Kevin Wang is currently a 4th Ph.D. student in the Department of Physics where he is advised by Professor Joel E. Moore. Kevin received a B.S. in Physics with Distinction from Stanford University and an MSc in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics from the University of Oxford, where he studied the effects of decoherence on topological quantum memories.
Kevin’s doctoral research focuses broadly on quantum magnetism in a variety of contexts. Specifically, he has worked on developing minimal models to explain spin wave behavior in a Kagome ferromagnet. He has also employed numerical methods involving matrix product states to simulate dynamical correlations in spin liquid candidate systems, as well as to study the high temperature transport properties of certain integrable spin chains.
As a Kavli ENSI fellow, Kevin will work on understanding the effects of perturbations on the high temperature spin transport of certain integrable quantum spin models. Recent research on the well-known 1D quantum Heisenberg model has revealed anomalous “superdiffusive” behavior for spin transport at high temperature. The question of how this transport returns to standard diffusion on the inclusion of integrability-breaking perturbations is an ongoing research question of particular relevance to physical systems. Kevin will address this question using matrix product state simulations bolstered by theoretical analysis in a variety of quasi-1D configurations of interest, such as ladders and nanoribbons. Understanding and controlling these transport phenomena at the nanoscale is crucial for spintronics applications and will inform the development of nanoscale imaging tools needed to characterize and manipulate spin transport in next generation devices.