Topological phases of matter: from one to two dimensions
Eddy Ardonne
KTH, Stockholm
Wednesday, 11 May 2011, 11:00
Seminar room F
Abstract:
Topological phases of matter have attracted much attention
recently, via the discovery of `topological insulators'.
In this talk, I will give a quick overview of topological
phases of matter, starting from the quantum Hall effect,
discovered three decades ago.
Phase transitions between topological phases do not fall
in the usual Landau paradigm of phase transitions. One way
to gain inside in such phase transitions is via the study
of one-dimensional systems of interacting (non-abelian)
anyons. I will explain the physics of these one-dimensional
chains, and explain how they can be used to gain insight
in the important question of topological phase transitions.