{{Resume-like|date=April 2026}} {{short description|German physicist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Sebastian Deffner | alma_mater = University of Augsburg | thesis_url = https://opus.bibliothek.uni-augsburg.de/opus4/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/1526/file/Deffner_Dissertation.pdf | caption = | birth_date = | birth_place = Augsburg, Germany{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} | death_date = | death_place = | residence = | citizenship = German | ethnicity = | fields = Quantum Thermodynamics | workplaces = * University of Augsburg * UMD * Los Alamos National Laboratory * UMBC | image = | academic_advisors = * Christopher Jarzynski * Wojciech H. Zurek | doctoral_advisor = Eric Lutz | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = *Quantum Thermodynamics *Quantum Speed Limits for Open Systems *Shortcuts to Adiabaticity *Quantum Heat Engines and Refrigerators | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | religion = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | footnotes = | thesis_title = Nonequilibrium Entropy Production in Open and Closed Quantum Systems | thesis_year = 2010 | spouse = }}
'''Sebastian Deffner''' is a German theoretical physicist and a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).<ref name="SD_UMBC">{{Cite web|url=https://physics.umbc.edu/people/faculty/deffner/|title=Sebastian Deffner – Department of Physics – UMBC|website=physics.umbc.edu|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref> He is known for his contributions to the development of quantum thermodynamics with focus on the thermodynamics of quantum information, quantum speed limit for open systems, quantum control and shortcuts to adiabaticity.
== Education == Deffner received his Diplom-Physiker (Master of Science) in 2008 from the University of Augsburg; and he received his doctorate from the same university in 2011 under the supervision of {{ill|Eric Lutz|de}}.<ref name="SD_UMBC" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uni-augsburg.de/de/fakultaet/mntf/physik/research/drthesis/|title=Dissertationen|website=www.uni-augsburg.de|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref>
== Career == From 2008 until 2011, Deffner was a research fellow at the University of Augsburg.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://cnls.lanl.gov/External/people/Sebastian_Deffner.php|title=Center for Nonlinear Studies|website=cnls.lanl.gov|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref> From 2011 to 2014, he was a Research Associate in the group of Christopher Jarzynski at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) for which he had received the DAAD postdoctoral fellowship.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://academicminute.org/2017/12/sebastian-deffner-university-of-maryland-baltimore-county-quantum-supremacy/|title=Sebastian Deffner, University of Maryland Baltimore County – Quantum Supremacy|date=11 December 2017|website=The Academic Minute|language=en-US|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=May 2021}} From 2014 to 2016, he took up the position of a Director’s Funded Postdoctoral Fellow with Wojciech H. Zurek at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.<ref name="SD_UMBC" /> Since 2016, he has held a position as a faculty member of the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where he leads the quantum thermodynamics group, and a position as a Visiting Professor at the University of Campinas in Brazil.<ref name=":1" />
== Recognition == Deffner’s contributions to quantum thermodynamics have been recognized through the 2016 Early Career Award from the ''New Journal of Physics'',<ref name=":0" /> as well as the Leon Heller Postdoctoral Publication Prize from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2016.<ref name=":2" /> Since 2017, Deffner has been a member of the international editorial board for IOP Publishing's ''Journal of Physics Communications'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2399-6528/page/Editorial-Board|title=Editorial Board – Journal of Physics Communications – IOPscience|website=iopscience.iop.org|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref> and since 2019 he has been on the editorial advisory board of the ''Journal of Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/jnet/jnet-overview.xml|title=Journal of Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics|website=De Gruyter|language=en|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref> and a member of the Section Board for Quantum Information of ''Entropy''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy/sectioneditors/quantum_information|title=Entropy|website=www.mdpi.com|language=en|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref> He is also a member of the inaugural editorial board of ''PRX Quantum''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://journals.aps.org/prxquantum/staff|title=PRX Quantum|website=www.journals.aps.org/prxquantum/|date=11 June 2020|language=en|access-date=6 July 2020}}</ref>
* 2017 APS Outstanding Referee (American Physical Society).<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://journals.aps.org/OutstandingReferees|title=Physical Review Journals – Outstanding Referees|website=journals.aps.org|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref> * 2016 Leon Heller Postdoctoral Publication Prize (Los Alamos National Laboratory).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lanl.gov/science-innovation/science-highlights/2017/2017-01.php#award-4|title=Science Highlights, January 18, 2016|last=Los Alamos National Laboratory, Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy|website=www.lanl.gov|language=en|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref> * 2016 Early Career Award (''New Journal of Physics'').<ref name="noneq">{{Cite web|url=https://cnls.lanl.gov/External/|title=Center for Nonlinear Studies|website=cnls.lanl.gov|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref>
==Personal life== As of 2020, Deffner is married to Catherine Nakalembe, a remote sensing scientist. They have 2 children.<ref>{{cite news |title=My work helps improve people's livelihoods |url=https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/full-woman/my-work-helps-improve-people-s-livelihoods-2483160 |access-date=25 January 2021 |work=Daily Monitor |date=16 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
== See also == * Shortcuts to adiabaticity
== Books == * {{Cite book |author= Deffner, Sebastian|author2=Campbell, Steve|title=Quantum Thermodynamics: An introduction to the thermodynamics of quantum information |publisher=IOP Publishing |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-64327-658-8 |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/book/978-1-64327-658-8}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://quthermo.umbc.edu/ Quantum Thermodynamics] at UMBC, led by Sebastian Deffner * [https://quthermo.umbc.edu/group-members/sebastian-deffner/ Sebastian Deffner] at UMBC * [https://publons.com/researcher/786403/sebastian-deffner Sebastian Deffner] at Publons * [https://arxiv.org/a/deffner_s_1.html Sebastian Deffner] at arXiv
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Deffner, Sebastian}} Category:German theoretical physicists Category:Thermodynamicists Category:21st-century German physicists Category:Living people Category:1983 births Category:University of Maryland, Baltimore County faculty