Gauge Theory of States of Matter
Mathematical Physics Seminar
2nd November 2018, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Howard House, 4th Floor Seminar Room
In an introduction I review various concepts and results from gauge theory, in particular the chiral anomaly and the chiral magnetic effect, and explain how they can be used to develop a "gauge theory of states of matter" complementing the well known Landau theory of phases and phase transitions.
I then discuss some concrete applications of the general theory, such as
- chiral edge currents in Hall- and Chern insulators
- chiral spin currents in planar time-reversal invariant insulators
- 3D time-reversal invariant topological insulators and Weyl semi-metals
I conclude with a summary and a list of open problems.
Organiser: Emma Bailey
Comments are closed.