£±£®Brief History (1991- present)

    The discipline of theoretical physics in Zhejiang University is one of the first PhD- awarding branches approved in 1981 over China. The research group, led by Prof. Li Wen-Zhu in the following years, worked mainly on quantum field theory, particularly on lattice gauge theory. In 1983, Prof. Wang Rong joined the group and strengthened the research power on the field significantly. From 1980's to 1990's, the Theoretical Physics Institute had fostered a term of active young physicist, including Drs. S.J. Dong, H.P. Ying, Y. Yu, J.B. Zhang, H.L. Hu, K.W. Xu, S.M. Fei, J.B. Wu etc., making considerable contributions to the development of theoretical physics in our country.
    In 1991, following the proposal of Prof. T.D. Lee (Columbia University, Nobel Laureate) and Prof. Y.X. Lu (the former president of the Zhejiang University, the director of Chinese Academy of Sciences), Zhejiang Institute of Modern Physics (ZIMP) was officially founded in Zhejiang University, Prof. T.D. Lee was appointed the director. ZIMP was authorized to set up the postdoc training program in physics in 1991, and it became a supporting unit of the discipline of theoretical physics in Zhejiang University. A number of young researchers have been attracted to ZIMP since 1991. Some of them now become academic leaders and play key roles in various research fields.
    After the unification of the four universities and formation of the new Zhejiang University in 1998, Prof. X.T. He (Academician of CAS) was appointed the dean of College of Science. He has paid special attention to overall strategy and human resources of ZIMP in the last few years. In 2001, Prof X.W.Tang (Academician of CAS) joined the University, his academic achievement in particle and nuclear physics certainly strengthened the power of the research field of particle and nuclear physics. At present, there is a young, competitive research team at ZIMP. There are thirteen faculty members who age from 35 to 46. Nine of them have been in charge of several national scientific research projects. Most of them have performed high quality research works. Such a team in scientific research power is rare in all universities over China.

2. Main Research Area

    The main research area of ZIMP members includes: quantum field theory and high energy theory, particle and nuclear physics; statistical physics, computational and theoretical condensed matter physics and strongly correlated electronic systems; mesoscopic physics, quantum information and quantum computation etc. 
    The nonperturbative approach for the quantum field theory and string theory has become a major research direction of current high-energy physics. There is a competitive working group at ZIMP. In particle and nuclear physics, ZIMP introduced several experts from oversea (Profs. M.X. Luo, D.H. Lu, and H.Y. Jin ) in recent years. In the research subjects of statistical and condensed matter physics, particularly in numerical computation using the cluster algorithms and dynamical Monte Carlo simulations, ZIMP also occupies a dominant position, led by Prof. B. Zheng. Furthermore there are a number of members who study the strongly correlated electron systems,  led by Prof. Y.Q. Li; they also collaborate with Prof. D. Vorhaldt (Augsburg. Univ.) and Prof.. F.C. Zhang (Cincinnati Univ.), etc. Overall, the above three research fields are strong at ZIMP and in advanced ranks in our country.

3. Research Environment

    ZIMP is located in the Yu-Quan campus of Zhejiang University, its building occupies about 1000 square meters, including 15 study rooms with computers and access to Internet, and one seminar room with some multi-media equipments. Researchers can also access an ORIGIN 2000 supercomputer at the College of Science. Further the ZIMP is a unit with the posts of distinguished Chang-Jiang Professors, postdoctoral positions and the Ph.D. program.

4. Main Research Subjects

    The future subjects of ZIMP is to establish a high-quality research team which fits the rapid development of theoretical physics and is capable of solving complex, advanced problems. We hope to obtain a few influential results in current research fields, thus make ZIMP a significant research base in our country. Through enhancement of its overall strength, we hope to firmly place the theoretical physics in Zhejiang University in leading ranks in our country, thus it gradually achieves the goal set up by Prof. T.D. Lee of promoting of theoretical physics research and fundamental science in China, especially in east Yangtzi River region. ZIMP is aspires to become a strong base of human training for basic science research in our country.