Jainendra K. Jain
Penn State University
The conceptual structures discovered in condensed matter systems sometimes provide a key ingredient for important problems in other areas in physics, spontaneous symmetry breaking in magnets and the Anderson-Higgs mechanism in superconductors being two prominent examples. The fractional Hall quantum liquid constitutes a new paradigm in physics where collective behavior occurs without BEC. In this talk I will discuss the general principles learned from the composite fermion theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect that may possibly carry over to other fields. These include: topological quantum order, mass generation, dynamical generation of a gauge potential, charge fractionalization, resolution of a degeneracy problem, and realization of the Chern-Simons field theory. For completeness, I will also recount the chain of events that inspired the composite fermion theory, and the experimental tests that led to its confirmation.
Friday, October 24th at 4:00 PM
Room L211, Technological Institute
Refreshments are served at 3:30 PM
