Scientific Calendar Event



Starts 24 Feb 2016 14:00
Ends 24 Feb 2016 16:00
Central European Time
The recent successes in coupling ultracold gases to synthetic gauge potentials show the exceptional possibilities of such setups in studying and probing many-body quantum physics. In this talk, I will review some aspects of the theory of topological phases of matter and I will describe how the combined action of synthetic magnetic fields and spin-orbit couplings allow us to engineer in such systems both symmetry-protected topological phases and non-trivial topological order. I will focus in particular on a ladder model of fermions which mimics a one-dimensional topological superconductor and presents fractionalized edge modes. The physical observables suitable for the detection of topological phases in this system will be examined also in the presence of trapping potentials and Hubbard interactions. Finally, I will discuss further examples of higher-dimensional topological systems characterized by synthetic non-Abelian gauge potentials.