Every semester the Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics invites a distinguished theoretical physicist in order to present a short series of lectures with increasing level of specialization. Usually it includes a public talk for a general audience, a theory colloquium and a specialized seminar.
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Active systems are driven out of equilibrium by exchanging energy and momentum with their environment. This endows them with anomalous mechanical properties which leads to rich phenomena when active fluids are in contact with boundaries, inclusions, or disordered potentials. Indeed, studies of the mechanical pressure of active fluids and of the dynamics of passive tracers have shown that active…
Populations and communities rarely evolve in static environments; their fitness landscapes fluctuate across space and time, forming what may be called a noisy seascape. This talk examines how such variability modifies classical models of population dynamics and community stability. Beginning from the logistic equation, I will show how spatiotemporal fluctuations in fitness lead naturally to…
Quantum physics teaches us that even the emptiest vacuum is teeming with fluctuations of electromagnetic fields. When these fluctuations are confined between objects, they produce measurable forces: the Casimir effect describes an attraction between uncharged conductors arising solely from the confinement of the quantum void. In this talk, I will explore how this subtle quantum phenomenon connects…
Euclidean gravity on a sphere (euclidean de-Sitter) gives rise to some phase factors. We discuss how these phase factors change when we include an observer. We also discuss situations involving products of spheres.
We start by describing the geometrical notions central to Einstein's theory of gravity. We then discuss current ideas for how spacetime geometry could emerge in a quantum theory of gravity. We will see that quantum entanglement plays a crucial role.
I will show how a new set of twisted materials based on the M point rather than the K point can realize a series of exotic phases of matter, including quantum spin liquids and charge glasses. These materials, which have been exfoliated and twisted experimentally, will be at the forefront of new moire discoveries.
We will review the beginning of experimental and theoretical studies of moire systems and their evolution up to present. This type of systems represent a new way of “growing” materials, and has tremendous potential both for fundamental physics as well as for applications. Two dimensional periodic crystals, whose separation between atoms is of order angstroms, can be twisted controllably with…
Materials science has always balanced on the twin pillars of observation and abstraction—from the alchemists’ crude recipes to today’s AI-driven materials design. In this talk, we begin by revisiting the pre-quantum era, when early chemists grappled with the nature of elements and compounds, and examine how Mendeleev’s periodic table first imposed order on the chemical world. We then show that…
In this talk, I will discuss the applications of cavity electrodynamics for controlling many-body electron systems. The focus will be on achieving strong coupling between cavities and collective excitations of interacting electrons at Terahertz and IR frequencies. As a specific example I will consider a cavity platform based on a two dimensional electronic material encapsulated by a planar cavity…
It is commonly recognized that scientific discoveries result in new technologies. In this talk we will discuss the reverse: behind every conceptual breakthrough lies some technological advance. To illustrate this point, we will review how modern progress in optical technologies is revolutionizing our understanding of quantum matter. We will discuss experiments that showed that we can optically…
