7 research outputs found
The "Coulomb phase" in frustrated systems
The "Coulomb phase" is an emergent state for lattice models (particularly
highly frustrated antiferromagnets) which have local constraints that can be
mapped to a divergence-free "flux". The coarse-grained version of this flux or
polarization behave analogously to electric or magnetic fields; in particular,
defects at which the local constraint is violated behave as effective charges
with Coulomb interactions. I survey the derivation of the characteristic
power-law correlation functions and the pinch-points in reciprocal space plots
of diffuse scattering, as well as applications to magnetic relaxation,
quantum-mechanical generalizations, phase transitions to long-range-ordered
states, and the effects of disorder.Comment: 30 pp, 5 figures (Sub. to Annual Reviews of Condensed Matter Physics
Ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices: mimicking condensed matter physics and beyond
We review recent developments in the physics of ultracold atomic and
molecular gases in optical lattices. Such systems are nearly perfect
realisations of various kinds of Hubbard models, and as such may very well
serve to mimic condensed matter phenomena. We show how these systems may be
employed as quantum simulators to answer some challenging open questions of
condensed matter, and even high energy physics. After a short presentation of
the models and the methods of treatment of such systems, we discuss in detail,
which challenges of condensed matter physics can be addressed with (i)
disordered ultracold lattice gases, (ii) frustrated ultracold gases, (iii)
spinor lattice gases, (iv) lattice gases in "artificial" magnetic fields, and,
last but not least, (v) quantum information processing in lattice gases. For
completeness, also some recent progress related to the above topics with
trapped cold gases will be discussed.Comment: Review article. v2: published version, 135 pages, 34 figure