Emerging phases and phase transitions in (disordered) quantum matter
| Date/Time: | Monday, 27 Feb 2017 from 4:10 pm to 5:00 pm |
|---|---|
| Location: | Phys 0003 |
| Phone: | 515-294-5441 |
| Channel: | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
ABSTRACT: Condensed matter physics deals with the complex behavior of
many-particle systems. Novel phases of matter can emerge as a
result of strong interactions between the constituent
quantum particles. A natural place to look for these phenomena
are quantum phase transitions, the boundaries between different
quantum ground states of matter.
This talk first gives an introduction into quantum phase
transitions and then discusses several novel phases of matter
that have been discovered in their vicinity in solids and in
ultracold atomic gases. These include exotic superconductors
and magnets as well as Griffiths phases that are dominated
by strong disorder.
Reading material (lecture notes from a summer school):
Thomas Vojta, "Phases and phase transitions in disordered
quantum systems", arXiv:1301.7746
BIO: Thomas Vojta is a Curator's Distinguished Professor of Physics at
Missouri University of Science and Technology. He obtained his PhD
from Chemnitz University in Germany in 1994. Subsequently, he spent
three years as a postdoc at the University of Oregon. After further
appointments in Germany and at the University of Oxford in the UK,
he joined the faculty at Missouri S&T in 2002.
Vojta has published more than 150 scientific papers in condensed
matter and statistical physics. He was named Fellow of the American
Physical Society for "innovative analyses of quantum phase transitions
in the presence of strong disorder".