Excellent students who have a bachelor’s degree in Physics have the opportunity to complete a so-called Excellence Track in addition to the JGU Master of Science in Physics.
The aim of the Excellence Track is to equip students with the necessary tools to embark on a successful research path and become strong candidates for a doctorate. To this end, it enables high-achieving, research-oriented students to further develop their scientific knowledge as well as complementary and transferable skills within a structured program.
For further information, please contact the coordinators of the Mainz Physics Academy (xtrack@uni-mainz.de).
Applications for the Excellence Track, which begins in the 2026–2027 winter semester, are currently open and will remain so until October 8, 2026. Applications should be submitted via email to xtrack@uni-mainz.de.
For your application, we need:
a) a resume
b) a copy of the bachelor’s degree certificate, including a transcript of records in German or English
c) a copy of the letter of admission to the master’s degree program in Physics (M.Sc.) at JGU
d) a cover letter with a brief letter of motivation
The Excellence Track in three words
The Excellence Track explained by our professors
Danaheb Navarro Durán
Research interests: Hadronic physics and the quark structure of the pion, such as the study of PDF and DA in a low energy scale. I’m also interested in flavour physics and quark physics at higher energy scale.
Darius Fenner
Research interests: Atomic clocks, metrology, thorium nuclear transition.
Gabriel Marc Hander
Research interests: Quantum field theory, Hadronic physics, Precision physics, Effective field theory.
Jonathan Leisenheimer
Research interests: Quantum field theory, Standard Model, Hadronic physics, Proton structure effects in hydrogen-like atoms.
Shumit Mitra
Research interests: Experimental astroparticle physics and cosmology, detector design for exotic BSM matter, WIMPs, Dark Photons, and ALPs.
Qian Moxian
Research interests: proton mass and charge radius, machine learning, sampling algorithms, effective field theory, and non-equilibrium physics.
Judit Rodriguez
Research interests: Particle Physics, the Standard Model, Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, Cosmology, Quantum Gravity.
Siddhanth Shishodia
Research interests: Amorphous Solid Ice, Lasers, and Soft matter physics.
Das Soumay
Research interests: include astroparticle physics and early-universe cosmology, dark matter, physics beyond the Standard Model, and nuclear astrophysics.
Lorin Armbruster
Research interests: Beyond the Standard Model Phenomenology, Higgs Physics, Higher-dimensional Field Theory
Now doctoral student at Dr. Felix Yu’s group
Aayush Arya
Research interests: Nucleosynthesis, Precision spectroscopy of superheavy elements
Now doctoral student at the Niels Bohr Institute
Cristhian Calderon Cordova
Research interests: Theoretical Particle Physics, Effective Field Theory, Axion-Like Particles
Lukas Cavar
Research interests: Nanoscale microscopy, Topological effects in matter, Philosophical foundations of Physics
Now doctoral student at Prof. Angela Wittmann’s group
Kaustav Dutta
Research interests: Experimental Particle Physics, Neutrino Astronomy, Machine Learning
Now doctoral student at Prof. Sebastian Böser’s group
Maria Fernandez Lozano
Research interests: QFT, cosmology, string theory, flavour physics
Now doctoral student at Prof. Julia Harz’s group
Edward Finkelstein
Research interests: Experimental Particle Physics, Machine Learning, and high-performance scientific computing
Now PhD student at the Machine Learning and Physical Simulation group in Aarhus university
Christopher Gerlach
Research interests: Theoretical High Energy Physics: Cosmology and BSM
Now doctoral student at Prof. Pedro Schwaller’s group
Kitzia Hernandez Curiel
Research interests: Experimental Nuclear and Hadron Physics, Simulation and Data Analysis, Structure and Reactions of Strong Interacting Matter.
Now doctoral student at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in the group of cryosensors working on beta spectrometry with magnetic microcalorimeters.
Panagiotis Kalamidas
Research interests: Theoretical High Energy Physics
Now doctoral student at Prof. Marc Vanderhaeghen’s group
Kilian Leutner
Research interests: Condensed-matter physics, Spintronics, Skyrmionics, Computational Science, Machine Learning
Now doctoral student at Prof. Mathias Kläui’s group
Immo Reis
Research interests: Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Structure, Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions.
Now doctoral student at Prof. Sonia Bacca’s group
Alena Romanova
Research interests: Quantum Information Theory, Quantum Communication and Computing, Quantum Optics
Now doctoral student at the University of Innsbruck, group of Quantum communication and quantum networks
Josua Scholze
Research interests: Flavour physics, B meson phenomenology
Now doctoral student at Prof. Matthias Neubert’s group
Aakash Warke
Research interests: Experimental Quantum Optics, Quantum Communication using Continuous Variables, Nonlinear generation of quantum entanglement
Starting in October 2025 as a doctoral student in Prof. Dr. Alex Lvovsky group at the University of Oxford, focusing on optical neural networks, supported by a fully funded Clarendon Scholarship.
Nikhil Vijayan
Research interests: Spintronics, Orbitronics, and nanoscale imaging of solid state materials
Now doctoral student in Prof. Mathias Kläui’s group in collaboration with Infineon Technologies in Villach, Austria
Jingyan Xu
Research interests: hyperpolarization techniques for enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
Now doctoral student at Dr. Danila Barskiy’s research group (HIM, MAM group)