Fwd: Alumni Colloquium @ DF - Thu Dec 18th 4.30 pm - Riccardo Penco

[Rosita Glavina - Dip. Fisica UniTS]

  Within the series of Alumnorum Colloquia 2014/2015, we are pleased to 
announce the Colloquium @ DF UniTs:
-------------------------------------------

Riccardo Penco

Department of Physics & ISCAP, Columbia University

"Effective field theory approaches to condensed matter systems"

Thursday December 18th 2014 - 4:30 pm
Lecture room A, F building
Dip. di Fisica - via Valerio, 2 -- Trieste

ABSTRACT
It is impossible to overstate the crucial role that symmetries play in 
physics. Perhaps counterintuitively, though, some of the most 
interesting consequences of symmetries arise when they get broken --- 
spontaneously broken, to be precise. This is because of the Goldstone 
phenomenon, which implies the existence of certain low-energy 
excitations --- the Goldstone modes --- whose properties and 
interactions are tightly constrained by the symmetries. In this talk, I 
will discuss several systems in which relativity is spontaneously 
broken, ranging from ordinary solids, to vortex lines in superfluids and 
more general systems with a finite charge density. I will focus in 
particular on the Goldstone sector, which is a universal and robust 
component of all these systems, and in the process I will show how 
modern effective field theory techniques can provide a fresh and 
insightful approach to condensed matter systems.

The leaflet can be downloaded here 
<https://app.box.com/s/3vfwe3axqy8vo3o7g5ut>.

-------------------------
The calendar of seminars taking place at the Physics Department is 
available at http://df.units.it/
If you wish to unsubscribe, please write to vesselli at iom.cnr.it