Physics Spotlight

March 2020
Photo of Javier Lopez Piqueres

Javier Lopez Piqueres

BS, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

This month the Physics Department chose one of our graduate students Javier Lopez Piqueres for his outstanding achievements in the department. In July of 2019, Javier received UMass's University Teaching Award which honors exemplary teaching at the highest level. Learn more about Javier and his research in the Q&A below!

What brought you to the University of Massachusetts to continue your studies?

The main driving force behind my decision to come here has been my advisor, Prof. Romain Vasseur. I couldn’t have found someone else whose research interests and philosophy align that well with mine. The surrounding area was also important for me: living in a small New England town meant being away from the stress and distractions of major cities. Kind of like the perfect environment for finding the peace and inspiration needed to produce theoretical work. 

 

Where did you do your undergrad? What is your degree in?

I received my bachelors in Physics at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain. I also spent a year at the University of Manchester, England.

 

Who is your faculty advisor and why did you pick them?

My advisor is Prof. Romain Vasseur. Apart from being an expert in the field I am interested in, he has a perfect balance of rigor and intuition when approaching problems. Two complementary mindsets that I value greatly.

 

What has been your favorite Graduate level course?

Last semester I started taking Advanced Algorithms from the Computer Science department. I found it quite interesting coming from a Physics background and it's connected to puzzles which I enjoy.

 

What are some of your research interests?

I’m interested in Mathematical Modeling, especially in relation to emergent phenomena, that is, collective phenomena that takes place in systems that cannot be studied by analyzing the individual constituents separately. An example relevant to Physics is phase transitions. Take an ice cube and heat it up until it melts into water. Phase transitions occur when a system changes radically, its macroscopic state, as one parameter is varied despite the fact that the individual constituents are still the same. For instance, one can distinguish ice from water by its density as the temperature goes over 0 ℃, even though the individual components are still H2O molecules. A Physics phenomenon that can be regarded as being emergent is quantum entanglement. This is one of the most striking consequences of Quantum Mechanics. In simple terms, it is a way in which two or more particles are correlated such that any action on one, has effects on the rest (even if these are far away from each other!). 

My current research focus is on Condensed Matter Theory and Statistical Physics. In particular, I’m trying to understand the role of quantum entanglement in systems made up of many particles that are not in equilibrium.

 

Has any of your research resulted in a published article?

Together with Romain and Brayden Ware (another postdoc in Romain’s group), we have recently submitted an article studying a new type of phase transition where the macroscopic states are distinguished, not by their densities, but rather by their macroscopic quantum entanglement. Such phase transitions not only give us a deeper understanding on the role of quantum entanglement in many-body systems, but are also relevant in an ongoing effort to exploit quantum devices that outperform classical computers. Parallel to this, we have also worked on questions related to the dynamics of quantum many-body systems that are very hard to simulate and for which state-of-the-art algorithms are needed. This work is under preparation and will be submitted sometime this Spring.

 

What are your future plans?

At this point I would like and plan to work on problems that require ‘pencil and paper’ theoretics. Later, switching to problems with a more direct application to experiments towards the latter stage of my PhD.

 

Is there a trend that you would like to see surface in your field of study?

Perhaps more interdisciplinary research with scientists from other fields. For instance, my first article had some overlap with a model related to disparate fields such as phylogenetics or error-correcting codes.

 

What advice would you give to undergraduates considering Graduate programs?

Attach a lot of importance to the ‘advisor’ factor in the equation. At the end of the day, you will be spending around one third of your PhD life working with (for) them.

 

Congratulations on receiving UMass’s Distinguished Teaching Award! Were you surprised when your students nominated you for this award? How do you feel about being the first Physics student to receive this award?

Thank you! I wasn’t expecting this at all. At the time of my nomination I was teaching Physics 131. I must say I found teaching the course to be very rewarding. Physics 131 is a team-based learning course, mostly taken by life-science majors. Since some of these students were experiencing Physics for the first time, I saw this as an opportunity to explain concepts in the clearest way possible.  I received the news of my nomination after being at UMass for two semesters while working as a Teaching Assistant for Physics 423, Statistical Physics. After receiving the award, I felt more motivated to do better by my students.

 

Do you have any hobbies?

Having been raised in Spain, I am a big fan of football (soccer in the U.S.). I try to play once a week with friends. I’m a big fan of sports in general, especially basketball and tennis. I also love the outdoors, activities such as hiking, skiing and canoeing. I’m always looking to incorporate other hobbies that don’t conflict with my Physics schedule, such as dancing (especially salsa and bachata) and painting (with soft pastels and watercolors).