Prof. Subir Sachdev
www.harvard.edu

First Lecture (Public Lecture):

Title: The quantum phases of matter

Time: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 5:15 pm

Place: Room B 052, Theresienstr. 39, LMU

In many modern materials, electrons quantum‐entangle with each other across long distances, and produce new phases of matter, such as high temperature super‐conductors. We face the challenge of describing the entanglement of 10^{23} electrons, which is being met by many ideas, including some drawn from string theory.

Second Lecture (Sommerfeld Theory Colloquium):

Title: What can string theory teach us about condensed matter physics?

Time: Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 4:15 pm

Place: Room A 348/349, Theresienstr. 37, LMU

String theory was originally constructed as a unification of the quantum field theory of elementary particles with Einstein's theory of gravitation. Unexpectedly, it has led
to the discovery of new "dualities" which have given us a new perspective on quantum field theories not coupled to gravity. Some of the latter theories are relevant to the strongly-interacting quantum many body problems of condensed matter physics. I will survey some of the challenging open problems associated with condensed matter experiments, and discuss the insights gained from string theory.

Third lecture (Condensed Matter Theory Seminar):

Title: Quantum phase transitions, and the high temperature superconductors

Time: Friday, February 3, 2012, 10:15 am

Place: Room A 348/349, Theresienstr. 37, LMU

The last three decades have witnessed the discovery of many new superconductors, with properties dramatically different from the conventional low temperature superconductors described by the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory. These new superconductors can have much higher critical temperature, and all display antiferromagnetism in their phase diagrams. I will introduce the theory of quantum phase transitions, and use it to interpret recent experiments on these materials.