Physics Colloquium, January 13, 2004

Comparing classical and quantum complex systems

Susan N. Coppersmith

University of Wisconsin - Madison

This talk will present work that attacks the question of whether there are fundamental differences between quantum and classical complex systems. Investigating this question is hard for the same reason that qualitatively new phenomena could emerge in quantum systems -- specifying a system of N degrees of freedom classically can be done using a number of variables linear in N, while quantum mechanically the number of variables grows exponentially with N.

The talk will discuss different approaches to the problem. The first, long-term, approach is to build a silicon-based quantum dot quantum computer. The shorter term strategy is to do calculations using classical computers, in particular renormalization group calculations for a quantum spin glass in three dimensions with long range interactions, and numerically exact calculations for a quantum spin glass with nearest neighbor interactions in two dimensions.

3.30 p.m., Smith Laboratory, Room 1005

Refreshments served in Smith 1094 at 3:00 p.m.