Massimo Boninsegni

{{short description|Theoretical condensed matter physicist}}File:Cosenza,_July_2023.jpg

Massimo Boninsegni (born 1963 in Genova, Italy) is an Italian-Canadian theoretical condensed matter physicist. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in physics at the Universita' degli Studi di Genova in 1986.

He moved to the United States in 1987, where he received a doctoral degree in physics from Florida State University in 1992. His Ph.D. thesis{{Cite journal|url=https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:25035971|title=Variational and Green's function Monte Carlo study of lightly doped quantum antiferromagnets|last=Boninsegni|first=Massimo|date=1992|publisher=Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)|bibcode=1992PhDT.......202B}} was on numerical studies of a strongly correlated electronic model of high-temperature superconductivity. He took on postdoctoral positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Delaware, before becoming in 1997 an assistant professor of physics at San Diego State University. He moved to the University of Alberta in 2002, where he has been a professor of physics since 2005.{{cite web|url=https://www.ualberta.ca/science/about-us/contact-us/faculty-directory/massimo-boninsegni|title=Massimo Boninsegni|work=University of Alberta|access-date=2019-08-20}}

His research interests are in the areas of superfluidity, superconductivity, Bose-Einstein condensation and Quantum Monte Carlo simulations. His main contribution is in computational quantum many-body physics, specifically to the development of the continuous-space Worm Algorithm for the simulation of strongly correlated Bose systems at finite temperature.{{Cite journal|last1=Boninsegni|first1=Massimo|last2=Prokof'ev|first2=Nikolay V.|last3=Svistunov|first3=Boris V.|date=February 2006|title=Worm Algorithm for Continuous-Space Path Integral Monte Carlo Simulations|journal=Physical Review Letters|volume=96|issue=7|pages=070601|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.070601|pmid=16606070|arxiv=cond-mat/0510214|bibcode=2006PhRvL..96g0601B|s2cid=7456126}}{{Cite journal|last1=Boninsegni|first1=Massimo|last2=Prokof'ev|first2=Nikolay V.|last3=Svistunov|first3=Boris V.|title=Worm algorithm and diagrammatic Monte Carlo: A new approach to continuous-space path integral Monte Carlo simulations|journal=Physical Review E|volume=74|issue=3|pages=036701|doi=10.1103/PhysRevE.74.036701|pmid=17025780|arxiv=physics/0605225|bibcode=2006PhRvE..74c6701B|year=2006|s2cid=12807269}} He also contributed to the study of the condensed phase of molecular hydrogen, chiefly the superfluid properties of small clusters,{{Cite journal|last1=Mezzacapo|first1=Fabio|last2=Boninsegni|first2=Massimo|date=March 2009|title=Classical and quantum physics of hydrogen clusters|journal=Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter|volume=21|issue=16|pages=164205|doi=10.1088/0953-8984/21/16/164205|pmid=21825385|bibcode=2009JPCM...21p4205M|s2cid=5152537 }} as well as of the supersolid phase of matter.{{Cite journal|last1=Boninsegni|first1=Massimo|last2=Prokof'ev|first2=Nikolay V.|date=April 2012|title=Supersolids: What and where are they?|journal=Reviews of Modern Physics|volume=84|issue=2|pages=759–776|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.84.759|arxiv=1201.2227|bibcode=2012RvMP...84..759B|s2cid=119286697}}

He was awarded the status of Fellow{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/|title=APS Fellowship|website=www.aps.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-20}} of the American Physical Society in 2007{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=&unit_id=&institution=|title=APS Fellow Archive|website=www.aps.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-20}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=2007&unit_id=&institution=|title=APS Fellows 2007|website=www.aps.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-20}} for "the development of a novel methodology enabling accurate, large-scale Quantum Monte Carlo simulations of interacting many-body systems, and for its application to the investigation of the supersolid phase of helium and of superfluidity of molecular hydrogen".