Abstract
Over the past several years, our understanding of topological electronic phases of matter has advanced dramatically. A paradigm that has emerged is that insulating electronic states with an energy gap fall into distinct topological classes. Interfaces between different topological phases exhibit gapless conducting states that are protected topologically and are impossible to get rid of. In this talk the speaker will discuss the application of this idea to the quantum Hall effect, topological insulators, topological superconductors and the quest for Majorana fermions in condensed matter. The speaker will then show that similar ideas arise in a completely different class of problems. Isostatic lattices are arrays of masses and springs that are at the verge of mechanical instability. They play an important role in our understanding of granular matter, glasses and other 'soft' systems. Depending on their geometry, they can exhibit zero-frequency 'floppy' modes localized on their boundaries that are insensitive to local perturbations. The mathematical relation between this classical system and quantum electronic systems reveals an unexpected connection between theories of hard and soft matter.
About the speaker
Prof Charles Kane obtained his BS from the University of Chicago in 1985 and PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989. He then did his postdoctoral research at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in 1989 to 1991. Since 1991, he has been appointed as a faculty member at University of Pennsylvania and currently is the Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Natural Sciences.
Prof Kane’s research is focused on the theory of quantum electronic phenomena in solids including electronic properties of mesoscopic structures, topological electronic phases, strongly correlated electronic systems, disordered electronic systems and, field theory and quantum many body physics.
Prof Kane’s contribution is widely recognized by being awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics in 2015, the Physics Frontiers Prize of Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation in 2013, the Dirac Medal and Prize and Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Prize in 2012, and the Condensed Matter Europhysics Prize in 2010. He is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences.
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