Christof Wetterich

Research and career

His primary research interests are cosmology and quantum field theory. Two of his notable theoretical developments are quintessence and the functional renormalization group. These methods have found applications in many areas of physics. Functional renormalization provides a suitable framework for studying quantum gravity (asymptotic safety), Yang–Mills theories and it was also useful in non-relativistic quantum systems such as BCS to BEC crossover where it bridges the two theories in a unified theoretical language.

In 1977–1986, he performed fundamental calculations for the theoretical understanding of tiny neutrino masses in GUT. This work was incorporated into the Type II seesaw mechanism in subsequent studies.

In 1987–2001, he completed two of his two best known theoretical proposals: the dynamical dark energy or quintessence model, developed in 1987., which could explain the observed accelerated expansion of the universe. The functional renormalization group relates macroscopic physical structures to microscopic physical laws through to a renormalization group of effective average actions. Its basic formula is the Wetterich equation (or FRG Flow Equation). He developed this in 1993 and a review of FRG was published in 2001.

In 2013, based on dilatation symmetry, he proposed the cosmon field model, in which the Planck mass increases but there is no big bang singularity.

He has worked at CERN in Geneva and DESY in Hamburg. Since 1992 he has held a professorship in theoretical physics at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.

Honours and awards

In 2005, Wetterich received the Max-Planck Research Prize. Since 2006 he is member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences.