit, and coexistence of ferromagnetism and ferrolectricity, to name a few. They have great potential for practical applications, and at the same time pose an enormous intellectual challenge.

In weakly correlated electron systems, such as noble metals and semiconductors, the electrons move freely as independent particles. This is not the case in the strongly correlated materials, and DMFT is a technique which was developed recently to describe the resulting properties. I was one of the recipients of the 2006 Agilent Technologies Europhysics Prize for my significant contributions to this development.

Where do you see your research leading in the future?

The unique functionalities of strongly correlated electron materials promise to revolutionize the technology of the future. DMFT has the methodology to open the road towards rational material design using strongly correlated electron systems. The idea here is to accelerate the process of innovation and discovery using the theoretical guidance and computational algorithms of DMFT.

Professor Gabriel Kotliar
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Piscataway, NJ, USA