Prof. Dr. Herbert Spohn
Professorship
Applied Probability Theory/ Statistical Physics
Professor emeritus since April 1, 2012
Academic Career and Research Areas
Professor Spohn (b. 1946) conducts research on statistical physics, with a focus on dynamic processes. This includes the derivation of kinetic equations, the dynamics of open quantum systems, interactive stochastic particle systems, stochastic growth processes and boundary surface dynamics.
Following his study of physics in Stuttgart and Munich, Prof. Spohn received his doctorate (1975) and lecturer qualification (1980) at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU). A Heisenberg grant enabled him to work at Rutgers University under J.L. Lebowitz and the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (Paris). Following a professorship in solid-state physics at LMU (1982), he was appointed to a full professorship at TUM in 1998. He also holds a joint position in the physics department. Professor Spohn was an elected member of the review board of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and has served as President of the International Association of Mathematical Physics.
Key Publications
Lukkarinen J, Spohn H: “Weakly nonlinear Schrödinger equation with random initial data”. Inventiones Mathematicae. 2010; 183: 1-110.
AbstractSpohn H: Dynamics of charged particles and their radiation field. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Prähofer M, Spohn H: “Universal distributions for growth processes in 1+1 dimensions and random matrices”. Phys. Rev. Lett. 2000; 84: 4882-4886.
AbstractLebowitz JL, Spohn H: “A Gallavotti-Cohen type fluctuation theorem for stochastic dynamics”. Journ. Stat. Phys. 1999; 95: 333-365.
Spohn H: Large scale dynamics of interacting particles. Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 1991.