Patrick Arthur CopingerPost Doctoral Researcher

copinger_at_hiroshima-u.ac.jp

I am more broadly interested in quantum field theories and their applications from an interdisciplinary perspective, touching on themes in nuclear, high-energy, and condensed matter. Some specific questions I am trying to address include: Is there a fundamental connection between topologically driven quantum anomalies and a vacuum instability, such as the Schwinger effect? And, what emergent properties are there in systems with momentum space topology, such as for Berry’s phase? First quantized techniques, e.g., the worldline formalism, are well apt to help address some of these problems. And I am also interested in applying first quantization to novel systems; I am currently looking at applications to topological quantum computing. Please see https://inspirehep.net/authors/1806304 for a list of my current publications.

What I like about my science
I love that my work is both rewarding and stimulating. It is rewarding because I feel the problems I am addressing are impactful to a wide variety of audiences. It is stimulating because the problems themselves feel more like puzzles, which require creative solutions.