# Matthew P. A. Fisher
**Matthew P. A. Fisher** (born 1960) is a condensed matter physicist, professor of physics at the [University of California, Santa Barbara](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-california-santa-barbara) (UCSB), known for work on quantum phase transitions, exotic phases of strongly interacting electrons and spins, and the theory of deconfined quantum criticality. His research has focused on strongly interacting many-body quantum systems, especially electrons and spins in crystalline solids, including the fractional quantum [Hall effect](https://www.edgepedia.org/hall-effect), high-temperature superconductors, topologically ordered phases, and one-dimensional quantum wires.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/matthew-p-a-fisher-gmbcg7/) He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2012.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/matthew-p-a-fisher-gmbcg7/)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current position | Professor of physics, UC Santa Barbara, since July 1993[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8183-6608) |
| Field | Strongly correlated electron systems, quantum magnetism, quantum phase transitions[1](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/matthew-p-a-fisher-gmbcg7/) |
| PhD | Theoretical physics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1986[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) |
| Signature work | "Deconfined Quantum Critical Points," Science 303, 1490 (2004)[4](https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/mpaf/all-my-publications) |
| Major honors | Waterman Award 1995; NAS Award for Initiatives in Research 1997; Buckley Prize 2015[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) |
| Academy memberships | American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2003; National Academy of Sciences 2012[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) |
| Current research | Many-body theory and quantum information theory, monitored quantum systems[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) |
## Education and career
Fisher received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986.[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) His graduate study there ran from July 1982 to July 1986.[2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8183-6608) He then spent seven years at industrial research, first as a Visiting Scientist and then as a Research Staff Member at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center from 1986 to 1993.[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) IBM's publication archive lists [Physical Review B](https://www.edgepedia.org/physical-review-b) papers from this period, including ones from 1992 and 1994.[5](https://research.ibm.com/publications?author=111369)
In 1993 he joined the [Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics](https://www.edgepedia.org/kavli-institute-for-theoretical-physics) (KITP) and the Physics Department at UCSB, where ORCID records him as professor of physics from July 1, 1993 to the present.[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) • [2](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8183-6608) In 2007 he joined Microsoft's Station Q, a research group in Santa Barbara, as a research physicist, on leave from the UCSB physics department.[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) During the 2009-2010 academic year he was on the faculty at Caltech, returning to UCSB in summer 2010.[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) • [6](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2015096239.html)
## Representative work
The 2004 Science paper "Deconfined Quantum Critical Points" introduced a class of quantum critical points beyond the conventional order-parameter framework. It appeared in Science 303, pages 1490-1494, on March 5, 2004.[7](https://www.ovid.com/journals/scie/fulltext/00007529-200403050-00010~deconfined-quantum-critical-points) The paper proposed that liquid resonating-valence-bond-like states with gapless spinon excitations can appear at isolated critical points between phases with conventional confining orders in two-dimensional Mott insulators (material that should conduct electricity but doesn't, due to electron repulsion), and showed that subtle quantum interference effects can invalidate the conventional paradigm near second-order quantum phase transitions.[8](https://ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org/html/cond-mat/0311326)
The 2013 Nature paper "Non-Fermi liquid d-wave metal phase of strongly interacting electrons" (Nature 493, 39-44) reported a metallic phase with d-wave pairing correlations that lacks Fermi-liquid quasiparticles.[4](https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/mpaf/all-my-publications) The 2011 [Nature Physics](https://www.edgepedia.org/nature-physics) paper "Non-Abelian statistics and topological quantum information processing in 1D wire networks" (Nature Physics 7, 412-417) showed how networks of one-dimensional wires could support quasiparticles with non-Abelian exchange statistics, of relevance to a possible topological quantum computer.[4](https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/mpaf/all-my-publications) • [1](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/matthew-p-a-fisher-gmbcg7/)
## Quantum criticality and deconfined phases
A deconfined quantum critical point is a continuous transition whose critical theory contains an emergent gauge field and deconfined, fractionalized degrees of freedom associated with fractionalization of the order parameters, rather than the order-parameter fluctuations of the Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson framework.[8](https://ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org/html/cond-mat/0311326) A 2004 follow-up paper described characteristic physical properties of these critical points and highlighted observables that clearly distinguish them from conventional Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson critical points, even though both classes are strongly coupled and neither has sharp quasiparticle excitations.[9](https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/users/mpaf/publications/p118.pdf)
The framework also bears on metals. The 2004 paper raised the prospect that the quantum critical region of such critical points in doped Mott insulators is strongly non-Fermi-liquid-like, offering a route to understanding the phenomenology of the cuprate superconductors.[8](https://ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org/html/cond-mat/0311326)
## Superconductor-insulator transitions and fractionalization
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which elected him in 2003, credits Fisher with seminal contributions to the vortex-glass phase, the superconductor-insulator transition, and the theory of electron fractionalization, work that deepened understanding of strongly correlated electron materials.[10](https://www.amacad.org/person/matthew-pa-fisher) His 1989 [Physical Review Letters](https://www.edgepedia.org/physical-review-letters) paper "Vortex-glass superconductivity: A possible new phase in bulk high-Tc oxides" (PRL 62, 1415) proposed the vortex-glass as a new thermodynamic phase of the high-temperature cuprate superconductors.[4](https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/mpaf/all-my-publications) An NSF award published in 2011 supported his theoretical research on strongly interacting quantum many-body systems, including Mott insulators, spin liquids, spin-Bose metals, and non-Fermi-liquid phases, with a main thrust of developing an understanding of spin-Bose metals through analytical and numerical attacks on model Hamiltonians.[11](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011nsf....1101912F/abstract)
## Honors and recognition
Fisher received the Alan T. Waterman Award from the [National Science Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-science-foundation) in 1995, the National Academy of Sciences Award for Initiatives in Research in 1997, and the [Oliver E. Buckley Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/oliver-e-buckley-prize) in Condensed Matter Physics in 2015.[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2003, in Mathematical and Physical Sciences with a specialty in Physics,[10](https://www.amacad.org/person/matthew-pa-fisher) and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2012, with primary section Section 33: Applied Physical Sciences and secondary section Section 13: Physics.[1](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/matthew-p-a-fisher-gmbcg7/)
## Recent directions
Fisher's present research interests lie at the border between many-body theory and quantum information theory, especially non-equilibrium quantum dynamics of open and monitored quantum systems.[3](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher) A 2022 review of random quantum circuits for the Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics frames quantum circuits built from local unitary gates and local measurements as a tractable setting for universal collective phenomena far from equilibrium, generating phenomena with no traditional analog, such as new dynamical phases in quantum systems monitored by an external observer.[12](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2207.14280)
## References
1. [Matthew P.A. Fisher – NAS Member Directory](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/matthew-p-a-fisher-gmbcg7/)
2. [Matthew Fisher (0000-0001-8183-6608) - ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8183-6608)
3. [Matthew Fisher | Department of Physics | UC Santa Barbara](https://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/matthew-fisher)
4. [All My Publications | KITP](https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/mpaf/all-my-publications)
5. [Publications - IBM Research](https://research.ibm.com/publications?author=111369)
6. [Fisher, Matthew P. A., 1960- (Library of Congress authority record)](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2015096239.html)
7. [Deconfined Quantum Critical Points : Science](https://www.ovid.com/journals/scie/fulltext/00007529-200403050-00010~deconfined-quantum-critical-points)
8. ['Deconfined' quantum critical points (arXiv preprint)](https://ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org/html/cond-mat/0311326)
9. [Deconfined criticality follow-up paper, 2004](https://www.kitp.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/users/mpaf/publications/p118.pdf)
10. [Matthew P.A. Fisher | American Academy of Arts and Sciences](https://www.amacad.org/person/matthew-pa-fisher)
11. [Strongly Correlated Quantum Phases - NSF Award (via ADS)](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011nsf....1101912F/abstract)
12. [Random Quantum Circuits (arXiv)](https://arxiv.org/pdf/2207.14280)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Physical world and mathematics › Physical and mathematical scientists › Physicists and astronomers › Researchers in condensed matter physics and quantum materials › Strongly correlated electron systems and quantum magnetism*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license