Quantum simulators: a gate to the quantum many-body world

by Jonas Larson (Nordita)

Wednesday 8 Feb 2012, 11:00 → 11:50 Europe/Stockholm

122:026

In 1982, Richard Feynman argued that the superior way to simulate a quantum many-body system is to use a "computer" that is inherently quantum mechanical. Some two decades later, Feynman's "computer" became reality. More precisely, the advent of laser cooling to the nK regime of atomic gases allows for controlled studies of quantum many-body phenomena. Today, ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices or chains of trapped ions can mimic otherwise experimentally inaccessible theories of condensed matter physics. This interdisciplinary field has indeed emerged as one of the most active ones during the last decade. I will present a brief introduction to the general ideas and give a couple of examples of my own research interests.