Distinguished Lecture Series

Professor Lev Pitaevskii

University of Trento, Italy

will give a series of lectures on

Ultracold gases as a new tool in condensed matter physics

Topic: Condensed Matter & Materials Physics

Recent progress in experimental techniques has enabled the preparation of liquids with properties independent of any quantities that characterize the interaction. This situation emerges because the interatomic interaction in these bodies is, in a sense, infinitely strong. The case which exemplifies this point is of ultracold Fermi gases near the so-called Feshbach resonances. Atom-atom interactions in such gases are characterized by one parameter, the scattering length "a", which near the Feshbach resonance depends on magnetic field. When the scattering length becomes of the order of interatomic distances, the system behaves as a strongly interacting liquid. At the resonance where "a" is infinite, one gets a universal liquid, whose properties do not depend on any parameter. Professor Pitaevskii is a leader in the field of low temperature physics, where much of the physics is described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. For his work he was awarded several prizes which include the Landau Prize (USSR Academy, 1980), Landau Gold Medal (Russian Academy, 2008) and the Feenberg Memorial Award in Many body Physics (1997). Professor Pitaevskii is an Academician (USSR/Russia). It was our great privilege to have Professor Pitaevskii as a visiting Professor at the Technion (1994-98). This year he received an Honorary Doctorate of the Technion.

Program of Lectures

Type Title Date Time Location Presentation
Colloquium Universal liquid: Ultracold Fermi gas at Feshbach resonance 18-Nov-2010 16:30 Lidow Rosen Auditorium (323) PDF File of: Universal liquid: Ultracold Fermi gas at Feshbach resonance
Theor./Math. Physics Seminar Dynamics of thin solitons 21-Nov-2010 14:30 Lewiner Seminar Room (412) PDF File of: Dynamics of thin solitons
Condensed Matter Seminar Sound propagation of a fluid in a cylindrical trap 22-Nov-2010 14:30 Lidow Nathan Rosen (300) PDF File of: Sound propagation of a fluid in a cylindrical trap