This series of colloquia in the Cavendish Laboratory aims to cover all aspects of modern quantum many-body physics. It is broadly aligned with our research themes on Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Fundamental Physics of Quantum Matter, Applied Quantum Physics and Devices, Synthetic Quantum Systems, Quantum Information and Control, and Energy Materials
As such, it features talks on both fundamental many-body physics as well as their exploitation in devices, covering all aspects of quantum phenomena in condensed matter and synthetic many-body systems, and their theoretical description.
The aim for these colloquia is to be accessible to a wider audience compared to a typical group seminar, and everyone is most welcome to attend them!
Click below to see details of the upcoming and previous talks. Please check this page regularly to keep informed as speakers are confirmed and details of their talks are added to the list.
Upcoming talks:
Prof Claudia Felser (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids): Chirality and Topology
Venue: Small Lecture Theatre
Chirality is a very active field of research in organic chemistry, closely linked to the concept of symmetry. Topology, a well-established concept in mathematics, has nowadays become essential to describe condensed matter [1,2]. At its core are chiral electron states on the bulk, surfaces and edges of the condensed matter systems, in which spin and momentum of the electrons are locked parallel or anti-parallel to each other. Magnetic and non-magnetic Weyl semimetals, for example, exhibit chiral bulk states that have enabled the realization of predictions from high energy and astrophysics involving the chiral quantum number, such as the chiral anomaly, the mixed axial-gravitational anomaly and axions [3-5]. Chiral topological crystals exhibit excellent chiral surface states [6,7] and different orbital angular momentum for the enantiomers, which can be advantageous in catalysis. The potential for connecting chirality as a quantum number to other chiral phenomena across different areas of science, including the asymmetry of matter and antimatter and the homochirality of life, brings topological materials to the fore [8].
References:
[1] M. G. Vergniory, B. J. Wieder, L. Elcoro, S. S. P. Parkin, C. Felser, B. A. Bernevig, N. Regnault, Science 2022, 376, 6595.
[2] P. Narang, C. A. C. Gracia and C. Felser, Nat. Mater. 2021, 20, 293.
[3] J. Gooth et al., Nature 2017, 547, 324.
[4] J. Gooth et al., Nature 2019, 575, 315.
[5] D. M. Nenno, et al., Nat Rev Phys 2022, 2, 682.
[6] B. Bradlyn, J. Cano, Z. Wang, M. G. Vergniory, C. Felser, R. J. Cava and B. A. Bernevig, Science 2016, 353, aaf5037.
[7] N. B. M Schröter, et al., Science 2020, 369, 179.
[8] C. Felser, J. Gooth, preprint arXiv:2205.05809
Prof Jean Dalibard (Collège de France, Kaster Brossel Laboratory)
Venue: Small Lecture Theatre
Title and abstract coming soon.
Prof Monika Schleier-Smith (Stanford University)
Venue: Small Lecture Theatre
Title and abstract coming soon.
- 14 June 2023 @16:00: Prof Joel Moore (UC Berkeley)
- 31 May 2023 @16:00: Prof Steve Kivelson (Stanford University)
- 17 May 2023 @16:00: Prof Seamus Davis (University of Oxford, University College Cork, Cornell University)
- 11 October 2023; 16:00: Prof Shivaji Sondhi (University of Oxford)
- 26 October 2023; 16:00: Prof Immanuel Bloch (Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, LMU)
- 8 November 2023; 16:00: Prof Mehran Kardar (MIT)
- 15 November 2023; 16:00: Prof Eugene Demler (ETH Zürich)
- 17 January 2024; 16:00: Prof Ian Walmsley FRS (Imperial College London)
- 31 January 2024; 16:00: Prof Werner Krauth (Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, University of Oxford)
- 13 Feb 2024; 16:00: Prof Paolo Radaelli (University of Oxford)
- 28 February 2024; 16:00: Prof Bilge Yildiz (MIT)
- 13 March 2024; 16:00: Prof Maciej Lewenstein (ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences)