graduate

Messy magnets and dirty superfluids

TYPEColloquium
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.