Events

Seminar of the Institute of Theoretical Physics of University of Wrocław

Competing for perfection – Ultracold Fermi gases can be as perfect liquids as the superhot Quark-Gluon Plasma

dr Marcus Bluhm

IFT UWr

The properties of ultracold atomic gases have been investigated with increasing attention in recent years. The possibility to easily control physical parameters and manipulate the atomic interaction strength makes these gases very attractive to better understand other strongly coupled quantum systems. For example, expansion experiments with trapped ultracold Fermi gases (UFGs) show a similar flow pattern of the matter as the one deduced from particle spectra measured in high-energy nuclear collisions. This leads to the conclusion that UFGs can form quantum fluids with similar properties as the superhot Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) created in the nuclear collisions. In this talk, the flow behavior of both UFGs and QGP will be confronted. By comparison with expansion data, the shear viscosity of strongly coupled UFGs will be deduced and shown to be comparably small with the QGP close to the lower bound imposed by the gravity – field theory duality. Interesting future directions (in both fields) will be discussed, which can help to reveal the astonishing similarities in these two quantum fluids.