Quantum Institute: Visitor Schedule

The Quantum Lunch is regularly held on Thursdays in the Theoretical Division Conference Room, TA-3, Building 123, Room 121.

The organizing committee includes Malcolm Boshier (P-21), Diego Dalvit (T-4), Michael Di Rosa (C-PCS), Sebastian Deffner (T-4 & CNLS), Changhyun Ryu (P-21) , Nikolai Sinitsyn (T-4), Rolando Somma (T-4), Christopher Ticknor (T-1), and Wojciech Zurek (T-4).

For more information, or to nominate a speaker, contact Sebastian Deffner.

To add your name to the Quantum Lunch email list, contact Ellie Vigil.

Monday December 8, 2014
11:30 PM - 12:30 PM
Location: CNLS Conference Room (03-1690-102)

Speaker: Howard Carmichael (University of Auckland)

Technical Host: Sebastian Deffner

TOPIC: Dissipative quantum phase transitions for photons

Abstract
The Bose-Einstein condensation of atoms brought quantum phase transitions to everyday attention. Photon analogies with bosonic atoms then naturally followed; although phase transitions for photons are dissipative at a fundamental level. My talk addresses dissipative quantum phase transition for photons, working from background in the quantum theory of the laser, through some historical examples, to recent experiments and theoretical proposals. An appreciation of the role of quantum fluctuations and the lack of a fixed particle number (hence a clear thermodynamic limit) is a principal theme.