Professor Simon Hands

Personal Professor, Physics

+44 (0) 1792 295013

s.j.hands@swansea.ac.uk

Research Links

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5720-7852

ResearchGate

Google Scholar

Office - 603
Sixth Floor
Vivian Building
Singleton Campus

Available For Postgraduate Supervision

About

Simon Hands is a theoretical and computational physicist specialising in lattice field theory simulations of strongly-interacting matter. Two areas of particular interest are the behaviour of quarks under extreme conditions of temperature and density, and the behaviour of electrons in two-dimensional substances such as graphene. My research frequently requires the use of Tier-1 high performance computing such as STFC’s national DiRAC HPC facilty where I am currently co-chair of the Project Board.

I have worked at Swansea University since 1993.

See also the links from my personal webpage http://pyweb.swan.ac.uk/~hands/

Areas Of Expertise

Lattice field theory
Quantum Field theory
High Performance Computing

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests

I lecture Nuclear Physics and Computational Physics, and coordinate a level 3 module in which selected students interested in a career in teaching undertake placements in local schools.

Research

My current project: investigation of possible ground states in various two-dimenional lattice models of interacting fermions. The red and blue surfaces indicate a condensate of fermion – antifermion pairs leading to the formation of an “Aoki phase”.

Award Highlights

Elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales in 2013.

Publications

Research Highlights

Thomas, D., Borgo, R., Laramee, R., Hands, S. 2019 Joint Contour Net Analysis for Feature Detection in Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics Data Big Data Research 15 29 42
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa49610 doi: 10.1016/j.bdr.2019.02.003
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214579618302600?dgcid=coauthor
Hands, S. 2019 Critical flavor number in the 2+1D Thirring model Physical Review D 99 3
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa48869 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.99.034504
https://journals.aps.org/prd/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.034504
Bermudez, A., Tirrito, E., Rizzi, M., Lewenstein, M., Hands, S., Hands, S. 2018 Gross–Neveu–Wilson model and correlated symmetry-protected topological phases Annals of Physics 399 149 180
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa45293 doi: 10.1016/j.aop.2018.10.007
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aop.2018.10.007
Thomas, D., Borgo, R., Laramee, R., Hands, S., Laramee, B. 2017 QCDVis: a tool for the visualisation of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) data Computers & Graphics 67 115 126
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa34649 doi: 10.1016/j.cag.2017.07.006
Hands, S. 2016 Towards critical physics in 2+1d with U(2N )-invariant fermions Journal of High Energy Physics 2016 11
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa30962 doi: 10.1007/JHEP11(2016)015
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP11%282016%29015
Thomas, D., Borgo, R., Hands, S. 2016 Topological Visualisation Techniques for the Understanding of Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (LQCD) Simulations Computer Graphics & Visual Computing (CGVC) 2016
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa30896 doi: 10.2312/cgvc.20161298
https://diglib.eg.org/handle/10.2312/cgvc20161298
Armour, W., Hands, S., Strouthos, C. 2015 Strong interaction effects at a Fermi surface in a model for voltage-biased bilayer graphene Physical Review B 92 23
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa25301 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.92.235143
Hands, S. 2015 Domain wall fermions for planar physics Journal of High Energy Physics 09 047
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23345 doi: 10.1007/JHEP09(2015)047
Hands, S. 2016 From domain wall to overlap in 2+1d Physics Letters B 754 264 269
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa25961 doi: 10.1016/j.physletb.2016.01.037
Aarts, G., Allton, C., Hands, S., Jäger, B., Praki, C., Skullerud, J. 2015 Nucleons and parity doubling across the deconfinement transition Physical Review D 92 1
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa22162 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.92.014503

All Research

Journal Articles

Thomas, D., Borgo, R., Laramee, R., Hands, S. 2019 Joint Contour Net Analysis for Feature Detection in Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics Data Big Data Research 15 29 42
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa49610 doi: 10.1016/j.bdr.2019.02.003
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214579618302600?dgcid=coauthor
Hands, S. 2019 Critical flavor number in the 2+1D Thirring model Physical Review D 99 3
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa48869 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.99.034504
https://journals.aps.org/prd/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.034504
Bermudez, A., Tirrito, E., Rizzi, M., Lewenstein, M., Hands, S., Hands, S. 2018 Gross–Neveu–Wilson model and correlated symmetry-protected topological phases Annals of Physics 399 149 180
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa45293 doi: 10.1016/j.aop.2018.10.007
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aop.2018.10.007
Thomas, D., Borgo, R., Laramee, R., Hands, S., Laramee, B. 2017 QCDVis: a tool for the visualisation of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) data Computers & Graphics 67 115 126
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa34649 doi: 10.1016/j.cag.2017.07.006
Hands, S. 2016 Towards critical physics in 2+1d with U(2N )-invariant fermions Journal of High Energy Physics 2016 11
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa30962 doi: 10.1007/JHEP11(2016)015
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP11%282016%29015
Armour, W., Hands, S., Strouthos, C. 2015 Strong interaction effects at a Fermi surface in a model for voltage-biased bilayer graphene Physical Review B 92 23
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa25301 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.92.235143
Hands, S. 2015 Domain wall fermions for planar physics Journal of High Energy Physics 09 047
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa23345 doi: 10.1007/JHEP09(2015)047
Hands, S. 2016 From domain wall to overlap in 2+1d Physics Letters B 754 264 269
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa25961 doi: 10.1016/j.physletb.2016.01.037
Aarts, G., Allton, C., Hands, S., Jäger, B., Praki, C., Skullerud, J. 2015 Nucleons and parity doubling across the deconfinement transition Physical Review D 92 1
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa22162 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.92.014503
Amato, A., Giudice, P., Hands, S. 2015 Hadron wave functions as a probe of a two-color baryonic medium The European Physical Journal A 51 4
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa20483 doi: 10.1140/epja/i2015-15039-6
Aarts, G., Allton, C., Amato, A., Giudice, P., Hands, S., Skullerud, J. 2015 Electrical conductivity and charge diffusion in thermal QCD from the lattice Journal of High Energy Physics 2015 2
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa20253 doi: 10.1007/JHEP02(2015)186
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP02%282015%29186
Hands, S., Strouthos, C. 2008 Quantum critical behavior in a graphenelike model Physical Review B 78 16 165423 (7 pages)
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1125 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.78.165423
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.78.165423
Hands, S., Kim, S., Skullerud, J. 2010 Quarkyonic phase in dense two color matter Physical Review D 81 9 091502
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1126 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.81.091502
Armour, W., Hands, S., Strouthos, C. 2010 Monte Carlo simulation of the semimetal-insulator phase transition in monolayer graphene Physical Review B 81 12 125105
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1127 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.81.125105
Chakrabarti, D., Hands, S., Rago, A. 2009 Topological aspects of fermions on a honeycomb lattice Journal of High Energy Physics 2009 06 060 060
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1128 doi: 10.1088/1126-6708/2009/06/060
Kogut, J., Sinclair, D., Hands, S., Morrison, S., Hands, S. 2001 Two-color QCD at nonzero quark-number density Physical Review D 64 9 9 pages
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1537 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.64.094505
Allton, C., Ejiri, S., Hands, S., Kaczmarek, O., Karsch, F., Laermann, E., Schmidt, C., Scorzato, L., Hands, S., Allton, C. 2002 QCD thermal phase transition in the presence of a small chemical potential Physical Review D 66 7 16 pages
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1538 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.66.074507
Allton, C., Ejiri, S., Hands, S., Kaczmarek, O., Karsch, F., Laermann, E., Schmidt, C., Hands, S., Allton, C. 2003 Equation of state for two flavor QCD at nonzero chemical potential Physical Review D 68 1 17 pages
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1539 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.68.014507
Hands, S., Kim, S., Skullerud, J., Hands, S. 2006 Deconfinement in dense 2-color QCD 193 206
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa1540 doi: 10.1140/epjc/s2006-02621-8
HANDS, S., SITCH, P., SKULLERUD, J., Hands, S. 2008 Hadron spectrum in a two-colour baryon-rich medium Physics Letters B
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7064 doi: 10.1016/j.physletb.2008.01.078
Hands, S., Strouthos, C. 2009 Quantum phase transition in a graphene model Journal of Physics: Conference Series
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7065 doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/150/4/042191
Hands, S., Kenny, P., Kim, S., Skullerud, J., Hands, S. 2011 Lattice study of dense matter with two colors and four flavors The European Physical Journal A 47 5
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7068 doi: 10.1140/epja/i2011-11060-1
Hands, S., Kenny, P. 2011 Topological fluctuations in dense matter with two colors Physics Letters B
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7069 doi: 10.1016/j.physletb.2011.05.065
Armour, W., Hands, S., Strouthos, C. 2011 Monte Carlo simulation of monolayer graphene at nonzero temperature Physical Review B
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7070 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.84.075123
Armour, W., Hands, S., Kogut, J., Lucini, B., Strouthos, C., Vranas, P. 2011 Magnetic monopole plasma phase in (2+1)d compact quantum electrodynamics with fermionic matter Physical Review D
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7071 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.84.014502
Armour, W., Hands, S., Strouthos, C. 2009 Lattice Simulations near the Semimetal-Insulator Phase Transition of Graphene
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7977
Hands, S., Kim, S., Skullerud, J. 2012 Non-relativistic spectrum of two-color QCD at non-zero baryon density Physics Letters B 711 2 199 204
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa13403 doi: 10.1016/j.physletb.2012.04.002
Cotter, S., Giudice, P., Hands, S., Skullerud, J. 2013 Towards the phase diagram of dense two-color matter Physical Review D 87 3 034507
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa13404 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.034507
Armour, W., Hands, S., Strouthos, C. 2013 Monte Carlo study of strongly interacting degenerate fermions: A model for voltage-biased bilayer graphene Physical Review D 87 6
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa14506 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.87.065010
Hands, S., Hollowood, T., Myers, J. 2010 QCD with chemical potential in a small hyperspherical box Journal of High Energy Physics 2010 7
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7247 doi: 10.1007/JHEP07(2010)086
Hands, S., Hollowood, T., Myers, J. 2010 Numerical study of the two color attoworld Journal of High Energy Physics 2010 12
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7250 doi: 10.1007/JHEP12(2010)057
Amato, A., Aarts, G., Allton, C., Giudice, P., Hands, S., Skullerud, J. 2013 Electrical Conductivity of the Quark-Gluon Plasma Across the Deconfinement Transition Physical Review Letters 111 17 172001
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa16311 doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.172001
Aarts, G., Allton, C., De Boni, D., Hands, S., Jäger, B., Praki, C., Skullerud, J. 2017 Light baryons below and above the deconfinement transition: medium effects and parity doubling Journal of High Energy Physics 2017 6 1 30
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa34210 doi: 10.1007/JHEP06(2017)034
Boz, T., Giudice, P., Hands, S., Skullerud, J. 2020 Dense two-color QCD towards continuum and chiral limits Physical Review D 101 7
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53927 doi: 10.1103/physrevd.101.074506

Book Chapters

Hands, S., Laramee, B., Borgo, R., Thomas, D. 2019 Topological Visualisation Techniques for Volume Multifield Data Branislav Sobota(Ed.), Computer Graphics and Imaging Intech Open
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa52576 doi: 10.5772/intechopen.82185
https://www.intechopen.com/books/computer-graphics-and-imaging

Conference Contributions

Thomas, D., Borgo, R., Hands, S. 2016 Topological Visualisation Techniques for the Understanding of Lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (LQCD) Simulations Computer Graphics & Visual Computing (CGVC) 2016
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa30896 doi: 10.2312/cgvc.20161298
https://diglib.eg.org/handle/10.2312/cgvc20161298
Hands, S. 2009 Lattice Study of Dense Two Color Matter PoS (QCD-TNT09) 018
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7979
http://pos.sissa.it//archive/conferences/087/018/QCD-TNT09_018.pdf
Giudice, P., Hands, S., Skullerud, J. 2011 Quark number susceptibility at ﬁnite density and low temperature PoS(Lattice 2011) 193
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7982
http://pos.sissa.it//archive/conferences/139/193/Lattice%202011_193.pdf
Hollowood, T., Hands, S., Myers, J. 2010 QCD with chemical potential on S^1 x S^3 PoS Lattice 2010
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7964
https://pos.sissa.it/105/204/pdf
Aarts, G., Allton, C., Hands, S., Foley, J., Kim, S., Hands, S., Allton, C. 2010 Polarised correlators at finite temperature PoS LATTICE2010 166
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa8154
https://pos.sissa.it/105/166/pdf
Aarts, G., Allton, C., Boni, D., Glesaaen, J., Hands, S., Jaeger, B., , J. 2019 Hyperons in thermal QCD from the lattice Strange Quark Matter
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa53124

Other Research Outputs

Aarts, G., Allton, C., Foley, J., Hands, S., Kim, S. 2010 Longitudinal and transverse meson correlators in the deconfined phase from the lattice
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa7980
http://arXiv.org/abs/arXiv:1010.0845

Supervision

Aspects of Strongly Interacting Quantum Field Theories in 2+1D (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Gert Aarts
Hadron spectroscopy at non zero temperature using Lattice QCD techniques. (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Gert Aarts
QCD under extreme conditions: heating up quarks and gluons (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Gert Aarts
Topics in anisotropic lattice QCD at high temperature (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Chris Allton
Extracting small signals from highly oscillating data: the sign problem in Condensed Matter Physics (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof Biagio Lucini
'Topological visualisation techniques to enhance understanding of Lattice QCD simulations«br /» ' (awarded 2018)

PhD

Other supervisor: Dr Bob Laramee
Improved Numerical Methods for Domain Wall Fermions in 2+1d. (awarded 2019)

MSc

Other supervisor: Prof Gert Aarts

Taught Modules

PH-311 Project

Project carried out individually under the supervision of a member of staff on a suitable theoretical or experimental topic.
PH-318 Theoretical Physics Project

An individual project on a theoretical project.
PH-325 Teaching Physics via a School Placement

This module is for students with an interest in entering teaching, and involves a weekly placement in a local school under the mentorship of a physics teacher. The student will engage both in observation and in various teaching activities. The module will be assessed on the basis of the mentor's report and on written project work.
PH-338 Frontiers of Nuclear Physics

This module covers nuclear physics, including applications of fission and fusion, together with modern developments in the theory of strong interactions.
PH-353 Computational Physics

Computer simulations play a fundamental role in Physics. This course will introduce the the main techniques used in the field; in particular, Monte Carlo calculations. The student will also be equipped with the needed computing skills.
PH-M40 Computational Science Project

Students will perform individual projects based on advanced Science topics using computational techniques.

Public Engagements

In 1993 I was one of five winners of a bottle of vintage champagne offered by the then UK Science Minister, William Waldegrave, for the best description on one side of an A4 page of the Higgs Boson and why we should try so hard to find it. Peter Higgs visited

Swansea University in 2012 a few days after the boson discovery was announced at CERN, and you can see an interview I made with him at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYOsRPlW6Ng

The world of hot quarks and gluons has been described from an unusual direction in an allegorical graphic novel starring superheroes Thor, Sif and Loki. I helped with the English translation, found here.

During the Covid-19 lockdown I gave a webinar schools talk on Special Relativity and the Twin Paradox, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VDeax6aNV8

Professor Simon Hands

Telephone number

Email address

LinkedIn Account

Research Links

About

Areas Of Expertise

Career Highlights

Research Highlights

All Research

Aspects of Strongly Interacting Quantum Field Theories in 2+1D (current)

Hadron spectroscopy at non zero temperature using Lattice QCD techniques. (current)

QCD under extreme conditions: heating up quarks and gluons (current)

Topics in anisotropic lattice QCD at high temperature (current)

Extracting small signals from highly oscillating data: the sign problem in Condensed Matter Physics (current)

'Topological visualisation techniques to enhance understanding of Lattice QCD simulations«br /» ' (awarded 2018)

Improved Numerical Methods for Domain Wall Fermions in 2+1d. (awarded 2019)

PH-311 Project

PH-318 Theoretical Physics Project

PH-325 Teaching Physics via a School Placement

PH-338 Frontiers of Nuclear Physics

PH-353 Computational Physics

PH-M40 Computational Science Project