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“The string theory – condensed matter
flirtation: an eyewitness account “
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Date: |
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Time: |
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Thursday, 22. May. 2014 |
Audio-only-Recording as MP3-File
(smallest possible size):
- Audio.mp3 (ca.34Mb) ============================================ Video-Recording for any system with MP4-support:
- Video.mp4 (ca.298Mb) |
15:15 – 16:28 |
Abstract :
A quake is
rumbling through the core of physics: the empiricisms of condensed matter
physics and the mathematics of
string
theory appear to have some deep relations. For the initiated this has an
unusually strong allure, but since this
cocktail
involves some of the most impenetrable areas of physics it is not easy to
communicate the excitement to the
community
at large. I will attempt to get some of it across by telling the story from the
perspective of a condensed matter
theorist
who learned string theory only quite recently. How string theory evolved from a
reductionist’s enterprise into
some
modern incarnation of statistical physics, equipped with general relativity turbo’s and quantum information boosters
in the
form of the “AdS/CFT” holographic duality. How the
universality of general relativity turned into a classification
method
for phases of matter, including new forms of “quantum” matter characterized by
dense quantum entanglements
on the
macroscopic scale. How the latter reveal highly unusual traits having eerie
resemblances with the mysterious
experimental observations, with as highlight the famous linear resistivity measured
in the strange metal phase of
the high Tc
superconducutors.