Matt Hodgson
Lecturer

Profile

Biography

I am a Lecturer in the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology specialising in theoretical and computational physics. My research focuses on the fundamentals of quantum theory and its application to modelling the electron excitation properties of materials.

Career

• University of York, Lecturer (2024-present); Associate Lecturer (2021-2024)
• Durham University, Postdoctoral Researcher (2019-2021)
• Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Postdoctoral Researcher (2016-2019)

School roles

• Standing Academic Misconduct Panel for the Faculty of Sciences, Member (2023-present)
• Careers and Employability, Coordinator (2023-present)
• Virtual Learning Environment, Coordinator (2021-present)

Teaching

Undergraduate

Semester 1

• Advanced Theoretical Techniques (Stage 3 module, PHY00074H)
• Linear Algebra (Stage 2, modules PHY00060I, PHY00050I and PHY00049I)

Research

Overview

With extensive research experience in condensed matter physics, my focus is on advancing our understanding of excited states within density functional theory. My research achievements include the development of the iDEA code, a versatile Python library for exploring exact solutions and practical approximations within many-body quantum mechanics, fundamental insights into the calculation of excited electron states within density functional theory, and the creation of a method for accurately simulating many-electron real-time dynamics. My ultimate goal is to bring the same level of success to the calculation of excited states as has been achieved for the ground state.

Publications

Selected publications

• "Machine learning the derivative discontinuity of density-functional theory" J. Gedeon, J. Schmidt, M. J. P. Hodgson, J. Wetherell, C. L. Benavides-Riveros and M. A. L. Marques, 2022 Mach. Learn.: Sci. Technol. 3 015011 (2021) 
• "Exact expressions for the height of the interatomic step in the exchange-correlation potential from the derivative discontinuity of the energy" M. J. P. Hodgson, Physical Review A 104 032803 (2021) 
• "From Kohn-Sham to many-electron energies via step structures in the exchange-correlation potential" E. Kraisler, M. J. P. Hodgson and E. K. U. Gross, Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation 17 (3), 1390–1407 (2021) 
• "Exact exchange-correlation potentials for calculating the fundamental gap with a fixed number of electrons" M. J. P. Hodgson, J. Wetherell and E. Fromager, Physical Review A 103, 012806 (2021) 
• "Accurate real-time evolution of electron densities and ground-state properties from generalized Kohn-Sham theory" M. J. P. Hodgson and J. Wetherell, Physical Review A 101, 032502 (2020) 
• "How Interatomic Steps in the Exact Kohn-Sham Potential Relate to Derivative Discontinuities of the Energy" M. J. P. Hodgson, E. Kraisler, A. Schild, and E. K. U. Gross, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 8 (24), 5974–5980 (2017) 
• "Origin of static and dynamic steps in exact Kohn-Sham potentials" M. J. P. Hodgson, J. D. Ramsden and R. W. Godby, Physical Review B 93, 155146 (2016) (Editors' Suggestion).

Full publications list

For a full list of my publications see my personal webpage. 

External activities

Memberships

• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Peer Review College, Member (2024-present)
• Royal Society of Chemistry, Member (2020-2022)
• Durham University, University College, Member (2019-present)
• European Theoretical Spectroscopy Facility (ETSF), Member (2012-present)
• Institute of Physics, Member (2016-present); Associate Member (2008-2016)