The Physics Division and the Division of Materials Research contribute funds to this award. This award supports integrated theoretical research and education on systems of cold atoms near the absolute zero of temperature and trapped in laser light. The research is aimed to investigate new quantum mechanical states of matter that may be designed and engineered with mixtures of atoms and molecules at ultra low temperatures and to open new avenues for using ultra cold atom systems like a special kind of computer to simulate the correlated motion of electrons in materials and theories studied in high energy physics and quantum chemistry.
With the progress in the ability to manipulate cold atoms and molecules and to control the interactions among them, the models that have been studied in materials research for their relevance to understanding complex materials that are promising for future technological applications may be engineered and tested. Even more importantly, new quantum many-body states will be sought, some that do not have a counterpart in materials or nanoscale systems. The PI will explore phenomena that emerge from the complex correlated motion that arise from interactions, dimensionality, and lattice geometry in these systems, as well as mixtures of particles with different quantum mechanical properties, for example some that in a sense behave like quanta of light mixed with others that behave like electrons, lead to the rich behavior of these quantum many-body systems.
The PI will also continue her education and outreach activities that include training of graduate and undergraduate students in research and working with local K-12 schools and teachers through the Scientists in the Classroom Program. The Scientists in the Classroom Program is an outreach program that the PI started under prior NSF support and is supported by the UC Riverside Department of Physics and Astronomy and by the California Science Project. It provides a bridge between physics students and schools in the community, enriching the education of K-12 students and providing an important professional development opportunity for University of California Riverside students to improve their teaching, communication, and presentation skills. The PI and participants of the Scientists in the Classroom Program will share their passion for physics and the fascinating physics of ultra cold atoms and of emergent phenomena with college and K-12 students and the general public.
The Physics Division and the Division of Materials Research contribute funds to this award. In the past few years, there has been remarkable experimental progress in the field of atomic, molecular and optical physics, including manipulation of ultra-cold atoms on optical lattices, and an unprecedented level of control and tunability of their interactions. In the vast landscape of possible microscopic interactions that can be tuned in cold atom systems, it is important to have systematic studies of phase diagrams and phase transitions, and to search for key physical principles that govern quantum many-body systems. This project investigates many-body effects in cold atom systems with a focus on mixtures of cold atoms and molecules. This research is integrated with education and outreach activities.
The objectives of this project are:
(1) To investigate cold atom systems with long-range interactions, proposing ways to engineer long-range interactions with boson-fermion and fermion-fermion mixtures, exploring dipolar quantum systems which have recently been realized and already have tunable long-range interactions built-in, and studying the long-range interaction coming from narrow Feshbach resonances and its effect in a many-body system.
(2) To investigate fermion-fermion mixtures, including SU(2) x SU(6) systems and fermions in mixed dimensions.
(3) To investigate cold atom systems in the strong coupling regime, including connections between gauge theories and lattice models in the strong coupling limit that can be created with cold atoms. It develops a new renormalization-group approach for repulsive fermions in the strong coupling limit.
(4) To explore renormalization-group approaches to study dynamical effects in cold atom systems.
The PI will also continue her education and outreach activities that include training of graduate and undergraduate students in research and working with local K-12 schools and teachers through the Scientists in the Classroom Program. The Scientists in the Classroom Program is an outreach program that the PI started under prior NSF support and is supported by the UC Riverside Department of Physics and Astronomy and by the California Science Project. It provides a bridge between physics students and schools in the community, enriching the education of K-12 students and providing an important professional development opportunity for University of California Riverside students to improve their teaching, communication, and presentation skills. The PI and participants of the Scientists in the Classroom Program will share their passion for physics and the fascinating physics of ultra cold atoms and of emergent phenomena with college and K-12 students and the general public.
