"How to understand superfluids using field theory"Mark Alford , Washington University in St. Louis [Host: Diana Vaman]
ABSTRACT:
The hydrodynamic description of a superfluid at non-zero temperature is the two-fluid model, where the two fluids are the superfluid and a normal fluid. The superfluid is a Bose-Einstein condensate, and the normal fluid is a thermal gas of phonons.
I will show how one can translate between the macroscopic two-fluid model and a microscopic field theoretic description, using the simplest field theory that can show Bose-Einstein condensation, namely the complex scalar field. Questions that will be answered include: * How can one get two fluids from a single field? * What is the relationship between the different formalisms that have been proposed for relativistic superfluids? * What is the role of the Goldstone boson? |
High Energy Physics Seminar Wednesday, January 30, 2013 3:30 PM Physics Building, Room 204 Note special room. |
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