Professor Dr Gert Aarts is known for his work on strongly interacting matter and for linking theoretical physics with machine learning. Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft is funding Professor Gert Aarts’ appointment as Professor of Theoretical Physics at Bielefeld University with 1.58 million Euros over four years. Aarts assumes the position in August.

The funding is granted through the foundation’s Advanced Professorship programme, which supports German universities in appointing and integrating internationally leading researchers from abroad.

‘Gert Aarts enjoys an outstanding international reputation in his field and is setting decisive impulses in the study of strongly interacting matter,’ says Professor Dr Angelika Epple, Rector of Bielefeld University. ‘With support from the Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft, this field can now be further expanded in Bielefeld and linked more closely with machine learning.’

Aarts joins Bielefeld University after 22 years in the United Kingdom, where he is currently professor at Swansea University. His work addresses one of the major unresolved questions in physics: how matter behaves under extreme conditions when its constituents interact very strongly with one another. It is relevant for understanding the early universe, heavy-ion collision experiments and neutron stars and their mergers.

His research focuses on the strong force, described by the theory of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). However, the predictions of QCD often cannot be calculated using simple mathematical methods. Instead, he uses supercomputers to simulate how fundamental particles called quarks and gluons interact. The results help interpret experiments at particle accelerators such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

In recent years, Aarts has expanded his work to include machine learning. He uses generative artificial intelligence to support Monte Carlo simulation methods. These methods rely on many random sampling steps to simulate physical processes in a realistic way. ‘One of the outstanding challenges in fundamental physics is to compute the properties of the strong interaction, described by QCD, from first principles,’ Aarts says.

‘Machine learning offers new tools for lattice field theory – and theoretical physics may help us understand why these algorithms learn. Developing both directions together in Bielefeld is a new and exciting research programme, which will also link up well with activities across the university, both in research and in teaching.’

Since 2018, Aarts has led the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Advanced Computing (AIMLAC), a doctoral training centre funded by the UK’s national research funding agency, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). From 2021 to 2024, he was Director of the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT*) in Trento, Italy, which hosts around 22 workshops per year and brings together about 800 researchers annually.

Aarts’ research is closely aligned with the Bielefeld University’s strategic Focus Area ‘Architecture of nature: Elementary Building Blocks and Structure Formation’ (ANBauEn).

The Wübben Stiftung Wissenschaft is a private foundation based in Berlin. Founded in 2023 by Dr Walter Wübben, it supports internationally competitive research in Germany. Bielefeld University receives funding from the foundation for the first time through the Advanced Professorship programme. Funding of up to 1.6 million euros per appointment is awarded following external peer review, with universities providing matching funds.