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Nome Cognome

 

RAFFAELE RESTA

Dipartimento di Fisica Teorica,
Università di Trieste,
strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste, Italy
tel: +39 040-2240264
fax: +39 040-224601
e-mail: resta@democritos.it

 
Full Professor ("Fisica della Materia") at the University of Trieste,
and member of the
DEMOCRITOS National Simulation Center of CNR-INFM (Trieste)


BORN: 1947, Genova (Italy)

EDUCATION:
1965, "Maturità Classica", Liceo C. Colombo, Genova, Italy.
1969, "Laurea in Fisica", Università di Pisa, Italy;
1969, "Diploma", Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, Italy.


SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS:

My present work belongs to what could be defined as "computational physics light": a computer experiment of moderate workload is the key to interpret an experiment, to explain a microscopic mechanism, to understand a general trend, and (in some cases) to discover a new "theorem". I have most often addressed crystalline semiconductors and insulators, focussing on properties such as band offsets, lattice dynamics, dielectric response, piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity, and electron localization. I am a coauthor of the so-called "modern theory of polarization". More recently, I have developed a novel general theory of the insulating state of matter. Since 2005, I have also addressed orbital magnetization and the quantum Hall effect.


SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION:

More than 150 scientific papers published in international journals and refereed conference proceedings; 70 of them have appeared on Phys. Rev. or Phys. Rev. Lett. (as of June, 2006). The publications scored more than 2900 hits on the ISI database (as of June, 2006).



SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

  • R. Resta, Macroscopic polarization in crystalline dielectrics: The geometric phase approach, Rev. Mod. Phys. 66, 899 (1994).
  • R. Resta, Manifestations of Berry's phase in molecules and in condensed matter, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 12, R107 (2000).
  • R. Resta, Why are insulators insulating and metals conducting?, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 14, R625 (2002).
  • R. Resta, Ab-initio simulation of the properties of ferroelectric materials, Modelling and Simulation in Materials Science and Engineering 11, R69 (2003).
  • R. Resta, Kohn's theory of the insulating state: A quantum-chemistry viewpoint, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 104104 (2006).