Roger Melko

Roger Melko's picture
Associate Faculty
University of Waterloo - Department of Physics and Astronomy

Area of Research:
Condensed Matter
Phone: x8560

Research Interests

My group's interests involve strongly-correlated quantum many-body systems, with a focus on emergent phenomena, novel phases and phase transitions, quantum criticality, and entanglement. We emphasize computational methods as a theoretical technique, in particular the development of state-of-the-art algorithms for the study of strongly-interacting systems. Our work has employed Monte Carlo simulations, Density Matrix Renormalization Group, Series Expansions, and related methods, to explore low-temperature physics in quantum magnets, cold atoms in optical lattices, bosonic fluids, and models of topological quantum computers. I am particularly involved in studying microscopic models that display interesting quantum behavior in the bulk, such as superconducting, spin liquid, topological, superfluid or supersolid phases. We are also interested in broader ideas in computational physics, the development of efficient algorithms for simulating quantum mechanical systems on classical computers, and the relationship of these methods to the field of quantum information science.

Positions Held

  • 2007- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo Professor
  • 2005-2007 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee Wigner Fellow

Awards

  • Young Scientist Prize in Computational Physics, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), "for his innovative and deep achievements in developing quantum Monte Carlo methods for quantum information theory and condensed matter physics."
  • Early Researcher Award, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation

Recent Publications

  • Jason Iaconis, Stephen Inglis, Ann B. Kallin, and Roger G. Melko Detecting classical phase transitions with Renyi mutual information Phys. Rev. B 87, 195134 - Published 28 May 2013 arXiv: 1210.2403
  • Stephen Inglis, Roger G. Melko, Entanglement at a Two-Dimensional Quantum Critical Point: a T=0 Projector Quantum Monte Carlo Study, New J. Phys. 15 073048 (2013) arxiv:cond-mat.str-el/1305.1069
  • L. D. C. Jaubert, M. J. Harris, T. Fennell, R. G. Melko, S. T. Bramwell, and P. C. W. Holdsworth Topological-Sector Fluctuations and Curie-Law Crossover in Spin Ice Phys. Rev. X 3, 011014 - Published 21 February 2013 arXiv: 1204.6266
  • Stephen Inglis and Roger G. Melko Wang-Landau method for calculating Rényi entropies in finite-temperature quantum Monte Carlo simulations Phys. Rev. E 87, 013306 - Published 22 January 2013 arXiv: 1207.5052
  • Jean-Marie Stéphan, Hyejin Ju, Paul Fendley and Roger G Melko Entanglement in gapless resonating-valence-bond states New J. Phys. 15 015004 (2013) arXiv: 1207.3820
  • Ribhu K. Kaul, Roger G. Melko, Anders W. Sandvik Bridging lattice-scale physics and continuum field theory with quantum Monte Carlo simulations Annu. Rev. Con. Mat. Phys. 4, 179 (2013) arXiv: 1204.5405
  • Ann B. Kallin, Katharine Hyatt, Rajiv R. P. Singh, Roger G. Melko, Entanglement at a Two-Dimensional Quantum Critical Point: a Numerical Linked Cluster Expansion Study, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 135702 (2013), arXiv: 1212.5269
  • Rajiv R. P. Singh, Roger G. Melko, and Jaan Oitmaa Thermodynamic singularities in the entanglement entropy at a two-dimensional quantum critical point Phys. Rev. B 86, 075106 - Published 6 August 2012 arXiv: 1204.1340
  • Fate of CP(N-1) fixed points with q-monopoles Matthew S. Block, Roger G. Melko, Ribhu K. Kaul, arXiv: 1307.0519 Submitted to Physical Review Letters
  • Non-monotonic residual entropy in diluted spin ice: a comparison between Monte Carlo simulations of diluted dipolar spin ice models and experimental results, T. Lin, X. Ke, M. Thesberg, P. Schiffer, R. G. Melko, M. J. P. Gingras, arXiv: 1303.7240 Submitted to Physical Review B
  • Strongly Correlated Systems: Numerical Methods Chapter 7: Stochastic Series Expansion Quantum Monte Carlo By Roger Melko Springer Series in Solid-State Sciences Volume 176, 2013, pp 185-206