2007/11/30 by Subir Sachdev · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.str-el #cond-mat.supr-con #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/nphys894
published as Nature Physics 4, 173 (2008) · 39 pages, 10 figures, review article for non-specialists; (v2) added clarifications and references; (v3) minor corrections; (v4) added footnote on hydrodynamic long-time tails
arxiv created 2008/03/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
Magnetic insulators have proved to be fertile ground for studying new types of quantum many body states, and I survey recent experimental and theoretical examples. The insights and methods transfer also to novel superconducting and metallic states. Of particular interest are critical quantum states, sometimes found at quantum phase transitions, which have gapless excitations with no particle- or wave-like interpretation, and control a significant portion of the finite temperature phase diagram. Remarkably, their theory is connected to holographic descriptions of Hawking radiation from black holes.