Black holes and neutron stars: an astronomical view

• Riccardo La Placa

Ranking as the most extreme bodies in the universe, compact objects, a.k.a. the remnants of dead stars, have piqued the interest of researchers for the last century. Their properties lie outside the realm of what we can reproduce in earth-based experiments and laboratories, making them unique probes of fundamental physics. I will discuss their astounding nature, and give a glimpse of how we study them, focusing in particular on X-ray astronomy.

Dicussion

Transport properties of the strange metal phase of cuprates

• Giovanni Mirarchi

The strange metal behavior, which is still an unsolved problem in condensed matter physics, is often observed in the proximity of quantum critical points. Typical signatures of strange metal behavior include anomalies in thermodynamic and transport properties, including the linear-in-temperature resistivity. In this talk we will focus on the resistivity and Seebeck coefficient trends as a function of temperature observed in the strange metal phase of cuprates. Based on the experimental evidence of a dynamical inhomogeneous charge order, we propose a scenario where charge density collective modes with finite correlation length mediate an effective interaction among electronic quasiparticles. Under suitable conditions concerning the nature of these collective modes, valid in the vicinity of quantum critical point, it is possible to show that our model is able to explain some of the observed abnormal behaviors. A brief outline of Linear Response Theory, which is the scheme used for the calculation of the physical quantities discussed, is also included.

Discussion