Collaborative Research: Topic in Many-Body Theory

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TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award made on a collaborative proposal supports theoretical research and education to investigate the electronic properties of condensed matter systems at very low temperatures, with particular emphasis on universal properties that do not depend on the details of the materials in question. In particular, the PI will further explore analogies between "soft" condensed matter and "hard" condensed matter that have proven to be productive in the PIs' recent work on helimagnets and promise to provide additional insight into other materials of current interest. Problems to be studied include quantum analogs of liquid crystal states that are relevant for quantum hall systems and high-temperature superconductors, quantum phase transitions away from equilibrium, and spiral phases in ferromagnetic superconductors.The PIs will also pursue two more additional problems: one involves the meaning of certain singularities in the screening of effective electron-electron interactions that are mediated by an exchange of bosons; the other, involves technical problems controlling the perturbative renormalization-group treatment of certain classes of quantum phase transitions.This project will contribute to advancing our understanding of the basic electronic properties of solids, creating knowledge that is crucial as a basis for future technological innovation. It will train students and postdoctoral associates in an important and very broad research area, and thus contribute to the generation of human resources that are essential for our technologically oriented society. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYThis award supports collaborative theoretical research and education to uncover universal electronic properties of materials that appear at low temperatures. Universal properties transcend many of the details of specific materials, such as strength of interactions between electrons or electronic energy relations, and can connect seemingly different materials at a deeper level. The discovery of universal properties may signal the existence of a fundamental principle that provides a unifying understanding of seemingly different materials. This project will contribute to advancing our understanding of the basic electronic properties of solids, creating knowledge that is crucial as a basis for future technological innovation. It will train students and postdoctoral associates in an important and very broad research area, and thus contribute to the generation of human resources that are essential for our technologically oriented society.