Research group Quantum Frontiers

In a new study, researchers at Stockholm University and the Oskar Klein Centre have found that a theoretically well-motivated extension of the standard description of the strong nuclear interactions could have made the early moments of Big Bang cosmology more tumultuous, leading to a prediction of gravitational waves remarkably consistent with emerging observational hints.

David has been appointed one of the university's four educational ambassadors for 2026 and has been awarded the vice-chancellor's fund for quality development in education. His project aims to develop new forms of continuous assessment. “Generative AI's rapidly improving skills in physical problem solving threaten to make all forms of assignments less effective as educational tools,” says David Marsh.

"Since last year we arranged a successful Winter School in Sanya, Southern China, and my research project has received fundings until 2030", says Frank Wilczek. This year’s event, coinciding with UNESCO’s global celebration of 100 years of quantum physics, brought together graduate students, postdocs, and some of the most distinguished minds in science — including several Nobel Laureates.

Explore the past, present and future of quantum science 24 April 2025 - 13:00-15:00 CEST. On the occasion of the UNESCO International Year of Quantum Science and Technology 2025, this event highlights the exciting developments in quantum research, from fundamental physics to new technologies. Jointly organised by Nordita - the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics and Fysikum - the Department of Physics at Stockholm University, the event brings together a wide range of researchers to share their insights into the quantum world.

Igor Pikovski has been interviewed by Swedish Radio about how they will use a small supercold resonance box and quantum sensor technology to detect gravitons. They believe that gravitons can be detected using quantum sensor technology. These particles have previously been considered impossible to observe. Igor Pikovski is a senior lecturer at the Department of Physics.

Gravitons, the quantum particles of gravity, were thought to be impossible to observe. Scientists have now worked out how they can be detected by using quantum sensing technology.

This year's summer school runs from 9 to 22 June at Högberga konferensgård on Lidingö outside Stockholm. About fifty participants will come there to deepen their knowledge. It is a summer school organized for PhD students and postdocs, both theoretical and experimental, in all aspects of quantum limits. Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek, Professor at Fysikum and Professor Antti Niemi, Nordita are the initiators of the summer school. Since 2016, Quantum Connections Workshops and Summer Schools have been organised on the initiative of Frank Wilczek in collaboration with Antti Niemi from Nordita. Both have made the Summer School what it is today - a well-organised activity for national and international students involved in quantum mechanics. The Quantum Connections event is jointly organised by Fysikum and Nordita (with Stockholm University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Uppsala University as hosts), together with the TD Lee Institute and the Wilczek Quantum Center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.   Professor Frank Wilczek's position at the Department of Physics extended until 2030 In 2004, Frank Wilczek, who since 2016 has also worked at Fysikum, received the highest honour in science - the Nobel Prize in Physics - for his discovery of asymptotic freedom and the development of the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). "Last year, we celebrated 50 years of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) at the Quantum Connections Summer School. It was also 50 years since we came up with the theory that gave us the Nobel Prize and my wife and I celebrated 50 years of marriage. 2023 Summer School therefore featured several Nobel Laureates giving lectures. We also organised a separate Nobel symposium on anyons. Unlike ordinary particles, which are categorised as fermions or bosons, anyons can exhibit statistical properties that lie between the two", says Frank Wilczek. Every year, around 50 students participate in our Quantum Connections Summer School, selected from around 250 applications. During the lab day, the students get an opportunity to get to know research at the Physics Centre.  This year they have also been able to see each other's areas of activity through a poster exhibition. "Three of my students from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) are attending this year's summer school. On the research side, there are new opportunities to observe the behaviour of quantum particles in space and time through quantum mechanics and quantum computing. My appointment as a professor at the Department of Physics has been extended until 2030, and I also plan to publish a new book in the spring of 2025," says Frank Wilczek.

Professor Frank Wilczek's was interested in mathematics and big numbers even as a child. His father was an electrical technician who fixed radios and tvs when they were broken. Frank was inspired and liked to take apart and put together things to see how they worked. This was the beginning of a fantastic career in Physics. In 2004, Wilczek received the highest honor in science — the Nobel Prize in Physics — for his discovery of asymptotic freedom and the development of the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Since 2016 he has been working at the Department of Physics.

EuCAPT is a European consortium for astroparticle theory. It aims to bring together European researchers in theoretical astroparticle physics and cosmology. In early February, David Marsh took over as Vice Director of the consortium. At Fysikum he is a researcher in astroparticle physics and teaches the course Quantum Phenomena and Radiation Physics.

In Fall 2022, a consortium of the Simons Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the John Templeton Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation published a solicitation seeking to make profound advancements in physics by means of Small-Experiments of “table-top” size. The proposal “A Plasma Haloscope for the Post-Inflation Axion”, lead by the Berkely group has been announced as one of the 11 awardees among hundreds of initial proposals, for which a total of $30M over five years has been pledged by the foundations. “With this funding and also the earlier funding by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation we’re ready to start developing and building this detector that has the potential to discover axions”, says Jón Gudmundsson, senior researcher at Stockholm and current spokesperson of the ALPHA collaboration.

In July Fysikum hosted a workshop in Stockholm, jointly organized by Igor Pikovski from Fysikum and Rivka Bekenstein from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Its focus was the study of quantum gravity in the lab. 20 participants spent 3 days at Näsby Slott to discuss quantum simulations and quantum aspects of gravity.

An emerging field of physics and engineering is quantum technology, encompassing technologies that rely on the properties of quantum mechanics. Quantum computing being one example of these technologies, representing a paradigm shift for computing technology, since it can outperform much more than existing computers. On February 21 at 13:00, in the: Svedberg salen (FD5), AlbaNova, Professor Akira Furusawa from University of Tokyo, RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing will have a presentation with the title THE FUTURE IS QUANTUM - The development of Quantum Computing.

Frank Wilczek is professor of theoretical physics at MIT and The Department of Physics at Stockholm university and a Nobel laureate. He held the Nobel prize in physics in 2004. Hear him comment on the Physics Prize of 2022, and giving advice to this year´s laureates arriving in Stockholm in December.