Vittorio Penna

Full Professor (L. 240)
Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT)

Profile

Research interests

Bosonic mixtures
Coherent states
Dynamical phase transition
Massive vortices
Quantum phases

Biography

Education: Italian doctor degrees (Laurea) in Physics (Torino University, 1983), Ph. D. in Physics (Torino University, 1989). Professional activity: research fellow of INFM in the european project on Light Squeezing in Nonlinear Quantum Optics (1989-1990). Post-doc position (MIUR grant 1990-91). Assistant professor (1991) at the Politecnico of Torino; full professor from 2021. Invited visitor (1990, 1991) at the CNLS, Los Alamos USA with a Della Riccia fundation grant. Invited visitor at the ICTP (Trieste, Italy), the Open University (UK), and the Schroedinger Institute (Wien) (1998-99). Participation in more than 10 research projects of INFM, CNISM and MURST since 1997. Local coordinator in MIUR projects: PRIN 2000 and PRIN 2010-11. Referee for more than 20 international scientific journals. Outstanding Referee of APS (2011) and of IOP (2021, 2023). Scientific-board member in the PhD program in physics at the PoliTO (1999-2021). Doctoral Advisor or internal supervisor for 12 Phd students. Teachings: Fisica 1, Quantum physics, Statistical Mechanics, Advanced quantum mechanics. Research. International publications: 119. Main topics and scientific contributions. 1986-2000: geometric quantization and topological properties of nonlinear field theories. Phase singularities and hydrodynamical formulation of the dynamics of laser beams. 1997-99: Approach to quantum phase transitions of the Heisenberg and Bose-Hubbard model (BHM) by means of the Coherent-State variational method. 2000-18: spectral properties and characterization of dynamical instability of coupled Bose condensate in mesoscopic arrays. Effect of disorder, topology and complex lattice structures on the BHM phase diagram. Confinement effects, entanglement, demixing and thermometry in the quantum phases of bosonic binary mixtures (BBM). 2019-25: dynamical properties, Lorentz picture, exact solutions and Josepshon effects of massive vortices in BBM.

Scientific branch

PHYS-04/A - Theoretical Physics of Matter, Models, Mathematical Methods and Applications
(Area 0002 - Physical sciences)

Research topics

  • Application of geometric quantization and of the coadjoint-orbit method to the study of nonlinear field theories of superfluid media and of their topological properties. Phase singularities and hydrodynamical formulation of the dynamics of laser beams.
  • Approach to quantum phase transitions of the Heisenberg, Fermi-Hubbard, and Bose-Hubbard models by means of the coherent-state variational method.
  • Dynamical properties, Lorentz picture, exact solutions and Josepshon effect in many-vortex configurations of massive vortices of bosonic binary mixtures.
  • Group-theoretic approach to the study of Rabi model and of other non-linear optical devices.
  • Spectral properties and characterization of dynamical instability in mesoscopic arrays of coupled Bose-Einstein condensates. Effect of disorder, topology and complex lattice structures on the phase diagram of the Bose-Hubbard model and of bosonic binary mixtures (BBM). Entanglement properties, confinement effects, demixing and thermometry in the quantum phases of BBM.

Skills

ERC sectors

PE3_6 - Macroscopic quantum phenomena, e.g. superconductivity, superfluidity, quantum Hall effect
PE2_13 - Quantum optics and quantum information
PE2_11 - Ultra-cold atoms and molecules

SDG

Goal 4: Quality education
Goal 5: Gender equality

Awards and Honors

  • outstanding referee American Physical Society conferred by American Physical Society, United States (2011)
  • IOP outstanding reviewer conferred by Institute of Physics, United kingdom (2021)
  • IOP outstanding reviewer conferred by Institute of Physics, United kingdom (2023)

Editorial boards

  • MATHEMATICS (2021-), Editorial board member

Other research or teaching roles outside Politecnico

  • Visiting Researcher, presso Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematical Physics (29/11/1998-19/2/1999)
  • Visiting Researcher, presso The Open University (25/4/1998-19/7/1998)
  • Visiting Researcher, presso ICTP Trieste (19/1/1998-3/4/1998)

Other titles

  • Abilitazioni Scientifica Nazionale: settore concorsuale 02/B2 FISICA TEORICA DELLA MATERIA (2018-)
  • Abilitazioni Scientifica Nazionale: settore concorsuale 02/A2 FISICA TEORICA DELLE INTERAZIONI FONDAMENTALI (2019-)
  • borsa di studio Fondazione Angelo della Riccia per visiting research fellow presso istituzioni estere (Los Alamos National laboratories) (1989-1990)
  • Borsa post-doc del Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca (1 anno) su Fisica Teorica degli Stati Condensati (1990-1991)
  • Finanziamento ricerca: posizione da ricercatore (TD, 2 anni) del Consorzio Naz. Interuniversitario per le Scienze di Fisica della Materia per il progetto Fasi quantistiche e proprietà dinamiche di miscele binarie e di reticoli bosonici disordinati (2010-)
  • Peer review activity per più di 25 riviste scientifiche tra cui Nature Scientific Reports, Phys. Rev. Letters, Phys. Rev. A+B+E+X, Phys. Rev. Research, New J. Physics, Phys. Letters A, J. Phys. A + B, J. Phys.: Cond. Matter, Ann. of Physics, Entropy. (1998-)
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Research networks

  • Theory of coherent fluids: bosonic gases, superfluids, superconductors (2000-). Coordinamento
  • Quantum Collective Phenomena: from strongly correlated systems to quantum simulators (2013-). Coordinamento
  • Cooperative phenomena in coherent systems of condensed matter and their realization in atomic chip devices (2006-). Partecipazione
  • Error resilience, Control and Stability in Quantum Information Processes (2002-). Partecipazione
  • Quantum regime of Josephson junction arrays: Theory and Experiments (2001-). Partecipazione
  • Singularities, Integrability, and Symmetries (1998-). Partecipazione
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Roles as evaluator or expert

  • SIR. 2014
    MIUR - Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca
  • research proposal in statistical physics. 2022
    Israel Science Foundation

Teaching

Collegi of the PhD programmes

  • FISICA, 2024/2025 (40. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2023/2024 (39. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2022/2023 (38. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2021/2022 (37. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2020/2021 (36. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2019/2020 (35. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2018/2019 (34. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2017/2018 (33. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2016/2017 (32. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2015/2016 (31. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2014/2015 (30. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2013/2014 (29. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2012/2013 (28. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2010/2011 (26. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2009/2010 (25. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2008/2009 (24. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2007/2008 (23. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2006/2007 (22. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2005/2006 (21. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2004/2005 (20. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
  • FISICA, 2003/2004 (19. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO
MostraNascondi collegi passati

Collegi of the degree programmes

Teachings

PhD

MostraNascondi A.A. passati

Master of Science

MostraNascondi A.A. passati

Bachelor of Science

MostraNascondi A.A. passati

Research

Institute

Research groups/teams

Research projects

Projects funded by competitive calls

Supervised PhD students

  • Alice Bellettini. Programme in Fisica (37th cycle, 2021-2025)
    Thesis: Dynamics and properties of massive quantum vortices in binary mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates
    Fisica della Materia Condensata / Condensed Matter Physics
    Materiali Topologici / Topological Materials
    Metodi Monte Carlo / Monte Carlo Methods
    Fisica della Materia Condensata / Condensed Matter Physics
    Materiali Topologici / Topological Materials
    Metodi Monte Carlo / Monte Carlo Methods
    Fisica della Materia Condensata / Condensed Matter Physics
    Materiali Topologici / Topological Materials
    Metodi Monte Carlo / Monte Carlo Methods

Publications

Latest publications View all publications in Porto@Iris