Directions of research

The experimental and theoretical research conducted at the Institutes of Physics is directed at physical systems of all kinds, from the most elementary (elementary particles and atomic nuclei), through complex systems (atoms, molecules, solid state and biological systems), to the most complex system of all: the Universe as a whole.

The Institute of Geophysics is the sole research and teaching institution in Poland dedicated to the training of geophysicists towards the physics of the Earth's and planetary interiors, the physics of the atmosphere, and the methods of optical and computational information processing.

The Astronomical Observatory carries out research within a broad scope of astronomy, relativity theory and cosmology. Its members conduct observational studies of celestial bodies. Recently the Institute has acquired a telescope at Las Campanas, Chile, which is property of the University of Warsaw and which has significantly enhanced the research capabilities of our institution.

Research carried out at the Department of Mathematical Methods in Physics involves the application of modern mathematics to the study of physical problems.

Institute of Experimental Physics

Research at the Institute of Experimental Physics concerns a variety of fields of modern physics: from solid state physics and optics, through biophysics and medical physics, all the way to nuclear physics and the physics of elementary particles and the fundamental interactions. The Section of Physics Teaching Methodology specializes in problems related to the process of teaching physics in schools, and the formation of teachers.
Webpage of the Institute of Experimental Physics

Institute of Theoretical Physics

Research at the Institute of Theoretical Physics encompasses most of the areas of modern theoretical physics. Its subject is the theoretical description of a wide variety of physical systems, from the most elementary, to the most complex of all: the Universe as a whole.

Institute of Geophysics

Research at the Institute of Geophysics concerns the physics of the atmosphere, physics of the lithosphere, and information optics. This research is carried out through seismic methods, observations of the gravitational and magnetic field, and numerical modelling.
Webpage of the Institute of Geophysics

Astronomical Observatory

Research carried out at the Astronomical Observatory concerns the following fields: extragalactic astronomy, relativity theory and cosmology, the theory of stellar atmospheres, the theory of hydrodynamical flows in binary systems and interstellar matter, observation of variable stars (binaries, pulsars and chromospherically active stars), the photometry of stellar clusters, the spectroscopy of variable and chemically singular stars.
Webpage of the Astronomical Observatory

Department of Mathematical Methods in Physics

The main directions of research carried out at the Department are: the geometrical foundations of physical theories (such as the theory of gravity, quantum field theory, the mechanics of charged matter, control theory of static systems), the theory of operator algebras and its applications to statistical physics and scattering theory, the theory of classical groups (stressing its geometrical aspects), and of quantum groups (operator and topological aspects), as well as the general theory of representations and duality and of special functions.
Webpage of the Department of Mathematical Methods in Physics