For the marketing plan for my Very Short Introduction, I was recently asked whether there were any significant anniversaries happening in condensed matter physics (and associated conferences). This is not something I normally think about.
I realised that fifty years ago there were three big discoveries. All eventually led to Nobel Prizes. Each discovery had a profound effect on the formation of condensed matter as a distinct discipline built around a few unifying concepts. At the time the discoveries and ideas appeared quite independent, but there are deep connections between them.
Renormalisation group and critical phenomena
In 1971 Ken Wilson published two papers [PRB 4, 3174, and PRB 4, 3184] laying the foundations, followed by two PRLs in 1972, including one with the provocative title, Critical Exponents in 3.99 Dimensions.
Wilson received the Nobel Prize in 1982. This work had many implications and applications.
Explained universality in critical phenomena.
Highlighted how spatial dimensionality changes physics.
Illustrates why effective Hamiltonians work (so well).
Showed the power of quantum field theory techniques.
Defined concepts of scaling and fixed points.
Superfluidity in liquid 3He
In 1972, Osheroff, Richardson, and Lee reported new phase transitions in liquid/solid 3He. Tony Leggett identified these transitions as due a superfluid phases and also identified the order parameters. The experimentalists shared the Nobel Prize in 1996 and Leggett in 2003. The discovery was significant for many reasons, beyond just being a new state of matter.
It provided a rich example of a state of matter with multiple broken symmetries. The order parameter has eighteen components, which can be viewed as a combined superfluid, ferromagnet, and liquid crystal.
The rich order parameter led to an exploration of diverse topological defects, from superfluid vortices with magnetic cores to boojums. This highlighted the concepts of broken symmetry, rigidity, and topological defects.
This was the first example of an unconventional fermionic superfluid. Specifically, it could be described by BCS theory, but not with s-wave pairing nor with the pairing mechanism of the electron-phonon interaction in elemental superconductors. This showed the adaptability of BCS theory. It laid the groundwork for understanding unconventional superconductivity in heavy fermions, organics, and cuprates.
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transitions
In Berezinskii published papers in 1970 and 1971, and Kosterlitz and Thouless published papers in 1972 and 1973. This work was significant for reasons including the following.
It showed states of matter and phase transitions were qualitatively different in two and three dimensions.
New concepts such as topological order, quasi-long-range order, essential singularities, and defect-mediated phase transitions were introduced.
Like that of Wilson, this work highlighted universality. There were connections between superfluids, superconductors, and XY magnets.
Scaling equations provided insight.
Kosterlitz and Thouless were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2016
We should celebrate!
Wow! Quite the Golden Jubilee!
Does anyone know of any conferences, events, or books that are planned to mark these anniversaries?
PRB (and A-D) started in 1970, providing the venue for some of the work mentioned above.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you link to any of these important papers in your blog post? Seems like it should the obvious thing to do...
ReplyDeleteI agree. Sorry I was lazy. I have added the links now. Thanks.
DeleteRoss, I think you might consider adding to this list the discovery of a Z_2 gauge theory by Franz Wegner
ReplyDeletehttps://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.1665530
The invention of Wegner has fundamentally changed the way we think about the possible nature of order and phase transitions in classical statistical physics and quantum many-body systems.