Completed projects

A rich variety of phenom­ena in solid state systems such as quantum magnet­ism or high temper­a­ture super­con­duc­tiv­ity still pose open questions on parts of their micro­scopic expla­na­tion. Due to the complex­ity of these systems, the under­ly­ing quantum many-body dynam­ics is often not acces­si­ble to compu­ta­tional simulation.

Increased anthro­pogenic activ­i­ties and climate change are causing a global shift in patterns of water fluxes. Semi-arid river basins are charac­ter­ized by more water stresses, extreme and sporadic climatic events, and have been projected to worsen in many regions under the influ­ence of climate change.

Galac­tic archae­ol­ogy uses stars as fossils to study the evolu­tion­ary history of galax­ies like our own Milky Way. Cosmo­log­i­cal simula­tions suggest that larger galax­ies were partially formed by accret­ing smaller dwarf galax­ies. Such merger events should leave observ­able signa­tures in the form of star streams, but empir­i­cal constraints on the times, numbers, and impor­tance of such mergers are still missing.

In modern condensed matter physics topol­ogy plays a funda­men­tal role in the classi­fi­ca­tion of phases of matter. A promi­nent example is the quantum Hall effect discov­ered in two-dimen­sional electron gases under extreme condi­tions. Quantum Hall insula­tors are isolat­ing in the bulk, but exhibit conduct­ing edge states, which results in a quantised Hall conductance.

Cichlid fish are well-known for their beauti­ful colors and multi­tude of body shapes. They are found in the East African Rift lakes where they have formed so-called adaptive radia­tions, in which hundreds of new species origi­nated extremely quickly – sometimes within less than 100,000 years.

Preva­lence of myopia (short­sight­ed­ness) increases consid­er­ably in indus­tri­al­ized countries. The mecha­nisms behind this devel­op­ment need to be fully under­stood in order to arrive at preven­tion. The aim of Sandra Wagner’s research was to allow a better under­stand­ing of accom­mo­da­tion, address unanswered question regard­ing myopia onset and support the devel­op­ment of new devices.

Viruses are the most abundant biolog­i­cal entities on Earth. Although they infect members of the three domains of life, little is known about the infec­tion mecha­nisms of archaeal viruses. The aim of this research is to gain insight into the inter­ac­tion between halophilic archaeal cells and their viruses by using a combi­na­tion of light and electron microscopy with molec­u­lar biology and virolog­i­cal techniques.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) resonators will be designed and fabri­cated to exploit their sensing proper­ties. We will graft a single-molecule magnet (SMM) on such a CNT resonator in order to manip­u­late its spin states via the mechan­i­cal motion of the CNT. Using this nanome­chan­i­cal approach, single-molecule magnets will be inves­ti­gated with the long-term prospect of apply­ing them in future quantum technologies. 

The project inves­ti­gates compo­si­tion and function of micro­bial commu­ni­ties in Fram Strait, the major gateway between the Arctic and the Atlantic Oceans, and how these are linked with environ­men­tal condi­tions. A series of cutting-edge, molec­u­lar approaches are applied to assess micro­bial functional capac­i­ties, commu­nity compo­si­tion and their tempo­ral varia­tion in a region under special threat by climate change. The project is super­vised by Hector Fellow Antje Boetius.

Land subsi­dence and ground­wa­ter salin­iza­tion are existence-threat­en­ing environ­men­tal changes in the Mekong Delta (MD). Their origin and process dynam­ics are not fully under­stood yet. By innov­a­tive measure­ment technol­ogy, field/lab inves­ti­ga­tions and numeric model­ing, a compre­hen­sive under­stand­ing of the processes is devel­oped and the effect of poten­tial counter­mea­sures can be examined. The elabo­rated knowl­edge is the basis for sustain­able water concepts in the MD and other delta areas worldwide.

This project aims to explore the use of young and old pulsat­ing variable stars to improve our current under­stand­ing of the Milky Way. This will be achieved by perform­ing a novel study of the kinemat­ics, ages and chemi­cal compo­si­tions of Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars which, in spite of being arche­types of differ­ent stellar popula­tions, repre­sent key tracers of the recent star forma­tion and assem­bly history of the Galaxy.

The European Water Frame­work Direc­tive requires that all water­bod­ies achieve a good ecolog­i­cal status until 2027. In urban environ­ments the restricted spatial condi­tions and differ­ent inter­ests cause problems in river restoration.