After the synthesis of graphene and the materials described by the Dirac equation, the actual modeling of novel materials is fed with concepts and techniques traditionally belonging to high energy physics. My original education in quantum field theory, cosmology and superstrings (PhD thesis in Particle Physics at the Weizmann Institute in Israel and two years of postdoctoral stay in the group of E. Witten in Princeton) allowed me to use techniques of quantum field theory (renormalization group, Feynman graphs, effective actions) to the study of correlated electron systems, graphene and the novel topological materials.
I worked on graphene prior to the Nobel recognition. I was invited to the Nobel symposium in 2010 and was the advisor of two PhD thesis on graphene defended in 2007 and in May 2010. I also conducted two PhD thesis on topological matter prior to the Nobel recognition in 2016. The group of my former PhD students has an international recognition as pioneers and experts in the current problems in the frontier between high and low energy physics.
At present I am interested on the QFT aspects of the 3D Dirac materials and keep active collaborations with high energy Physics groups, particularly with the group of K. Landsteiner at IFT, M. Chernodub in the University of Tours, and D. Kharzeev Director of the Center for Nuclear Theory at Stony Brook University.
