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Special Quantum Seminar:"Non-equilibrium Phases of Matter" | The Racah Institute of Physics

Special Quantum Seminar:"Non-equilibrium Phases of Matter"

Date: 
Sun, 12/05/201916:00-18:30
Location: 
Rothberg auditorium (CS&Engineering building), Safra Campus.
Lecturer: Prof. Norman Yao (Berkeley)
Abstract:
Non-equilibrium systems can exhibit phenomena fundamentally richer than their static counterparts. For example, certain phases of matter that are provably forbidden in equilibrium, such as quantum time crystals, have recently found new life in out-of-equilibrium systems. In this talk, I will begin by introducing the broad landscape of periodically driven (Floquet) quantum matter.
Of course, the controlled manipulation of systems using pulsed periodic driving has a tremendously long history, dating back to classic experiments on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. To this end, I will focus on answering the question: why has the notion of a Floquet phase of matter only begun to be explored recently?
Next, I will describe recent advances, which predict the spontaneous breaking of time translation symmetry in periodically driven quantum systems. The resulting discrete time crystal exhibits collective oscillations, arising from a combination of many-body synchronization and localization, that are quantized to an integer multiple of the drive period. Finally, I will end on a number of open questions, including the possibility of classical time crystals.