Zi Yang Meng

Professor Zi Yang Meng is a theoretical and computational physicist at the Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, with prior affiliation at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He earned a B.Sc. from University of Science and Technology of China, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. from University of Stuttgart, followed by postdoctoral work in the US and Canada. His research focuses on quantum many-body simulations to study quantum materials, topological phases, and entanglement phenomena.

His work spans quantum phase transitions, non-Fermi liquid behavior, and dynamical signatures in quantum magnets, with over 140 publications and ~7000 citations. He develops numerical methods for constrained lattice models and Rydberg atom arrays, addressing challenges in high-temperature superconductivity and quantum computer building blocks. Recent grants include Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) 2022/23 and General Research Fund (GRF) projects for quantum moiré materials and entanglement computation.

• Research Grants:
  • CRF C7037-22G (2022): Many-body paradigm in quantum moiré material research
  • GRF 17302223 (2023): Novel phases of Rydberg arrays
  • GRF 17301924 (2024): Precise computation of quantum entanglement
• Supervision:
  • PhD students in computational quantum physics, 2D materials, and condensed matter theory
  • Projects on topics like fractional Chern insulators, dimension-tunable quantum systems, and disorder operators
• Collaborations:
  • Prof. Kai Sun (University of Michigan)
  • Prof. Han-Qing Wu (Sun Yat-sen University)
  • International teams from CUHK, Yale, UCSB, and German institutions

He actively contributes to knowledge exchange via public lectures and science communication, and serves on editorial boards for journals like Reports on Progress in Physics. Upcoming conferences include "Fractional Chern Insulators: Theory, Numerics, and Experiment" (2025) at HKU, where he chairs the organizing committee.