Theory Group Seminars

Minimal defect production vs Kibble-Zurek mechanism

Name: Minimal defect production vs Kibble-Zurek mechanism
Start: 2014-10-23T15:00:00+02:00
End: 2014-10-23T16:00:00+02:00
Location: Building C, first floor

by Rosario Fazio (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa)

Thursday 23 Oct 2014, 15:00 → 16:00 Europe/Rome

248 (Building C, first floor)

248

Building C, first floor

Description

When a quantum system is dragged through a critical point it cannot follow adiabatically the external drive, no matter how slow it is. As a result a finite density of defects will be left over in the final state. The loss of adiabaticity in quantum critical systems and the resulting scaling laws for the defect production is known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. In some relevant cases it is nonetheless necessary to minimise the defect production. I will discuss under which circumstances this can be achieved, what is the minimal defect density, I will show specific cases where this can be studied explicitly.