Speaker: Karlo Penc (Wigner RCP)
Title: Emergent Quantum Phases in Mott Insulators and Beyond
Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025. 10:00
Place: Building 1, Conference room
Abstract:
In his famous essay “More is Different,” P. W. Anderson argued that the interactions among the atoms in a solid give rise to complex emergent phenomena that go well beyond the properties of the constituent atoms. In this talk, I will present an overview of my research on strongly correlated electron systems, focusing on Mott insulators and cold-atom realizations of analogous physics. I will show how different degrees of freedom—such as spin, orbital, and flavor—become entangled and lead to exotic quantum phases like algebraic and chiral spin liquids and quantum spin ice. I will discuss in detail the dynamical responses of these systems, including the optical and inelastic scattering signatures of magnons, spinons, and other fractional excitations, and compare them with experimental findings from spin chains, pyrochlore lattices, and other materials. Finally, I will highlight the magnetoelectric effect observed in multiferroic compounds and its role in optical experiments. This work aims to deepen our understanding of quantum materials and advance the broader field of condensed matter physics.
