My work applies the principles of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics to systems of a large number of strongly interacting particles, to understand and describe macroscopic quantum phenomena such as magnetism and superconductivity. I also work on mathematical models which exhibit phase transitions, a striking and ubiquitous phenomenon which involves correlations between particles over macroscopic volumes.

These studies are largely based on lattice models and use a variety of analytic and numerical techniques requiring the use of supercomputers. I am also interested in other aspects of the theory of condensed matter, and theoretical physics more generally.

• Series expansion for the J1-J2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice. J. Oitmaa and Zheng Weihong, Phys. Rev., B54, 3022 (1996).
• Series expansion for the massive Schwinger model in Hamiltonian lattice theory. C.J. Hamer, W. Zheng and J. Oitmaa, Phys. Rev., D56, 55 (1997).
• Novel approach to description of spin liquid phases in low-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets. V. Kotov, O. Sushkov, W. Zheng and J. Oitmaa, Phys Rev Lett., 80, 5790 (1998).
• Local magnetic impurities in the 2D quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet. V. Kotov, J. Oitmaa and O. Sushkov, Phys. Rev., B58, (In Press).

School of Physics
The University of New South Wales
SYDNEY 2052
Australia

J.Oitmaa@unsw.edu.au

61 2 9385 4596
61 2 9385 4566

61 2 9385 6060