Alumni Profiles

Miguel Morales

  • Program Years: 2006-2009
  • Academic Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Field of Study: Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics
  • Academic Advisor: David Ceperley
  • Practicum(s):
    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (2008)
  • Degree(s):
    Ph.D. Physics, University of Illinois, 2009
    B.S. Physics and Mathematics, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, 2004

Current Status

  • Status: Staff Scientist, LLNL
  • Research Area: Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics
  • Contact Information: moralessilva2@llnl.gov

Publications

M. A. Morales, N. Nygaard, J. E. Williams and Charles W. Clark: "Ultracold fermion cooling cycle using heteronuclear Feshbach resonances", New J. Phys. 7 (2005) 87.

C. Pierleoni, K. T. Delaney, M. A. Morales, D. M. Ceperley, M. Holzmann: "Progress in Coupled Electron-Ion Monte Carlo Simulations of High-Pressure Hydrogen", submitted to Proceedings of the 14th International Conference:"Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories", Sept. 2007.

C. Pierleoni, K. T. Delaney, M. A. Morales, D. M. Ceperley, M. Holzmann: "Trial wave functions for High Pressure Metallic Hydrogen", Computer Physics Communications (2008), doi:10.1016/j.cpc.2008.01.041.

M. A. Morales, E. Schwegler, D. Ceperley, C. Pierleoni, S. Hamel, and K. Caspersen: "Phase separation in hydrogen-helium mixtures at Mbar pressures", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2009), doi:10.1073/pnas.0812581106.

Fei Lin, Miguel A. Morales, Kris T. Delaney, Carlo Pierleoni, Richard M. Martin, and D. M. Ceperley: "Electrical Conductivity of High-Pressure Liquid Hydrogen by Quantum Monte Carlo Methods", Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 256401 (2009).

M. A. Morales, C. Pierleoni, D. Ceperley: “Equation of state of metallic hydrogen from coupled electron-ion Monte Carlo simulations”, Phys. Rev. E 81, 021202 (2010)

M. A. Morales, C. Pierleoni, E. Schwegler, D. Ceperley: " Evidence for a first-order liquid-liquid transition in high-pressure hydrogen from ab initio simulations", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 107:12799-12803 (2010).

Sebastien H., Morales, M. A., and Schwegler, E., "Signature of helium segregation in hydrogen-helium mixtures", Physical Review B 84, 165110 (2011).

Liberatore Elisa; Morales Miguel A.; Ceperley D.M.; Pierleoni Carlo, “ Free energy methods in Coupled Electron-Ion Monte Carlo, Mol. Phys. 109, 3029-3036 (2011).

Clark B. K., Morales M. A., McMinis J., Kim J, and Scuseria G. E., (2011). "Computing the energy of a water molecule using multideterminants: A simple, efficient algorithm", The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 135, No. 24, pp. 244105.

Morales M. A., Benedict L. X., Clark D. S., Schwegler E., Tamblyn I., Bonev S. A., Correa A. A., Haan S. W., (2012). "Ab initio calculations of the equation of state of hydrogen in a regime relevant for inertial fusion applications", High Energy Density Physics, V. 8, No. 1, pp. 5-12.

(Cover Article) J. M. McMahon, M. A. Morales, C. Pierleoni, and D. M. Ceperley, “The properties of hydrogen and helium under extreme conditions”, Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 1607 (2012).

J. Kim, K. P. Esler, J. McMinis, M. A. Morales, B.K. Clark, L. Schulenburger and D. M. Ceperley, “Hybrid Algorithms in Quantum Monte Carlo”, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 402, 012008 (2012).

M. A. Morales, J. McMinis, B. K. Clark, J. Kim, and G. E. Scuseria, “Multi-Determinant Wave-functions in Quantum Monte Carlo”, J. Chem. Theory Comput., 8 (7), pp 2181–2188 (2012).

M. A. Morales, J. M. McMahon, C. Pierleoni, and D. M. Ceperley “Towards a Predictive First-Principles Description of Solid Molecular Hydrogen with Density Functional Theory”, Phys. Rev. B 87, 184107 (2013).

M. A. Morales, J. M. McMahon, C. Pierleoni, and D. M. Ceperley “Nuclear Quantum
Effects and Nonlocal Exchange–Correlation Functionals in Liquid Hydrogen at High
Pressure”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 065702 (2013).

M. A. Morales, S. Hamel, K. Caspersen, E. Schwegler: “Hydrogen-Helium Demixing
From First-Principles: From Diamond Anvil Cells to Planetary Interiors”, Phys. Rev. B 87, 174105 (2013).

R. C. Clay, J. McMinis, J. M. McMahon, C. Pierleoni, D. M. Ceperley, and M. A.
Morales, “Benchmark of Exchange-Correlation Functionals for High Pressure Hydrogen using Quantum Monte Carlo”, Phys. Rev. B 89, 184106 (2014).

M. A. Morales, J. Gergely, J. McMinis, J. M. McMahon, J. Kim, and D. M. Ceperley, "Quantum Monte Carlo Benchmark of Exchange-Correlation Functionals for Bulk Water", J. Chem. Theory Comput., 10 (6), 2355-2362 (2014).

E. Brown, M. A Morales, C. Pierleoni, and D. M. Ceperley, "Quantum Monte Carlo
techniques and applications for warm dense matter", accepted for publication on IPAM book on Warm Dense Matter, Springer (2014).

M. A. Morales, Raymond C. Clay III, Carlo Pierleoni, and David M. Ceperley, "First Principles Methods: A Perspective from Quantum Monte Carlo", Entropy 16(1), 287-321 (2014).

Awards

LLNL Early- and Mid-Career Recognition Program, 2015.
MOSI Early Career Hispanic Scientist of the Year, 2015.
NNSA Defense Programs Award of Excellence, NNSA, DOE, 2013.
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers (PECASE), 2012.
Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship,2006-2009.
Graduate College Fellowship for Underrepresented Students, 2004-2006.
Karl Friedrich Gauss Prize for best student in Mathematics Department, 2004.
Enrico Fermi Prize for best student in Physics Department, 2004.