14 May 2025

Villum Investigator grant to Jan Philip Solovej

Research funding

Jan Philip Solovej receives DKK 30 million to search for a mathematical explanation of the periodic table's structure and phenomena such as superfluid and superconducting matter.

Jan Philip Solovej

The research project aims to elucidate fundamental properties of quantum matter, matter that is at a size scale or temperature where quantum physics plays a role, from atoms, molecules to larger systems of quantum materials.

"Can we give a mathematical explanation for the periodic table's structure and phenomena like superconducting or superfluid matter?" asks Jan Philip Solovej.

His project also looks at how the states of quantum matter can be manipulated and specifically sent from a sender to a receiver as part of what can be called a quantum communication process. The focus here is on the capabilities of quantum communication and especially processes that preserve symmetries such as rotational symmetry.

Jan Philip Solovej is a professor of mathematical physics. MSc from the University of Copenhagen in 1985. He has a PhD in mathematics from Princeton University, USA, where he later served as an assistant professor for several years. He was a researcher at various universities in the United States for more than 10 years. 1995-1997 he was a research professor at Aarhus University, Denmark, and has since 1997 been a professor at the Department of Mathematical Sciences, UCPH. Since 2016, Solovej has been the Centre Leader of the VILLUM Centre of Excellence for the Mathematics of Quantum Theory (QMATH), and he is the head of studies for the new MSc programme in Quantum Science.

"I'm pleased that this Villum Investigator grant makes it possible to continue and further develop the fantastic research environment we have created in QMATH," says Jan Philip. Specifically, the project includes five postdoc positions, four two-year and one three-year, and six PhD scholarships.

"The research group will be an integral part of the larger research environment in the QMATH centre, so it will not be built from scratch. The grant includes as sub-projects collaboration with all the permanent researchers in QMATH: Matthias Christandl, Søren Fournais, Laura Mancinska and Albert Werner", says Jan Philip Solovej.

The project runs over six years from 2026 to 2031.

The Villum Foundation, one of Denmark's largest contributors to technical and scientific research, has just awarded a total of DKK 317 million to 11 outstanding researchers at Danish universities. The researchers have all distinguished themselves internationally with ground-breaking research and visionary ideas, and now they will have the opportunity to pursue their research with a solid and long-term financial foundation.