Theoretical Physics Seminar:
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Sep 04, 2007 11:00 AM, Link Building Seminar Room
Entanglement renormalization, quantum criticality and topological order
Speaker: Prof. Guifre Vidal
Abstract: Abstract: The renormalization group (RG) is one of the conceptual pillars of statistical mechanics and quantum field theory, and a key theoretical element in the modern formulation of critical phenomena and phase transitions. RG transformations are also the basis of numerical approaches to the study of low energy properties and emergent phenomena in quantum many-body systems. Most real space RG approaches, however, fail to fulfill some natural expectations, such as that of having (scale invariant) critical systems as fixed points, and can not properly describe critical systems. Recently, a novel RG transformation has been proposed, based on the idea of renormalizing the amount of entanglement, that does not suffer from any such deficiencies. I will explain what entanglement renormalization is and how it can be applied to describe quantum criticality and topological order.
