September 19th Colloquium
The September 19th Colloquium was given by Dr. Polychronakos from CUNY. The abstract for the talk is below.
September 19
Dr. Alexios Polychronakos, City College (CUNY)
Turning Fermions into Bosons
Bosonization, the description of a system of fermions in terms of bosonic degrees of freedom, has been a standard technique in the condensed matter physics of one-dimensional systems for the last three decades. Its exportation to higher spatial dimensions, however, is still a largely open question. In an approach deriving from the exotic notion of noncommutative geometry, arising in string and field theory, the bosonization of higher dimensional fermi systems is achieved in terms of a "fuzzy phase space fluid". The collective properties of such systems can thus be derived using bosonic techniques.
To be honest, the talk was terribly boring. During the course of it, I think he derived Quantum Field Theory, worked out three or four methods of combining large numbers of fermions together into effective bosons, and put just about everyone to sleep. I could only follow about half of what he was talking about - when I was paying attention - and didn't care to pay attention to that much of it. Neither did anyone else in the audience either. I saw a couple professors and staff snoozing.
Frighteningly Dr. Polychronakos resembles my paternal grandfather.
I liked how at the end of the talk, one of the professors that was sleeping asked "So, are there any non-trivial results or applications of this?" "No, not yet."
Grrreeeeaaaaat.
September 19
Dr. Alexios Polychronakos, City College (CUNY)
Turning Fermions into Bosons
Bosonization, the description of a system of fermions in terms of bosonic degrees of freedom, has been a standard technique in the condensed matter physics of one-dimensional systems for the last three decades. Its exportation to higher spatial dimensions, however, is still a largely open question. In an approach deriving from the exotic notion of noncommutative geometry, arising in string and field theory, the bosonization of higher dimensional fermi systems is achieved in terms of a "fuzzy phase space fluid". The collective properties of such systems can thus be derived using bosonic techniques.
To be honest, the talk was terribly boring. During the course of it, I think he derived Quantum Field Theory, worked out three or four methods of combining large numbers of fermions together into effective bosons, and put just about everyone to sleep. I could only follow about half of what he was talking about - when I was paying attention - and didn't care to pay attention to that much of it. Neither did anyone else in the audience either. I saw a couple professors and staff snoozing.
Frighteningly Dr. Polychronakos resembles my paternal grandfather.
I liked how at the end of the talk, one of the professors that was sleeping asked "So, are there any non-trivial results or applications of this?" "No, not yet."
Grrreeeeaaaaat.