"How to understand superfluids using field theory"


Mark Alford , Washington University in St. Louis
[Host: Diana Vaman]
ABSTRACT:
The hydrodynamic description of a superfluid at non-zero temperature is the two-fluid model, where the two fluids are the superfluid and a normal fluid. The superfluid is a Bose-Einstein condensate, and the normal fluid is a thermal gas of phonons.

I will show how one can translate between the macroscopic two-fluid model and a microscopic field theoretic description, using the simplest field theory that can show Bose-Einstein condensation, namely the complex scalar field.

Questions that will be answered include:
* How can one get two fluids from a single field?
* What is the relationship between the different formalisms that have been proposed for relativistic superfluids?
* What is the role of the Goldstone boson?
High Energy Physics Seminar
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
3:30 PM
Physics Building, Room 204
Note special room.

 Add to your calendar

To add a speaker, send an email to phys-speakers@Virginia.EDU. Please include the seminar type (e.g. High Energy Physics Seminars), date, name of the speaker, title of talk, and an abstract (if available).