Coffee, transistors, and quantum machines. What can be in common of those? That is one of the questions that Dr. Juzar Thingna explores at the Center for Theoretical Physics of Complex Systems. In the cup of coffee, trillions of molecules constantly collide each other. Transistors in electric devices are lined with other components. To study the properties of a system composed of a large number of units from statistical behavior of its components is what statistical physics is about.
“The beauty of statistical physics is you don't need to know any intricate details of the complex system. And yet, you can learn about certain behavior that most of the systems would follow,” explains Dr. Thingna.

We Live in an Open System.

We live within and interact with the surroundings. The same also goes for matter. Molecules affect nearby molecules, and so do electric components. This is what happens in an open system that freely exchanges energy and matter with its surroundings. Being a subarea of statistical physics, the world can be described as a thermodynamic system.

“My research is about extracting a model or formula that can describe such systems, drawing on fundamental physics. The data is then converted to numeric codes or algorithms, which are to be analyzed by supercomputers. I will say it is quite a good combination of a traditional manual process and highly technical AI system.,” says Dr. Thingna.

Dr. Thingna describes his work as providing a kind of big picture to understand a complex system by simplifying the complicated interactions in an open system using physics.

Connecting the Quantum World

Dr. Thingna believes the industrial revolution is one of the most defining moments in history. Some of the most instrumental work in our understanding of the steam engine was actually done by physicists. “Today, a lot of us in the statistical mechanics and thermodynamics feel that we could translate such findings of equilibrium thermodynamics that Carnot, Thomson, Jule and many others did to the quantum regime. And this basic understanding of how thermodynamics works in the quantum regime is going to be instrumental. We really hope that this leads to a sort of a quantum revolution which is similar to the industrial revolution,” notes Dr. Thingna.

Just as Newton’s Laws of Motion explains how rockets work, Dr. Thingna believes a “simple” theoretical physics will bring a revolutionary breakthrough. As such, he aims to make the “quantum revolution” with a simple, but fundamental physics.