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Faculty Profile

Volodymyr VovchenkoVolodymyr Vovchenko

Assistant Professor
Department of Physics

Office: Science & Research 1, 629C
Contact: vvovchenko@uh.edu - 713-743-4328

Education: Ph.D., Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

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Dr. Volodymyr Vovchenko’s expertise lies in high-energy nuclear theory. His research mainly focuses on the properties of hot and dense strongly interacting quantum chromodynamics (QCD) matter under extreme conditions, in particular, the transition between ordinary hadronic matter and the deconfined Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP). Hot QGP matter existed during the early evolution of the Universe, and it is recreated in the laboratory through relativistic heavy-ion collisions at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. On the other side of the phase diagram, cold and dense QCD matter fills the interior of compact objects such as neutron stars. The properties of QCD matter under extreme conditions of temperature and density are inferred from theoretical analysis of the associated heavy-ion and astrophysical phenomena such as heavy-ion collisions and neutron star mergers.

In his research, Dr. Vovchenko applies methods of statistical mechanics, relativistic hydrodynamics, and transport theory. He is also interested in scientific computing and visualization.

Honors & Awards

  • IUPAP Early Career Scientist in Nuclear Physics Prize, 2022
  • Feodor-Lynen Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2019
  • Giersch-Excellence-Award for an outstanding doctoral thesis, 2018
  • Prize of the Association of Friends and Sponsors of Goethe University for best dissertation in the natural sciences, 2018
  • Award of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine for best scientific works of young scientists and students, 2013

Organizations & Memberships

  • Member, Humboldt Network of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2019-present

Thermal-FIST

Thermal-FIST is C++ package designed for a convenient general-purpose analysis within various versions of the hadron resonance gas (HRG) model. This mainly includes the statistical analysis of particle production in heavy-ion collisions and the phenomenology of the hadronic equation of state.

The package is flexible and suitable both for beginner users that are getting familiar with the field of relativistic heavy-ion collisions and QCD equation of state, as well as for advanced state-of-the-art research. The main reference for Thermal-FIST is Computer Physics Communications 244, 295 (2019) and should be cited whenever the code is used in a publication.

View GitHub Repository