Physics Colloquium, January 16, 2007
Discrete Scale Invariance In Ultracold Atoms Eric Braaten

The Ohio State University, Department of Physics

In 1970, a Russian physicist named Efimov predicted that a 3-body system consisting of identical bosons with strong short-ranged interactions would display remarkable universal properties at sufficiently low energy. These universal properties are characterized by a discrete scaling symmetry: invariance under changing lengths by a power of 22.7. Thirty-five years went by without any experimental evidence for this phenomenon. However recent experiments with trapped atoms cooled to ultralow temperatures are finally beginning to provide evidence for Efimov physics.

4:00 p.m., Physics Research Building (PRB), Room 1080

Reception at 3:45 p.m., Atrium, PRB