Susanne Schander

Susanne Schander profile picture
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Postdoctoral Researcher
Areas of research:
Cosmology
Quantum Gravity
I am interested in the earliest moments of our cosmic history, in particular in understanding the interactions between gravitational and non-gravitational, and perturbative and non-perturbative degrees of freedom within the early Universe. In recent years, discrepancies between theoretical predictions of the cosmological concordance model and measurement data (e.g., the H0-tension) have become manifest, and point to possible problems in the very assumptions of this model. One focus of my research is to review these assumptions and to explore the consequences of an improved and more realistic implementation of interactions in order to overcome these inconsistencies. For example, I consider the effects of backreactions from the perturbative on the cosmological non-perturbative degrees of freedom which are neglected in standard cosmological treatments. Besides, I am interested/ working on a variety of other related topics such as Regge calculus approaches to the early Universe and on symmetry algebras in cosmology.
  • PhD Student, Institute for Quantum Gravity, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, 2016-2020
  • Ohm Prize, Physics Department, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg, 2022
  • Visiting Scholarship, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, 2020
  • PhD Scholarship, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Germany, 2016-2018
  • PhD Scholarship, German Academic Scholarship Foundation, 2016-2018
  • Lang, T., & Schander, S. (2023). Quantum Geometrodynamics Revived I. Classical Constraint Algebra. arxiv:2305.10097v2
  • Lang, T., & Schander, S. (2023). Quantum Geometrodynamics Revived II. Hilbert Space of Positive Definite Metrics. arxiv:2305.09650v2
  • Schander, S., & Thiemann, T. (2022). Quantum cosmological backreactions. IV. Constrained quantum cosmological perturbation theory. Physical Review D, 105(10), 106012. doi:10.1103/physrevd.105.106012
  • Schander, S., & Thiemann, T. (2022). Quantum cosmological backreactions. III. Deparametrized quantum cosmological perturbation theory. Physical Review D, 105(10), 106011. doi:10.1103/physrevd.105.106011
  • Schander, S., & Thiemann, T. (2022). Quantum cosmological backreactions. I. Cosmological space adiabatic perturbation theory. Physical Review D, 105(10), 106009. doi:10.1103/physrevd.105.106009
  • Neuser, J., Schander, S., & Thiemann, T. (2022). Quantum cosmological backreactions. II. Purely homogeneous quantum cosmology. Physical Review D, 105(10), 106010. doi:10.1103/physrevd.105.106010
  • Dittrich, B., Gielen, S., & Schander, S. (2022). Lorentzian quantum cosmology goes simplicial. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 39(3), 035012. doi:10.1088/1361-6382/ac42ad
  • Schander, S., & Thiemann, T. (n.d.). Backreaction in Cosmology. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, 8, 692198. doi:10.3389/fspas.2021.692198
  • A Novel Perspective on the Continuum Limit in Quantum Gravity, Quantum Gravity, 2024/05/30, PIRSA:24050097
  • Quantum Geometrodynamics Revived - Conceptual Setup, Radboud University Nijmegen, Physics, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 2023/07/10
  • Quantum Geometrodynamics Revived, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Quantum Gravity, Erlangen, Germany, 2023/05/17