Professor Rahul Nandkishore
UC Boulder
Ergodicity breaking in quantum dynamics
Location: 1080 Physics Research Building
Faculty Host: Ilya Gruzberg
Abstract: When can isolated many body quantum systems fail to go to equilibrium under their own dynamics, and how robust can this `ergodicity breaking’ be? This question has been a central theme of research in quantum dynamics and statistical mechanics over the past decade, and I will share with you some highlights, focusing on three key developments: many body localization, dynamics with multipolar symmetries, and dynamics with higher form symmetries. I will present the rich and exotic phenomena that arise in these three regimes, and how they may be realized experimentally. I will then discuss some key open directions for the field.
Bio: Rahul Nandkishore is a theoretical physicist interested in a broad range of problems, from non-equilibrium quantum dynamics, to exotic phases of matter, to effects arising from interplay of interactions and disorder in quantum materials. He received his PhD in 2012 from MIT, then spent three years at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science as a postdoctoral fellow, before moving to a faculty position at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has been ever since. He is known for his work on graphene and Dirac semimetals, on many body localization, on fracton phases of matter, on nonlinear spectroscopy, and on constrained quantum dynamics. His research has been recognized by numerous awards including Young Investigator awards from the U.S. Department of Defense, a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Simons Fellowship in Theoretical Physics, and the 2024 Anatoly Larkin Award in Theoretical Physics.
