We are an Emmy Noether Research group at the University of Cologne, led by Urban Seifert. Our work is concerned with the theory of quantum materials, with a particular focus on quantum matter in van der Waals heterostructures and novel phenomena in optically driven systems.
For more, please see our > research page and get to know our team > here.
News
Nov/2025Congratulations to graduating students!
In September, Mark Hannappel successfully defended his Bachelor's thesis, and in November, Partha Sarker completed his Master's degree. Congratulations! Partha will continue research in our group as a PhD student.
Sep/2025New preprints: magnetism in Hubbard models for moiré bilayers and field-induced gauge fluxes in QED3
We investigated the fate of (2+1)-dim. quantum electrodynamics in a Zeeman field in > arXiv:2508.08528, a problem relevant to frustrated triangular lattice antiferromagnets in magnetic fields. We find that the gauge field generates a finite flux! This results in relativistic Landau levels for the fermions and a number of verifiable predictions for experiments. In > arXiv:2505.06339, we investigate Hubbard models with longer-ranged interactions at fractional fillings: we show that self-organised charge crystals are new platforms that can host quantum spin liquid states.
May/2025Welcoming new group members
A warm welcome to Ruben Burkard, who has recently started as a PhD student in our group, and Mark Hannappel, who is working on his Bachelor's research project!
Apr/2025New preprints: altermagnetism in spin liquids and topologically enabled superconductivity
We have recently finished two preprints: altermagnetism can be implemented projectively in fractionalized spin liquids > arXiv:2504.12298, and a topological mechanism for superconductivity with possible connections to recent experiments on rhombohedral graphene > arXiv:2504.13166.
Dec/2024Starting up and new website
We are excited that our Emmy Noether group at the University of Cologne officially started in Nov. 2024! Haoyang Tian has joined the group as a PhD student and Partha Sarker as Master's student.