Hannah Elfner

Hannah Elfner is a Professor for Theoretical Physics at the Goethe University Frankfurt and Head of Department 'Hot and Dense QCD Matter' at GSI Helmholtzzentrum. She coordinates the Theory Pillar at GSI and leads the SMASH hadronic transport code development. Her work bridges FAIR experiments and CERN's LHC with Neutron Star mergers through QCD phase diagram exploration.

• Education: PhD (2009) from Goethe University in collaboration with Helmholtz Research School on Quark Matter
• 2010 Feodor Lynen Fellowship at Duke University
• 2012-2018 Helmholtz Young Investigator Group at GSI/FIAS
• 2013- W2 Professorship at Goethe University

Research Focus on dynamical heavy-ion collision modeling through SMASH, covering non-equilibrium stages, ideal hydrodynamics, and hadronic rescattering. Key areas include QCD critical point detection, viscosity constraints, and machine learning applications in Au+Au collisions at FAIR (up to 12 GeV/nucleon) and neutron-rich systems for nuclear symmetry energy studies.

Scientific Contributions:

• 2016 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize
• 2018 Zimanyi Medal (Quark Matter conference)
• 2021 Scientist of the Year (Goethe University)
• 2024 Outstanding Referee (APS)

Her advising spans BSc, MSc, and PhD theses on topics like resonance lifetimes, neutron skin effects, and spin-magnetohydrodynamics. Grants include JETSCAPE (2020-2025), CRC-TR-211 (2017-), and PUNCH4NFDI (2021-) for national research data infrastructure.

Laboratory leads the international SMASH developer team with members across Germany, Italy, and China. Collaborations with Duke University's QCD group, Central China Normal University, and McGill University on transport coefficients and photon production mechanisms.