Condensed Matter Physics : where do we go ?
2010-11-22 16:15 | Auditoire CE 1 - Centre Est EPFL
Prof. Erio Tosatti, SISSA / ICTP / CNR-IOM Trieste, Italy
While condensed matter physics has grown to maturity, it is undergoing lively developments in many different directions. Among the many forces that push this development, I have chosen three important ones: namely the basic push for curiosity-driven research, the industrially motivated push for miniaturization and nanophysics, and the push for materials and processes that may have an impact on energy. Using some recent theory and simulation results from our group as (largely arbitrary) illustration material, I will touch one subject inside each of these three areas: (i) the insulator- superconducting metal transition in narrow band solids, particularly in alkali fullerides under pressure; (ii) the physics of metal nanocontacts, and in particular their electrical conductance; and (iii) friction, or more specifically nanotribology, a field with very little theory.
