Theory Seminar: From few-to many-body physics with ultracold atoms

Arthur Christianen, Theory Group
Herbert-Walther-lecture hall (G 0.25) at MPQ
Wednesday November 30th, 2022, 11:30am (MEZ)

Abstract:

In this talk I will explain why I think ultracold atoms are cool and uniquely suitable for us to develop a bottom-up understanding of quantum many-body physics. Starting from the basics of atomic physics, I will describe the important properties of ultracold atoms and their interactions. Then, I will discuss some special phases of matter such as Bose Einstein condensates (BECs), quantum droplets and supersolids. After this introduction to the field, I will show you some of our own findings on the Bose polaron [1,2,3], an impurity atom in a BEC. Here we can very nicely connect the many-body behavior of the system to underlying phenomena from few-body scattering physics, showing a genuine crossover from few-to many body physics.

[1] A. Christianen, J. I. Cirac, R. Schmidt, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 183401 (2022)
[2] A. Christianen, J. I. Cirac, R. Schmidt, Phys. Rev. A 105, 053302 (2022)
[3] A. Christianen, J. I. Cirac, R. Schmidt, in preparation