- Room 203, 2-5 Kirkby Place, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 586877
- thomas.heinzl@plymouth.ac.uk
Profiles
Dr Tom Heinzl
Associate Professor in Theoretical Physics
School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (Faculty of Science and Engineering)
Tom can be contacted through arrangement with our Press Office, to speak to the media on these areas of expertise.
- Physics
- Particle physics
- High power lasers
Email publicrelations@plymouth.ac.uk to enquire.
Member of subject group mathematics leading team
Member of workload coordination team
Exams coordinator
Qualifications
Qualifications
- Diploma in Theoretical Physics (1988)
- PhD in Theoretical Physics (1992)
- Habilitation (DSc) in Theoretical Physics (1998)
- American Physical Society (APS): Outstanding Referee (2011)
- Physics Letters B: Most Valued Reviewer (2013)
- Editor-in-Chief Choice Award 2016 for article: Measuring vacuum polarization with high-power lasers, High Power Laser Science and Engineering 4, e5 (2016) (with Ben King).
- APS journals - editor's choice articles:
- Exact classical and quantum dynamics in background electromagnetic fields, Physical Review Letters 118, 113202 (2017) (with A. Ilderton).
- Mode truncations and scattering in strong fields, Physical Review D 98, 016002 (2018) (with A. Ilderton and D. Seipt)
Professional membership
German Physical Society
Roles on external bodies
- Member of User Forum, Central Laser Facility, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)
- Member of Vulcan 20 Petawatt Project (theory)
- Member of HIBEF user consortium (Helmholtz International Beamline for Extreme Fields)
- Member of planned LUXE experiment (DESY, Hamburg)
- Peer reviewer for many international Physics journals:
- Annalen der Physik
- Annals of Physics
- European Physical Journal C
- Europhysics Letters
- Few Body Systems
- High Power Laser Science and Engineering
- JHEP
- Journal of Physics A, B, G
- Journal of Plasma Physics
- Nature - Scientific Reports
- Nature Physics
- New Journal of Physics
- Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A
- Optics Letters
- Physical Review A, D, E, X
- Physical Review Letters
- Physica Scripta
- Physics Letters A, B
- Referee for Research Councils and Funding Bodies:
- Austrian Foundation for the Promotion of Science
- Czech Science Foundation
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
- French National Research Agency (ANR)
- German Research Foundation (DFG)
- Humboldt Foundation, Germany
- Helmholtz Society, Germany
- National Research Foundation, South Africa
- The Royal Society, UK
Teaching interests
- Theoretical Physics
- Quantum Field Theory
- Applied Mathematics for mathematicians, engineers and scientists
- Statistical Methods
Research interests
- Laser Particle Physics
- Relativistic Laser Matter Interactions
- Physics of Strong Interactions
- (Light Cone) Quantum Field Theory
- Gauge Theories
Research degrees awarded to supervised students
- 10 physics diploma students (co-supervision, Germany)
- 5 PhD students (co-supervision, Germany and France)
- 3 PhD students, UoP, 2010, 2013, 2019
Grants & contracts
- Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant (2016-18) for Dr Anton Ilderton (Awarded £ 131 k)
- Leverhulme grant (2019-22) with Dr Anton Ilderton (Awarded £ 122 k)
Key publications
For an updated list of my publications please follow the link to Google Scholar. Alternatively, check INSPIRE, the high energy physics information system. Publications since 1992 may be downloaded via these sites.
Key publications are highlighted
Journals
Articles
2020 'Luxe: combining high energy and intensity to spark the vacuum' Europhysics News 51, (4) 14-17 , DOI
2018 'Superintegrable relativistic systems in scalar background fields' Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical Open access
2017 'Superintegrable relativistic systems in spacetime-dependent background
fields' Journal of Physcis A: Mathematical and Theoretical , DOI Open access
2017 'Exact Classical and Quantum Dynamics in Background Electromagnetic Fields' Physical Review Letters 118, (11) , DOI Open access
2016 'Detecting vacuum birefringence with x-ray free electron lasers and high-power optical lasers: a feasibility study' Physica Scripta 91, (2) 023010-023010 , DOI
2016 'Classical and quantum particle dynamics in univariate background fields' Physical Review D 94, 065039-065039 Open access
2016 'Measuring vacuum polarization with high-power lasers' High Power Laser Science and Engineering 4, e5-e5 Open access
2015 'Detecting radiation reaction at moderate laser intensities' Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys 91, (2) , DOI Open access
2014 'Photon polarization in light-by-light scattering: Finite size effects' PHYSICAL REVIEW D 90, (4) , DOI Open access
2014 'Vacuum refractive indices and helicity flip in strong-field QED' PHYSICAL REVIEW D 89, (12) , DOI Open access
2014 'Light-front quantum chromodynamics' Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplements 251-252, 165-174 , DOI Open access
2012 'Intensity-Dependent Electron Mass Shift in a Laser Field: Existence, Universality, and Detection' PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 109, (10) , DOI Open access
2012 'STRONG-FIELD QED AND HIGH-POWER LASERS' INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MODERN PHYSICS A 27, (15) , DOI Open access
2011 'Symmetry breaking from radiation reaction in ultra-intense laser fields' PHYSICAL REVIEW D 84, (11) , DOI Open access
2011 'Covariant worldline numerics for charge motion with radiation reaction' PHYSICAL REVIEW D 83, (7) , DOI
2010 'Pair production in laser fields: finite size effects' PoS LC 2010,
2010 'Finite size effects in stimulated laser pair production' Physics Letters B 692, (4) 250-256 Publisher Site , DOI
2009 'Joint IPPP Durham/Cockcroft Institute/ICFA Workshop on Advanced QED methods for Future Accelerators' Journal of Physics: Conference Series 198, 011001-011001 , DOI
2009 'Architecture and Mathematics in Ancient Egypt' JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE 36, (6) 1286-1287 , DOI
2009 'A Lorentz and gauge invariant measure of laser intensity' Opt.Commun. 282, 1879-1883 Publisher Site , DOI
2008 'The ice-limit of Coulomb gauge Yang-Mills theory' Phys.Rev.D 78, Publisher Site , DOI Open access
2008 'The ice-limit of Coulomb gauge Yang-Mills theory' Phys.Rev.D78:074511,2008 78, (7) Publisher Site , DOI
2008 'The ice-limit of Coulomb gauge Yang-Mills theory' Phys.Rev.D78:074511,2008 78, (7) Publisher Site , DOI
2008 'Extreme field physics and QED'
2008 'Is the ground state of Yang-Mills theory Coulombic?' Phys.Rev.D 78, Publisher Site , DOI Open access
2007 'Z3 Polyakov Loop Models and Inverse Monte-Carlo Methods' PoSLAT2007:341,2007
2007 'Alternative approach to light-front perturbation theory' Physical Review D 75, (2)
2007 'Coulomb gauge Gribov copies and the confining potential' Physical Review D 76, (11)
2007 'Inverse Monte Carlo determination of effective lattice models for SU(3) Yang-Mills theory at finite temperature' Physical Review D 76, (8)
2007 'Noncommutativity from spectral flow' Journal of Physics A-Mathematical and Theoretical 40, (30) 9097-9123
2006 'Large orders in strong-field QED' Journal of Physics A-Mathematical and General 39, (37) 11623-11645
2006 'Phase structure of Z(3)-Polyakov-loop models' Physical Review D 74, (11)
2005 'Effective actions for the SU(2) confinement-deconfinement phase transition' Physical Review D 72, (6)
2004 'Effective lattice theories for Polyakov loops' Journal of High Energy Physics 8, (6) 95-125
2004 'Effective lattice theories for Polyakov loops' Journal of High Energy Physics (6)
2002 'Effective sigma models and lattice Ward identities' Journal of High Energy Physics 6, (12) 273-297 , DOI
2002 'A lattice study of the Faddeev-Niemi effective action' Nuclear Physics B-Proceedings Supplements 106, 649-651
2002 'Effective sigma models and lattice Ward identities' Journal of High Energy Physics (12)
2002 'Effective theories of confinement' Nuclear Physics B-Proceedings Supplements 108, 63-67
2001 'Magnetic monopoles vs. Hopf defects in the Laplacian (Abelian) gauge' Nuclear Physics B 593, (3) 545-561
1998 'Light-cone wave functions and chiral symmetry - Discussions' NUCLEAR PHYSICS B-PROCEEDINGS SUPPLEMENTS 64, 295-295
1996 'The vacuum structure of light-front phi(1+1)(4)-theory' ZEITSCHRIFT FUR PHYSIK C-PARTICLES AND FIELDS 72, (2) 353-364 , DOI
1995 'The Vacuum Structure of Light-Front phi^4-Theory' Z.Phys. C72 (1996) 353-364 Publisher Site , DOI
1992 'NONPERTURBATIVE LIGHT-CONE QUANTUM-FIELD THEORY BEYOND THE TREE LEVEL' ZEITSCHRIFT FUR PHYSIK C-PARTICLES AND FIELDS 56, (3) 415-420 , DOI
1992 'THE FERMIONIC SCHWINGER MODEL IN LIGHT-CONE QUANTIZATION' PHYSICS LETTERS B 275, (3-4) 410-418 , DOI
1991 'SPONTANEOUS SYMMETRY-BREAKING IN LIGHT-CONE QUANTUM-FIELD THEORY' PHYSICS LETTERS B 272, (1-2) 54-60 , DOI
1991 'Nonperturbative vacua in the light-cone quantum field theory' Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplements 23, (2) 182-185 , DOI
1991 'NONTRIVIAL VACUUM-STRUCTURE IN LIGHT-CONE QUANTUM-FIELD THEORY' PHYSICS LETTERS B 256, (1) 55-59 , DOI
1989 'LIGHT-CONE QUANTIZATION AND MANIFESTATION OF NON-PERTURBATIVE VACUUM PROPERTIES FOR SCALAR FIELD-THEORY' ZEITSCHRIFT FUR PHYSIK A-HADRONS AND NUCLEI 334, (4) 443-449 , DOI
1989 'THE FERMION CONDENSATE OF THE NAMBU-JONA-LASINIO MODEL IN LIGHT-CONE QUANTIZATION' ZEITSCHRIFT FUR PHYSIK A-HADRONS AND NUCLEI 334, (2) 215-220 , DOI
'Beam-Shape Effects in Nonlinear Compton and Thomson Scattering' Phys.Rev.A 81, Publisher Site , DOI
'Effective Lattice Actions for Finite-Temperature Yang-Mills Theory'
'Fermion Condensates and the Trivial Vacuum of Light-Cone Quantum Field
Theory' Phys.Lett. B 388, 129-136 Publisher Site , DOI
'Hamiltonian Formulations of Yang-Mills Quantum Theory and the Gribov
Problem'
'Instantons and Gribov Copies in the Maximally Abelian Gauge' Nucl.Phys. B 584, 589-614 Publisher Site , DOI
'Inverse Monte-Carlo and Demon Methods for Effective Polyakov Loop Models
of SU(N)-YM' PoS LATTICE 2008,
'Light-Cone Dynamics of Particles and Fields'
'Light-Cone Quantization: Foundations and Applications' Lect.Notes Phys. 572, 55-142
'Light-cone zero modes revisited'
'Light-Front Quantisation as an Initial-Boundary Value Problem' Z.Phys. C 62, 521-532 Publisher Site , DOI
'Loss of Causality in Discretized Light-Cone Quantisation'
'The Configuration Space of Low-dimensional Yang-Mills Theories' Nucl.Phys. B 524, 695-741 Publisher Site , DOI
'The Light-Cone Effective Potential'
'Variational Mass Perturbation Theory for Light-Front Bound-State
Equations' Phys.Rev. D 57, 2460-2474 Publisher Site , DOI
Conference Papers
2010 'First results from the Daresbury Compton backscattering x-ray source (COBALD)' SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications SPIE , DOI
2009 'Infra-red problems and a response'
2008 'Solution of the Gribov problem from gauge invariance'
2007 'Laser-accelerated rays and radiation sources at the FZD' 17-44
2007 'ZZ<inf>3</inf> Polyakov loop models and inverse Monte-Carlo methods'
2002 'An effective theory for the SU(2) mass gap?' 83-90
2000 'The light-cone wavefunction of the pion' 231-234
1999 'Causality in light-cone field theory' 246-251
1991 'NONTRIVIAL VACUUM-STRUCTURE IN LIGHT-CONE QUANTUM-FIELD THEORY' C429-C434
Reports
Reports & invited lectures
39th Schladming Winter School "Methods of Quantization", Lectures on "Light-Cone Quantisation: Foundations and Applications", Schladming, Styria, 2000. Published as Springer Lecture Notes, Vol. 572.
Workshop on Lasers and Accelerators, STIAS, Stellenbosch, South Africa, January 2009, Lectures on "Strong-Field QED".
25th Chris Engelbrecht Summer School on "Nonlinear Phenomena in Quantum Field Theory", Stellenbosch, South Africa, January 2014, Lectures on Nonlinear QED.