Colloquium: Chris Greene
Purdue University
Event Details:
- Time: 3:45 - 4:45 PM
- Location: 1080 Physics Research Building
- Faculty Host: Sasha Landsman
Abstract
Remarkably complex systems can arise when just a handful of quantum particles interact, in some cases from a simple underlying Hamiltonian. I will discuss a selection of such systems in nuclear physics and in atomic physics that have intrigued us and, in some cases, involved controversial interpretations. One of them is the question of whether four neutrons can bind together either stably or temporarily as a tetraneutron. Another issue that turns out to be related to that question is how the famous Wigner threshold law for a reactive process can become modified. This Colloquium will also discuss the amazing process by which 4 or 5 interacting atoms in a gas can recombine in the ultracold to form bound molecules.
