2016 Nobel prize in physics: D. Thouless and topology of quantum transport

TYPEColloquium
Speaker:Prof. Yosi Avron
Affiliation:Technion
Date:02.01.2017
Time:14:30 - 15:30
Location:Lidow Rosen Auditorium (323)
Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
Abstract:

The 2016 Physics  Nobel prize was awarded to Thouless and Kosterlitz for the discovery of a new kind of phase transition and to Thouless and Haldane for the discovery of the topological meaning of the Quantum Hall conductance. 


I shall describe Thouless original finding that the Hall conductance is related to a topological invariant known as Chern number. No  background in topology or condensed matter physics will be assumed.