Dr Dimitris Kakofengitis

Theoretical Physicist / Applied Mathematician. Interested in the microscopic effects of molecular Physics. During his Ph.D. studies Dimitris worked on the theoretical aspects of the foundation of Quantum Mechanics. He contributed towards the formulation of a fairly recent concept known as the Wigner current. Dimitris explored some of the applications of Wigner's current within molecular physics via potentials such as the Morse potential, which is an interaction model of the diatomic molecule. This involved the use of a mathematical software called Maple, which turned his Ph.D. from a theoretical to a computational Physics project. His passion for Theoretical Physics has helped him overcome many obstacles and has also pushed him forward to the point of discovery of new ideas and mathematical proofs in quantum mechanics. For example, in Ref. [Phys. Rev. A 95, 022127 (2017)], he reformulated Ehrenfest’s theorem using the Wigner current approach. Ehrenfest’s theorem is one of the many, but arguably one of the best examples of the correspondence principle between quantum and classical mechanics. Being able to reformulate Ehrenfest’s theorem using the Wigner current, in a simpler and mathematically more intuitive way, than it is currently taught, it was a testimony to the growing idea that “quantum mechanics lives and works in phase space”. This quotation was taken from Prof. Cosmas K. Zachos who has cited Dimitris' work in his book titled: "A Concise Treatise on Quantum Mechanics in Phase Space" in 2013 and in a recent revision Cosmas has also included an exercise based on the Wigner current.