Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Research Faculty

Areas of research: Matière Quantique

Teaching Affiliations
If you are interested in pursuing a MSc degree, please apply to the Perimeter Scholars International (PSI) masters program. If you are interested in working with me as a PhD student, please send me an email at [email protected]. Perimeter Institute is committed to diversity within its community and I welcome applications from underrepresented groups.
Research Interests
I am generally interested in topological and non-perturbative approaches to quantum many-body systems. In the past I have been deeply interested in gapped topological phases of matter. More recently, I have been aiming to apply topological concepts to strongly coupled gapless systems. A specific focus has been on understanding general constraints on non-Fermi liquid metals, including the goal of identifying features that a theory would need to have in order to match the behaviors seen experimentally in "strange metals", such as T-linear resistivity.
Positions Held
  • Junior Faculty Researcher, Perimeter Institute, 2022-present
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, 2022-present
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Physics, Harvard University, 2021-2022
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018-2021
Awards
  • New Horizons Prize, Breakthough Prize Foundation, 2021
Recent Publications
  • Else, D. V. (2025). 't Hooft anomalies in metals. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2502.19471
  • Long, D. M., & Else, D. V. (2024). Topological Phases of Many-Body Localized Systems: Beyond Eigenstate Order. doi:10.48550/arxiv.2408.00825
  • Else, D. V. (2024). Holographic models of non-Fermi liquid metals revisited: An effective field theory approach. Physical Review B, 109(3), 035163. doi:10.1103/physrevb.109.035163
  • Else, D. V. (2023). Collisionless dynamics of general non-Fermi liquids from hydrodynamics of emergent conserved quantities. Physical Review B, 108(4), 045107. doi:10.1103/physrevb.108.045107
  • Shi, Z. D., Else, D. V., Goldman, H., & Senthil, T. (n.d.). Loop current fluctuations and quantum critical transport. SciPost Physics, 14(5), 113. doi:10.21468/scipostphys.14.5.113
  • Shi, Z., Goldman, H., Else, D., & Senthil, T. (n.d.). Gifts from anomalies: Exact results for Landau phase transitions in metals. SciPost Physics, 13(5), 102. doi:10.21468/scipostphys.13.5.102
Seminars
  • Anomalies of global symmetries on the lattice, KITP program: "Generalized Symmetries in Quantum Field Theory: High Energy Physics, Condensed Matter, and Quantum Gravity", University of California, Santa Barbara, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, 2025/03/20, Video URL
  • On Fermi surfaces: Emergent Symmetries, Anomalies, and Holography, International Workshop on Effective Field Theory Beyond Ordinary Symmetries, PCS Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon, South Korea, 2024/12/10, Video URL
  • Topological phases of many-body localized systems and quantum cellular automata, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Physics, Urbana, IL, United States, 2024/10/21
  • Topological Goldstone phases of matter, Applications of Generalized Symmetries and Topological Defects to Quantum Matter, Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook, NY, United States, 2024/09/12, Video URL
  • Holographic models of metals, Unconventional Phenomena in Quantum Matter (Gordon Research Conference), 2024/06/27
  • Holographic models of metals, Theories, Experiments and Numerics on Gapless Quantum Many-body Systems, University of California, Santa Barbara, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, United States, 2024/05/14, Video URL
  • Holographic models of strongly coupled metals: past, present, future, University of California, Los Angeles, Physics, Los Angeles, United States, 2024/04/03
  • Compressible states, Correlated Gapless Quantum Matter, University of California, Santa Barbara, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, United States, 2024/04/02, Video URL
  • A holographic effective field theory for a metal with a Fermi surface, "HoloTube" online seminar series, 2023/11/14, Video URL
  • Fermi surfaces beyond Fermi liquids: a general definition with applications to hydrodynamics and holography, Non-Fermi Liquids: Recent Developments and Future Prospects, University of Chicago, Physics, Chicago, United States, 2023/10/29, Video URL
  • A holographic effective field theory for a strongly coupled metal with a Fermi surface, Quantum Fields and Strings, 2023/06/06, PIRSA:23060098
  • An introduction to interacting topological phases with crystalline symmetries, A Quantum Universe in a Crystal: Symmetry and Topology across the Correlation Spectrum, University of California, Santa Barbara, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara, California, United States, 2023/04/13, Video URL
  • Gifts from anomalies: optical conductivity of metallic quantum critical points and other exact results, American Physical Society, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, 2023/04/13
  • Universal properties of metals: Fermi surfaces, quasi-quasiparticles and dynamics, The Ohio State University, Physics, Columbus, United States, 2023/02/27
  • Universal properties of metals: Fermi surfaces, quasi-quasiparticles and dynamics, University of Toronto, Physics, 60 St George St, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A7, Canada, 2023/02/22
  • Universal properties of metals, McMaster University, Physics, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 478, Canada, 2022/11/30