Ashvin Vishwanath, Harvard

Abstract:

I will review recent developments in solid state physics that have compelled us to look more deeply at the role of topology and entanglement in quantum many particle systems. This has led to the prediction of entirely new strongly interacting phases and provided insights into existing states. For example, in the context of the half filled Landau level, dualities motivated by topology  predict a subtle variant of the state that was previously assumed to be the ground state.  Finally I will discuss ongoing attempts to extend the domain of topological quantum phases to non-equilibrium situations.

Refreshments served at 3:40pm