Advanced Seminar (Oberseminar)
Achim Rosch, Michael Scherer and Simon Trebst

Wed 12:15-13:45
seminar room E0.03 | Institute for Theoretical Physics (new building)

The seminar will start on Wed April 22th, 2020.
If you intend to participate, please register on KLIPS on (or after) April 2nd, 2020.


Overview

A recurring theme in modern condensed-matter research is the emergence of quasi-relativistic Dirac, Weyl or Majorana excitations in an otherwise non-relativistic environment, occurring, for example, in graphene, topological insulators, high-temperature superconductors and liquid Helium-3. The physical properties of these systems are described by the Dirac equation or its cousins, exhibiting various unprecedented and exotic phenomena in their specific heat, transport properties, scattering and responses to external fields. The very recent experimental discovery of superconductivity and insulating behavior in twisted bilayer graphene adds the exciting aspect of strong correlations. Moreover, the topic of Dirac matter is a prime example for the deep connections between condensed-matter, statistical and high-energy physics.

In this seminar we introduce the conceptual and methodological knowledge required to understand the physics of Dirac matter and beyond. We aim to keep a balance between the discussion of physical phenomena, and methodological tools required to get along in one of the most rapidly evolving fields of condensed matter physics.

Prerequisites

For some talks previous knowledge in Quantum Field Theory is useful, but several topics can also be covered with a basic background in quantum mechanics.

Talks

We have compiled a preliminary list of potential topics, to be discussed in the first meeting.

Tentative schedule: