Marcos Rigol

Marcos Rigol is a Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Pennsylvania State University, affiliated with the Eberly College of Science's Department of Physics. His research focuses on theoretical and computational studies of quantum many-body systems, with expertise in condensed matter physics, quantum chaos, and statistical mechanics. Rigol holds a B.S. and M.S. in Nuclear Physics from the Institute of Nuclear Sciences and Technology in Cuba and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Stuttgart. He has held leadership roles in professional societies, including the American Physical Society's Division of Computational Physics. His work explores topics such as eigenstate thermalization, quantum hydrodynamics, and entanglement entropy in both integrable and non-integrable systems.

• Education:
  • B.S. in Nuclear Physics, Summa Cum Laude, ICSTN, Havana, Cuba (1999)
  • M.S. in Nuclear Physics, ICSTN, Havana, Cuba (2000)
  • Ph.D. in Physics, Summa Cum Laude, University of Stuttgart, Germany (2004)

Rigol's research interests include the dynamics of isolated quantum systems, thermalization in many-body systems, and the application of numerical methods like linked-cluster expansions. He investigates phenomena such as quantum scars, prethermalization, and generalized Gibbs ensembles. His work bridges theoretical models with experimental systems, such as ultracold atomic gases and quantum spin systems.

His awards include the American Physical Society Outstanding Referee (2021), Fellow of the AAAS (2019), and the Faculty Scholar Medal from Penn State (2019). Rigol has contributed to publications in top journals like Science, Physical Review Letters, and Nature, focusing on topics like hydrodynamization in Bose gases and entanglement entropy in quantum systems.

His advising and grants emphasize interdisciplinary collaborations, with contributions to understanding quantum thermalization mechanisms and non-equilibrium dynamics. Rigol's research team engages in theoretical and numerical studies of complex quantum systems, contributing to the broader field of quantum many-body physics.