Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie

Prof. Dr. John Bulava

Prof. Dr. John Bulava

Theoretische Physik, insbesondere Hadronenphysik

NB 6/123
Tel.: +49 234 32 23723

john.bulava(at)rub.de

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Foto: Katja Marquard, RUB

Research

The group’s main research activities are computer simulations of the strong nuclear force.
Like van der Waals forces between atoms (but much stronger), the interaction between the protons and neutrons in atomic nuclei emerge from the dynamics of the quarks contained within them. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the quantum field theory describing the behavior of quarks, is however only analytically tractable at distances much smaller than the typical size of ‚hadrons‘ like the proton and neutron.

Large-scale high-performance computer simulations of QCD on a discrete space-time lattice (lattice QCD) are therefore required to study hadron properties and interactions directly from first principles. Of particular interest are scattering processes involving hyperons, which are hadrons containing strange quarks. Hyperon interactions are an ongoing challenge for experiments but are key for understanding the properties of neutron stars and ‚hypernuclei‘ which contain hyperons in addition to protons and neutrons.

Lattice QCD computations of hyperon scattering amplitudes support experimental efforts at GSI and elsewhere, and provide useful input to chiral effective theories. Furthermore, such simulations can serve as thought experiments to study the effect of changes in the fundamental constants of Nature, like the quark masses and number of quark flavors.

Zur Person

Ausbildung

2001 – 2005

B.Sc. in Physics and Mathematics, 2001 – 2005, The George Washington University, USA

M.Sc. in Physics, 2005 – 2006, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

2006 – 2009 Doctorate, Prof. Dr. Colin Morningstar, Nuclear and Particle Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, USA

Beruflicher Werdegang

2005 – 2009 Research Associate, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
2009 PhD Degree, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
2009 – 2011 Postdoctoral Research Fellow (lattice gauge theory), Neumann Institute for Computing (NIC), Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen, Germany
2011 – 2013 Theory Fellow (non-member state), CERN Theory Division, Switzerland
2013 – 2016 Hitachi Assistant Professor of High Performance Computing, School of Mathematics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
2016 – 2019 Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and CP3-Origins Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

2019 – 2021

 

Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and CP3-Origins Institute, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
2021 – 2023 Staff Scientist, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Zeuthen, Germany
seit 2023 Professor (W2) for Theoretical Hadron Physics, Faculty of Physics & Astronomy, Bochum, Germany

 

 

 

 

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