Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Series
  • People
  • Depts & Colleges
  • Open Education

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Series
  • People
  • Depts & Colleges
  • Open Education

Topological Boundary Modes from Quantum Electronics to Classical Mechanics

Series
Oxford Physics Public Lectures
Video Embed
The 2015 Cherwell-Simon Lecture delivered by Professor Charles Kane

Over the past several years, our understanding of topological electronic phases of matter has advanced dramatically. A paradigm that has emerged is that insulating electronic states with an energy gap fall into distinct topological classes. Interfaces between different topological phases exhibit gapless conducting states that are protected topologically and are impossible to get rid of. In this talk we will discuss the application of this idea to the quantum Hall effect, topological insulators, topological superconductors and the quest for Majorana fermions in condensed matter. We will then show that similar ideas arise in a completely different class of problems. Isostatic lattices are arrays of masses and springs that are at the verge of mechanical instability. They play an important role in our understanding of granular matter, glasses and other ‘soft’ systems. Depending on their geometry, they can exhibit zero-frequency ‘floppy’ modes localized on their boundaries that are insensitive to local perturbations. The mathematical relation between this classical system and quantum electronic systems reveals an unexpected connection between theories of hard and soft matter.

More in this series

View Series
Oxford Physics Public Lectures
Captioned

The Higgs Boson and Particle Physics at the LHC: a Progress Report and Plans for the Future

Physics Colloquium 13th February 2015 Deliverd by Daniela Bortoletto
Previous
Oxford Physics Public Lectures
Captioned

Everything from nothing, or how our universe was made

The 2015 Wetton Lecture delivered by Professor Carlos Frenk
Next
Transcript Available

Episode Information

Series
Oxford Physics Public Lectures
People
Charles Kane
Keywords
cherwell-simon
classical mechanics
quantum electronics
quantum hall effect
topological superconductors
topological insulators
majorana fermions
condensed matter
Department: Department of Physics
Date Added: 20/05/2015
Duration:

Subscribe

Apple Podcast Video Apple Podcast Audio Video RSS Feed

Download

Download Video Download Transcript

Footer

  • About
  • Accessibility
  • Contribute
  • Copyright
  • Contact
  • Privacy
'Oxford Podcasts' Twitter Account @oxfordpodcasts | MediaPub Publishing Portal for Oxford Podcast Contributors | Upcoming Talks in Oxford | © 2011-2022 The University of Oxford