I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge in the group of Prof. Michael E. Cates. Previously, I have done a PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Münster in the group of Prof. Raphael Wittkowski, and in parallel a PhD in philosophy of science supervised by Prof. Ulrich Krohs and Dr. Paul M. Näger. In September 2024, I will start a position as an assistant professor („Juniorprofessor“) of theoretical physics at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz.
My research interests include (but are not limited to):
- Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics
- Soft and active matter
- Biological physics
- Philosophy of physics
Selected publications:
- Michael te Vrugt, Jens Bickmann and Raphael Wittkowski, Effects of social distancing and isolation on epidemic spreading modeled via dynamical density functional theory, Nature Communications 11, 5576 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19024-0
Selected as Editor’s Highlight
Selected for coverage in Physik Journal
Press reports: WWU Münster, Ruhr-Nachrichten, MyScience, Newsbeezer, Pediatric Radiology, News Bioon, Wemp.App, Osel, Tekk.tv, Heilpraxis.net, Healthcare Hygiene Magazine, Informationsdienst Wissenschaft, Research in Germany, DE24-News, Today Headline, MedicalXpress, Dorstener Zeitung, The Diet World,Avalanches, Wissen.Newzs,Abitur-und-Studium.de, Laborpraxis, Stadt40, Sciende Daily, Münsterland-Zeitung, Deutsches Ärzteblatt - Michael te Vrugt, Hartmut Löwen and Raphael Wittkowski, Classical dynamical density functional theory: From fundamentals to applications, Advances in Physics 69, 121-247 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1080/00018732.2020.1854965
Press reports: WWU Münster, HHU Düsseldorf, Informationsdienst Wissenschaft - Michael te Vrugt, Sabine Hossenfelder and Raphael Wittkowski, Mori-Zwanzig formalism for general relativity: a new approach to the averaging problem, Physical Review Letters 127, 231101 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.231101
Press reports: WWU Münster, FIAS Frankfurt, Innovations Report, Pro-Physik - Michael te Vrugt, How to distinguish between indistinguishable particles, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (accepted), https://doi.org/10.1086/718495
Covered in BJPS Short Reads
Podcast coverage on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible - Michael te Vrugt, Tobias Frohoff-Hülsmann, Eyal Heifetz, Uwe Thiele and Raphael Wittkowski, From a microscopic inertial active matter model to the Schrödinger equation, Nature Communications 14, 1302 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35635-1
Selected as Editor’s Highlight
Press reports: WWU Münster - Stephan Bröker, Jens Bickmann, Michael te Vrugt, Michael E. Cates and Raphael Wittkowski, Orientation-dependent propulsion of active Brownian spheres: from self-advection to programmable cluster shapes, Physical Review Letters 131, 168203 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.168203
Press reports: WWU Münster
Contact: mt971@cam.ac.uk