Physique statistique

Since the 80’s, laser cooling has enabled the production of sub-milliKelvin dilute atomic gases - which can be further cooled to the nanoKelvin regime.

Computational physics plays a central role in all fields of physics, from classical statistical physics, soft matter problems, and hard-condensed matter. Our goal is to cover the basic concepts underlying computer simulations in classical and quantum problems, and connect these ideas to relevant and contemporary research topics in various fields of physics. In the TD’s you will also learn how to set, perform and analyse the results of simple computer simulations by yourself, covering a wide range of topics. We will use Python, but no previous knowledge of this programming language is needed.

    Can the whole not merely be the sum of its parts? How do collective patterns appear?
    Could three molecules of water form ice?
    Could higher-level abilities be created from interacting AI agents?

The notion of complexity pertains to systems in which somewhat unexpected properties emerge from the interplay of a sufficiently large number of  entities — be they particles, living cells, artificial neurons, organisms, people, abstract agents... or even a mixture of some (or all!) of these.

Statistical physics has been the first branch of science to try and model in a mathematical manner such systems, focusing especially on the subtle and often elusive passage from the micro/individual level to the macro/collective level. This lecture course explores further how the mindset of statistical physics can provide fertile ground for the analysis and modelling of complexity, across disciplinary boundaries.

Recent years have seen enormous experimental progress in preparing, controlling and probing quantum systems in various regimes far from thermal equilibrium. Examples include systems as ultra-cold atomic quantum gases under time-dependent perturbations, driven non-linear cavity QED systems or strongly correlated electrons in solid-state materials under ultra-fast optical excitations.