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Topic · Condensed Matter Physics

Theoretical and Computational Physics

Theoretical and Computational Physics is a research topic within Condensed Matter Physics. Science Explorer counts 69k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores various aspects of critical phenomena, including phase transitions, random walk algorithms, renormalization-group theory, self-organized criticality, fractal dimension, percolation theory, spin glasses, and Monte Carlo simulations. The research covers a wide range of topics related to the behavior of physical systems near critical points and provides insights into universality classes and complex system dynamics.

  • Phase Transitions
  • Critical Phenomena
  • Random Walk Algorithm
  • Renormalization-group Theory
  • Self-organized Criticality
  • Fractal Dimension
  • Percolation Theory
  • Spin Glasses
  • Monte Carlo Simulation
  • Universality Classes
Research works
69k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-8%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Theoretical and Computational Physics

Which countries lead Theoretical and Computational Physics research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (798 and 633 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 798 works
  2. 2 China 633 works
  3. 3 France 358 works
  4. 4 Germany 324 works
  5. 5 India 286 works
  6. 6 Japan 284 works
  7. 7 Russia 279 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 202 works
  9. 9 Italy 184 works
  10. 10 Brazil 168 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 22.7%China: 18.0%France: 10.2%Germany: 9.2%6 others listed: 39.9%23%largest
United States798 · 22.7%China633 · 18.0%France358 · 10.2%Germany324 · 9.2%6 others listed1,403 · 39.9%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Theoretical and Computational Physics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Theoretical and Computational Physics research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 163 works
  2. 2 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 111 works
  3. 3 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 58 works
  4. 4 Max Planck SocietyGermany 35 works
  5. 5 The University of TokyoJapan 33 works
  6. 6 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 29 works
  7. 7 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 28 works
  8. 8 New York UniversityUnited States 25 works
  9. 9 National Academy of Sciences of UkraineUkraine 23 works
  10. 10 Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 23 works

Who are the leading researchers in Theoretical and Computational Physics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Theoretical and Computational Physics include Zhong Lin Wang, John P. Perdew and Georg Kresse.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 John P. Perdew United States 436k citations
  3. 3 Georg Kresse Austria 431k citations
  4. 4 Kostya S. Novoselov United Kingdom 331k citations
  5. 5 Andre K. Geim United Kingdom 315k citations
  6. 6 Kieron Burke United States 276k citations
  7. 7 George M. Whitesides United States 267k citations
  8. 8 Jean‐Louis Vincent Belgium 262k citations
  9. 9 Jens K. Nørskov Denmark 260k citations
  10. 10 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Theoretical and Computational Physics?

The most cited paper in Theoretical and Computational Physics is "Optimization by Simulated Annealing" (Scott Kirkpatrick, C. D. Gelatt, Mario P. Vecchi, 1983), with 45,251 citations. Next come "Particle mesh Ewald: An N ⋅log( N ) method for Ewald sums in large systems" (31,396) and "Canonical sampling through velocity rescaling" (19,040).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Optimization by Simulated Annealing Scott Kirkpatrick, C. D. Gelatt, Mario P. Vecchi · Science 13 May 1983 45,251
2 Particle mesh Ewald: An N ⋅log( N ) method for Ewald sums in large systems Tom Darden, Darrin M. York, Lee G. Pedersen · The Journal of Chemical Physics Open access 15 Jun 1993 31,396
3 Canonical sampling through velocity rescaling Giovanni Bussi, Davide Donadio, Michele Parrinello · The Journal of Chemical Physics Open access 3 Jan 2007 19,040
4 Visualization and analysis of atomistic simulation data with OVITO–the Open Visualization Tool Alexander Stukowski · Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering Open access 15 Dec 2009 16,794
5 Free Energy of a Nonuniform System. I. Interfacial Free Energy John W. Cahn, J. E. Hilliard · The Journal of Chemical Physics Feb 1958 10,487
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Theoretical and Computational Physics research done?

The largest centres of Theoretical and Computational Physics research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Trieste.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 157 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 146 works
  3. 3 TokyoJapan 103 works
  4. 4 MoscowRussia 98 works
  5. 5 New YorkUnited States 50 works
  6. 6 RomeItaly 49 works
  7. 7 ShanghaiChina 46 works
  8. 8 LondonUnited Kingdom 41 works
  9. 9 NanjingChina 41 works
  10. 10 MadridSpain 35 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TriesteIT · 28.3 works15×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Theoretical and Computational Physics than the world average.

See Theoretical and Computational Physics on the map

Where is the best place to study Theoretical and Computational Physics?

Among universities, judged by research, Princeton University, Shenyang University of Technology and Sorbonne Université score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%60%mean 18.02%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Shenyang University …Princeton UniversityMassachusetts Instit…Sorbonne Université
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Princeton UniversityUnited States 64.230.4%11.9×22 +4.3%
2Shenyang University of TechnologyChina 63.548.8%14.6×13 -8.1%
3Sorbonne UniversitéFrance 60.315.8%8.0×23 +31.2%
4Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUnited States 58.316.5%7.4×22 +17.8%
5New York UniversityUnited States 55.58.7%5.2×25 +21.8%
6The University of TokyoJapan 53.313.5%6.4×33 -11.6%
7Université Paris-SaclayFrance 52.111.3%7.2×19 +10.0%
8École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneSwitzerland 51.115.0%8.0×14 +31.1%
9Tata Institute of Fundamental ResearchIndia 51.09.6%40.1×19 +27.5%
10Sapienza University of RomeItaly 50.510.6%5.8×28 -5.6%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Theoretical and Computational Physics, country by country

Is Theoretical and Computational Physics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 8% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2000.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Theoretical and Computational Physics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.018% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%0.30%Theoretical and Computational Physics0.017% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Theoretical and Computational Physics over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Theoretical and Computational Physics9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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