Research Overview

Time evolution of many-body systems in which effects of quantum physics play an important role belong to the least satisfactorily understood physical phenomena. Quantum effects prevent that the time evolution can be described in a fully deterministic way and they make the problem to be mathematically highly complex. Two main aspects make up the complexity connected with nonequilibrium phenomena and their theoretical description: Long-time evolution and strong correlations. These aspects occur in a wide range of different phenomena including the particular topics being subject of this proposal and can not be considered independently from each other.

Due to the enormous progress in the field of ultracold atomic quantum gases, quantum many-body dynamics can now be very precisely controlled and probed and become a timely topic for laboratory studies. Moreover, new experiments in high-energy nuclear physics and advances in astronomic observation technology have opened a wider field of dynamical many-body phenomena for empirical investigation. On the theory side, the exponential growth of available computing power has brought quantum dynamics of many-body systems into the reach of large-scale calculations while sophisticated advanced analytical approaches open the way to a deeper understanding of quantum many-body evolution.

The thus emerging topic forms the leading theme of the Promotionskolleg proposed here. The applicants plan to take up a number of collaborations, in particular also between experiment and theory to make use of potential synergies in Heidelberg and advance the understanding of special fundamental questions arising in the context of quantum many-body nonequilibrium physics. The specific topics to be studied include the equilibration dynamics of strongly correlated systems, transport of such systems through quantumdots which act to some extent like the eye of a needle, bounds on the viscosity of a quantum gas, mechanisms of the inflationary expansion of the early universe, and the transition of a superfluid to a „supersolid“ by high excitation of the atoms.

The graphical scheme shown below relates these research topics to the different member groups of the Research Training group and highlights planned collaborations.