CM Seminar at ICTP - Thursday 28 January at 11.30 - Luigi Stasi Lecture Hall

[Condensed Matter Section]

ICTP Seminars in Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics
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THURSDAY 28 JANUARY at 11:30 hrs.

Luigi Stasi Seminar Room, first floor, ICTP Leonardo Building


Marko ZNIDARIC
Universityof Ljubljana, Dept. of Physics


"Using Lindblad Master Equations to Study Many-body Physics"

In recent years quantum master equations of the Lindblad type are receiving
increased attention in different fields of physics. In quantum 
information they
are seen as a resource that can be used to perform quantum operations, in
statistical physics they form a well defined setting for nonequilibrium 
physics,
while in condensed matter they can be used simply as a tool with which 
one can
probe system's properties. I will first review basics of the Lindblad 
setting and
then present some concrete results about steady states of many-body 
systems.
The problem of quantum transport in low-dimensional systems will be 
presented
and some findings obtained via nonequilibrium Lindblad setting outlined. 
I will also
touch on the problem of localization in interacting systems -- the 
so-called many-body
localization.__

Self-assembly of small molecules into hydrogels is a hot topic of 
research that still
presents many unanswered questions. In particular, tripeptides are very 
appealing
building blocks that are simple to prepare and can encode powerful 
biological messages.
However, prediction of their self-assembly behaviour is still a very 
challenging objective.
Amongst the different tools that can be used to drive self-organisation, 
appropriate choice
of chirality to fine-tune tripeptide molecular shape is an attractive 
yet mostly unexplored
approach. A different configuration at one stereocenter of simple 
hydrophobic sequences
is sufficient to determine dramatic effects at macroscopic level (i.e., 
leading or not
to a hydrogel within seconds). Importantly, specific nanostructure 
morphologies (e.g.,
nanotapes, twisted fibers) can be achieved through subtle molecular 
variations. The
resulting assemblies hold high potential as biomaterials, as shown by 
their performance
/in vitro/. This approach opens a number of innovative avenues, for 
example, through
co-assembly with other molecules that actively participate in the 
superstructure.