Topic: Einstein meets Anderson: New effects-Talk 2: Emergent space-time meets emergent quantum phenomena in a material

Speaker:  Prof. Jinwu Ye

Coordinates: Classroom 2105, 16:00, Monday, June 19

Abstract: Poincare and Einstein's special relativity says that any physics law in a vacuum takes identical form in any two inertial frames. On the opposite direction, P.W. Anderson's  More is different  says that various macroscopic quantum or topological phenomena emerge in a material which contains enormous number of interacting particles.

In contrast to the relativistic quantum field theory, there is always a reservoir which can exchange energy and the particles with a material. It remains an outstanding problem to apply Einstein's special relativity to Anderson's  More is different .

Here we address this outstanding problem and find that the combination leads to many new effects. We demonstrate these new effects by studying one of the simplest quantum phase transitions (QPT): Superfluid (SF)-Mott transitions of interacting bosons in a square lattice in a sample moving with a constant velocity. It is the moving which mixes the space and time, then leads to the emergent space-time near the QPT. It is the existence of reservoir which makes crucial differences between a moving sample and a moving inertial frame.

We also stress the important roles played by the underlying lattice. The experimental detection of these dramatic new effects in some materials or cold atoms loaded in an optical lattice are discussed. Both lectures are very pedagogical, so should be accessible to undergraduate students with very basic knowledge on special theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics.