Trio wins Nobel for effects of topology on exotic matter.
Trio wins Nobel for effects of topology on exotic matter.
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三人组因拓扑对奇异物质的影响而获得诺贝尔奖。
DOI：
10.1126/science.354.6308.21
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发表时间：
2016
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
A. Cho
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
A. Cho
甜甜圈像咖啡杯但又不同于螺旋弹簧？这个谜题是理解今年诺贝尔物理学奖的关键。诺贝尔物理学奖授予西雅图华盛顿大学的理论家大卫莱斯，布朗大学的迈克尔科斯特利茨和普林斯顿大学的邓肯哈勒。答案是，因为每个都有一个孔，所以甜甜圈和咖啡杯具有相同的拓扑结构。一个无限柔软的杯子可以被塑造成一个甜甜圈而不会撕裂它，而弹簧则可以被展开成一根线，被压扁成一片，或者被压扁成一个球。但是它不能平滑地变形来制作甜甜圈。因此，它有一个不同的“拓扑电荷”-本质上，空穴的数量。Kosterlitz和Haldless表明拓扑不仅仅是一种数学抽象。它可以以令人惊讶的方式出现在凝聚态理论的深处，并可以解释一些奇怪的现象，例如液氦薄膜在没有任何阻力的情况下流动的能力，或者一维量子粒子链中奇怪的量子奇异磁性。诺贝尔奖获得者的这项新工作为凝聚态物理学中最热门的课题奠定了基础，即研究拓扑绝缘体等所谓的拓扑材料，这种材料在内部阻止电流，但允许电流在表面流动。
How is a doughnut like a coffee cup but different from a coiled spring? The riddle is key to understanding this year9s Nobel Prize in Physics, which honors theorists David Thouless of the University of Washington, Seattle, Michael Kosterlitz of Brown University, and Duncan Haldane of Princeton University. The answer is that, because each has one hole, the doughnut and the coffee cup have the same topology. An infinitely pliable cup could be molded into a doughnut without tearing it. The spring, on the other hand, can be unwound into a wire, flattened into a sheet, or squished into a ball. But it cannot be smoothly deformed to a make a doughnut. Thus, it has a different "topological charge"—essentially, the number of holes. Thouless, Kosterlitz, and Haldane showed that topology is more than a mathematical abstraction. It can show up in surprising ways deep in the theory of condensed matter and can explain such odd phenomena as the ability of thin films of liquid helium to flow without any resistance or odd quantum quirks magnetism in 1D chains of quantum particles. The new Nobel laureates9 work laid the foundation for perhaps the hottest subject in condensed matter physics, the study of so-called topological materials such as topological insulators, which block the flow of electricity in their interiors but allow it on their surface.