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# Condensed Matter

This series consists of talks in the area of Condensed Matter.

## Seminar Series Events/Videos

Currently there are no upcoming talks in this series.

## Haldane-like antiferromagnetic spin chain in the large anisotropy limit

Mardi jan 20, 2015
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We consider the one dimensional, periodic spin chain with $N$ sites, similar to the one studied by Haldane \cite{hal}, however in the opposite limit of very large anisotropy and small nearest neighbour, anti-ferromagnetic exchange coupling between the spins, which are of large magnitude $s$.  For a  chain with an even number of sites we show that actually the ground state is non degenerate and given by a superposition of the two Néel states, due to quantum spin tunnelling.  With an odd number of sites, the Néel state must necessarily contain a soliton.

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## The theory of cluster Mott insulators: charge fluctuations and spin liquids

Mardi déc 16, 2014
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I will present recent theoretical work on cluster Mott insulators (CMI) in which interesting physics such as emergent charge lattices, charge fractionalization and quantum spin liquids are proposed. For the anisotropic Kagome system like LiZn2Mo3O8, we find two distinct CMIs, type-I and type-II, can arise from the repulsive interactions. In type-I CMI, the electrons are localized in one half of the triangle clusters of the Kagome system while the electrons in the type-II CMI are localized in every triangle cluster.

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## Viscous and Thermal Transport in Topological Phases

Vendredi déc 12, 2014
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One hallmark of topological phases with broken time reversal symmetry is the appearance of quantized non-dissipative transport coefficients, the archetypical example being the quantized Hall conductivity in quantum Hall states. Here I will talk about two other non-dissipative transport coefficients that appear in such systems - the Hall viscosity and the thermal Hall conductivity. In the first part of the talk, I will start by reviewing previous results concerning the Hall viscosity, including its relation to a topological invariant known as the shift.

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## Geometric response of FQH states

Mardi déc 09, 2014
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Two-dimensional interacting electron gas in strong transverse magnetic field forms a collective state -- incompressible electron liquid, known as fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state. FQH states are genuinely new states of matter with long range topological order. Their primary observable characteristics are the absence of dissipation and quantization of the transverse electro-magnetic response known Hall conductance.

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## Braiding statistics of loops in three spatial dimensions

Mardi déc 02, 2014

In two spatial dimensions, it is well known that particle-like excitations can come with fractional statistics, beyond the usual dichotomy of Bose versus Fermi statistics. In this talk, I move one dimension higher to three spatial dimensions, and study loop-like objects instead of point-like particles. Just like particles in 2D, loops can exhibit interesting fractional braiding statistics in 3D. I will talk about loop braiding statistics in the context of symmetry protected topological phases, which is a generalization of topological insulators.

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## Tensor Networks for nonabelian Gauge Theory

Mardi nov 25, 2014
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We present an analytic, gauge invariant tensor network ansatz for the ground state of lattice Yang-Mills theory for nonabelian gauge groups. It naturally takes the form of a MERA, where the top level is the strong coupling limit of the lattice theory. Each layer performs a fine-graining operation defined in a fixed way followed by an optional step of adiabatic evolution, resulting in the ground state at an intermediate coupling.

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## Fractionalization from Crystallography

Mardi nov 18, 2014

A featureless insulator is a gapped phase of matter that does not exhibit fractionalization or other exotic physics, and thus has a unique ground state. The classic albeit non-interacting example is an electronic band insulator. A standard textbook argument tells us that band insulators require an even number of electrons -- an integer number for each spin -- per unit cell.

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## Spin-charge scattering in Luttinger Liquids

Mardi nov 04, 2014
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I will discuss the violation of spin-charge separation in generic Luttinger liquids and investigate its effect on the relaxation, thermal and electrical transport of genuine spin-1/2 electron liquids in ballistic quantum wires. We will identify basic scattering processes compatible with the symmetry of the problem and conservation laws that lead to the decay of plasmons into the spin modes and also discuss Brownian backscattering of spin excitations.

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## Spin-charge scattering in Luttinger Liquids

Mardi nov 04, 2014
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I will discuss the violation of spin-charge separation in generic Luttinger liquids and investigate its effect on the relaxation, thermal and electrical transport of genuine spin-1/2 electron liquids in ballistic quantum wires. We will identify basic scattering processes compatible with the symmetry of the problem and conservation laws that lead to the decay of plasmons into the spin modes and also discuss Brownian backscattering of spin excitations.

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## Numerical Study of a Bosonic Topological Insulator in Three Dimensions

Mardi oct 21, 2014
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We construct a model which realizes a (3+1)-dimensional symmetry-protected topological phase of bosons with U(1) charge conservation and time reversal symmetry, envisioned by A. Vishwanath and T. Senthil [PRX 4 011016]. Our model works by introducing an additional spin degree of freedom, and binding its hedgehogs to a species of charged bosons. We study the model using Monte Carlo and determine its bulk phase diagram; the phase where the bound states of hedgehogs and charges condense is the topological phase, and we demonstrate this by observing a Witten effect.

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## RECENT PUBLIC LECTURE

### Molly Shoichet: Engineering Change in Medicine

Speaker: Molly Shoichet