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Mini-Course: Introduction to Quantum Many-body Theory - from the origin of phonons to an origin of photons


Lecturer:Prof. Xiao-Gang Wen
Affiliation:MIT and Joint Distinguished Visiting Professor of HKU and HKUST
Date:January 12 & 17, 2006
Time:9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Venue:First Lecture: Lecture Theatre T3, Meng Wah Complex, HKU
Second Lecture: HKUST

About the lecturer:


Prof. Xiao-Gang Wen at MIT will be visiting HK Jan. 9-20, 2006 as a joint distinguished professor of HKU and HKUST. He is very enthusiastic in giving a mini-course to students in HK. Prof. Wen is one of the leading theoretical physicists in his age group, and the mini-workshop will share his most recent thoughts in science with HK's students. The course should also be valuable to postdoc fellows, research associates, and faculty staff members in condensed matter physics and in field theory.

About the course:


The traditional way to present quantum many-body theory is based on filling energy levels. This mini course tries to present quantum many-body theory from a different angle based classical equation of motion. The new way is suitable for collective phenomena and strongly correlated systems. The course will cover

  1. Classical picture of quantum systems.
  2. Boson condensation and Mott insulator. Emergence of phonons.
  3. String-net condensation. The emergence of Maxwell equation and photons.


There will be total 6 hours lectures. The first lecture will be on Jan. 12, Thursday, 9:30am-1:00pm in HKU, and the second will be on Jan. 17, Tuesday, 9:30am-1:00pm at HKUST.