Research

I am a theoretical physicist with a background in quantum gravity, relativistic astrophysics, applied mathematics and computer science. My current research focus is on exotic computing approaches, such as analog computing, quantum computing or neuromorphic architectures.

Analog Computing

Analog computing is a rediscovered branch of science which was beaten by digital (i.e. algorithmic/numeric) computing in the 1980s. In the dawn of Moore's law, this branch of classical computing percieves a revival. Based on the experience of programmable hardware (FPGAs), it is tangible to build large analog circuits to solve differential equations in a time- and energy-efficient way beyond digital computing. I am part of a German-based team which tries to develop a prototypical analog computer on a chip within the next few years.

There is a rich scientific landscape waiting to be discovered all around this exotic branch of computer science and intersection between electrical engineering, computational science and applied mathematics. Many concepts of numerical mathematics can be transfered and connections to other contemporary attempts to computing, namely quantum computing and artificial intelligence, are all along the way. It is an exciting time where analog circuits can make a radical difference in the computational accessibility of the largest problems in the world.

Here are a few recent publications in the context of analog computing:

Gravity and Quantum Physics

As a theoretical physicist in particle physics, my research interest is on the smallest scales. This is why I started my studies on understanding quarks (and their dynamics, described by a Quantum Field Theory called Quantum Chromodynamics) and later switched to quantum black holes, which are many orders of magnitude smaller. In this exotic field of high energy physics, I wrote a master thesis about Ultraviolet improved black holes. Fascinated by Einstein Field Theory, I switched my focus on numerical relativity and gravitational waves. In 2019 I graduated with a PhD Thesis on high-order methods in fully general-relativistic hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics. This project was carried out at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt within a Horizon2020 collaboration with the Universities of Trento and Durham. Within this project, called ExaHyPE, I studied numerical methods for solving hyperbolic partial differential equations on future exascale architectures.

• Antonia M. Frassino, Sven Köppel, Piero Nicolini: hep quantum-gravity peer-reviewed Geometric model of black hole quantum N-portrait, extradimensions and thermodynamics. April 12, 2016 [Inspire-HEP] [ArXiV] [DOI]
• Sven Köppel, Marco Knipfer, Jonas Mureika, Piero Nicolini: hep quantum-gravity quantum-gravity peer-reviewed Generalized Uncertainty Principle and Black Holes in Higher Dimensional Self-Complete Gravity. Aug 2019 [Inspire-HEP] [ArXiV] [DOI]
• Sven Köppel: hep quantum-gravity thesis master thesis Ultraviolet improved black holes. Dec 2014 [URN]
• Francesco Fambri, Michael Dumbser, Sven Köppel, Luciano Rezzolla, Olindo Zanotti: hep astrophysics peer-reviewed ADER discontinuous Galerkin schemes for the general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics equations. Dec 2017 [ArXiV] [DOI]
• Sven Köppel, Luke Bovard, Luciano Rezzolla: peer-reviewed hep astrophysics A General-relativistic Determination of the Threshold Mass to Prompt Collapse in Binary Neutron Star Mergers. Feb 2019 [Inspire-HEP] [ArXiV] [DOI]
• Michael Dumbser, Federico Guercilena, Sven Köppel, Luciano Rezzolla, Olindo Zanotti: hep astrophysics peer-reviewed A strongly hyperbolic first-order CCZ4 formulation of the Einstein equations and its solution with discontinuous Galerkin schemes. July 31, 2017 [Inspire-HEP] [ArXiV] [DOI]
• Sven Köppel: hep astrophysics thesis phd thesis numerical relavitiy quantum gravity High-order methods in fully general-relativistic hydrodynamics & magnetohydrodynamics. Jun 2019 [URN]
• Sven Köppel, Marco Knipfer, Maximilano Isi, Jonas Mureika, Piero Nicolini: hep quantum-gravity proceeding peer-reviewed Generalized uncertainty principle and extra dimensions. March 13, 2017 [Inspire-HEP] [ArXiV] [DOI]
• Reinarz, Charrier, Bader, Bovard, Duru, Fambri, Gabriel, Gallard, Köppel, Krenz, Rannabauer, Rezzolla, Samfass, Tavelli, Weinzerl: peer-reviewed hep astrophysics ExaHyPE: An Engine for Parallel Dynamically Adaptive Simulations of Wave Problems. May 2020 [ArXiV] [DOI]

See also

I also carried out physics education research between 2009 and 2019.

For publication listings, see also Inspire-HEP, NASA-ADS, DBLP or ArXiV. I have a ResearchGate profile and my ORCID is 0000-0003-2303-7765. The mathematics genealogy project has an entry about me, als DNB has one. In the past, I wrote a couple of outreach press/blog posts.