Events

Past Event

Physics Colloquium with Dr. Ana Asenjo-Garcia (Columbia University)

November 18, 2024
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
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Theory Center, Pupin Hall 8th Floor

Research Overview: https://anaasenjogarcia.com/

"Universal Patterns in the Collective Behavior of Open Quantum Systems"

When many particles share a common environment, dissipation and fluctuations become resources for emergent and complex behavior. In this talk, I will discuss how macroscopic quantum coherence arises due to correlated decay in open quantum systems. I will begin by presenting an overview of our research over the past few years, starting with our early work on Dicke superradiance in extended systems—a decades-long open problem in many-body quantum optics. Our theoretical predictions have recently been experimentally validated through the observation of superradiance in atomic arrays. Building upon this foundation, I will introduce our recent discovery of universal scaling laws for correlated decay that apply broadly to a large class of Markovian quantum systems. These scaling laws open new directions for fault-tolerant quantum computing, precision metrology, and the understanding of out-of-equilibrium phase transitions. Finally, I will present examples where many-body decay offers new ways to control and manipulate open quantum systems, and discuss some of our current experimental collaborations.