Messy magnets and dirty superfluids |
| TYPE | Colloquium |
| Speaker: | Prof. Gil Refael |
| Affiliation: | Department of Physics, Caltech |
| Date: | 16.12.2013 |
| Time: | 14:30 |
| Location: | Lidow Rosen Auditorium (323) |
| Abstract: | Magnets and superfluids provide the simplest examples of symmetry breaking and correlations in interacting quantum systems. When disorder is thrown into the mix, particularly in low-dimensional quantum systems, novel and universal behavior often emerges. In my talk I will first explore some surprising effects of disorder in systems of non-interacting electrons, and magnetic chains. I will then focus on the superfluid-insulator transition for interacting bosons in a disordered environment. Recent research on this system has brought about a new understanding of superfluidity and its demise in low-dimensional disordered bosonic systems. |