He was the leader of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group at Los Alamos from 1991 until he was made a laboratory fellow in the theory division in 1996.

He researches decoherence, physics of quantum and classical information, non-equilibrium dynamics of defect generation, and astrophysics.

Zurek with his colleague Tom W. B. Kibble pioneered a paradigmatic framework for understanding defect generation in non-equilibrium processes, particularly, for understanding topological defects generated when a second-order phase transition point is crossed at a finite rate.

The paradigm covers phenomena of enormous varieties and scales, ranging from structure formation in the early Universe to vortex generation in superfluids.

Zurek was awarded the Albert Einstein Professorship Prize by the Foundation of the University of Ulm in Germany in 2010.