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 Ryan O. Behunin (T-4 & CNLS), Malcolm Boshier (P-21), Adolfo del Campo (T-4 & CNLS), Michael Di Rosa (C-PCS), Ivar Martin (T-4), Changhyun Ryu (P-21), Rolando D. Somma (T-4), Christopher Ticknor (T-1), and Wojciech H. Zurek (T-4).

For more information, or to nominate a speaker, contact Adolfo del Campo.

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

Thursday, July 5, 2012
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM

Speaker: Zohar Nussinov (Washington University in St. Louis)

Technical Host: Rolando Somma

TOPIC: Universal Spin Duals to Majorana Networks, Fractionalization in Exactly Solvable Systems, and Holography

Abstract
We discuss the "bond algebraic" approach to dualities with a particular emphasis on Majorana systems. We show how to analyze readily solvable models (such as Kitaev's honeycomb model), within this framework. Our focus is, however, on interacting Majorana fermion systems. We illustrate how universal spin duals can be constructed for these on general graphs in an arbitary number of dimensions. We introduce an "XXZ honeycomb compass" model which constitutes a two-component spin analog of Kitaev's honeycomb model. With the aid of these general duals, we further illustrate how to construct fermionic systems with Hubbard type interactions that exhibit non-trivial critical behavior. Time permitting, we will introduce general holographic bounds, examine "frustration free" systems derived from the usual Hubbard model on the pyrochlore lattice and illustrate how fractionalization and deconfined quantum critical behavior can occur in these pyrochlore lattice systems.