2007/02/05 by Antoine Georges, Georges, Antoine
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences #Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech) #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0702122
openalex publication_date 2007/02/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Various topics at the interface between condensed matter physics and the physics of ultra-cold fermionic atoms in optical lattices are discussed. The lectures start with basic considerations on energy scales, and on the regimes in which a description by an effective Hubbard model is valid. Qualitative ideas about the Mott transition are then presented, both for bosons and fermions, as well as mean-field theories of this phenomenon. Antiferromagnetism of the fermionic Hubbard model at half-filling is briefly reviewed. The possibility that interaction effects facilitate adiabatic cooling is discussed, and the importance of using entropy as a thermometer is emphasized. Geometrical frustration of the lattice, by suppressing spin long-range order, helps revealing genuine Mott physics and exploring unconventional quantum magnetism. The importance of measurement techniques to probe quasiparticle excitations in cold fermionic systems is emphasized, and a recent proposal based on stimulated Raman scattering briefly reviewed. The unconventional nature of these excitations in cuprate superconductors is emphasized.