Smith Lecture, April 22, 2004

You can't drink a quantum liquid!

Anthony J. Leggett

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor and
Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics
University of Illinois
2003 Nobel Laureate in Physics

According to quantum mechanics, the theory used by physicists to describe nature at the atomic level, an electron or atom faced with two alternative paths or possibilities can in some sense realize both simultaneously. Things get really interesting when many such identical particles form a system. I introduce the idea of a "quantum liquid", that is a system of many particles which shows the effects of quantum mechanics. I will focus on Bose-Einstein condensation and Cooper Pairing where a large collection of "condensed particles" are forced to behave in exactly the same way. Such systems lead to spectacular effects whose explanation was recognized by the 2003 Nobel prize.

8:00 p.m., 131 Hitchcock Hall Auditorium