Nils Niggemann conducted his master's project "The Majorana Functional Renormalization Group for Quantum Spin Systems" in the group of Professor Dr. Johannes Reuther. In the master's thesis, the graduate formulated a field-theoretical method - a general functional renormalization group approach based on Majorana fermions - and implemented spin operators via SO(3) symmetric Majorana representations. The results of his work were published in the journal Physical Review B.

Nils Niggemann continues to research as a PhD student in Reuther's group and works on explaining quantum spin systems by pseudoparticle representations. He aims to improve the approach described in his master's thesis as well as to characterize quantum spin liquids with analytical methods.

Henrik Kiefer completed the master's thesis "Non-Markovian Analysis of Financial and Meteorological Time Series Data" in the group of Professor Dr. Roland Netz. He applied methods proven in statistical physics and biophysics to non-physical systems and modelled time series with the generalized Langevin equation. Henrik Kiefer extracted and analyzed so-called memory effects in financial and weather data in order to use these effects for robust predictions of the same time series.

Henrik Kiefer continues scientific activities as a PhD student in the research group of Professor Netz and works on improving the formalisms and methods proposed in the master's thesis. His goal is to extend the modelling of non-Markovian effects employing generalized Langevin equation to several dimensions by coupling different time series of a complex system. Henrik Kiefer will test the theory on physical and non-physical time series aiming to answer the question of how coupling time series becomes relevant for modelling and predicting the dynamics of the complex system.

The award ceremony took place on 8th July 2021 in the Magnus House in Berlin. The prizes, consisting of a certificate and prize money, were awarded to eight physics graduates from Berlin and Potsdam. Due to the Covid19 restrictions, the circle of guests at this year's event was small.

The Department of Physics congratulates the awardees and wishes Henrik Kiefer and Nils Niggemann further scientific achievements.