Contents - Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme
Contents - Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme
Contents - Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme
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successoftheevent,itwasdecidedtocontinuethismeetingbytransformingitintoaconferenceseries,<br />
withthenextonetentativelyheldinRecife(Brazil)in2011.<br />
Tunnelingandscatteringincomplexsystems–fromsingletomanyparticlephysics,<br />
SeminarandWorkshop<br />
Scientificcoordinators:A.Bäcker,M.Oberthaler,P.Schlagheck<br />
Thisconferencewasdevotedtobringingtogetherexpertsworkingonvariousaspectsoftunnelingin<br />
connectionwithopensystemdynamicssuchasscatteringanddecay.Beingtraditionallyrootedinatomic<br />
andmolecularphysics,thetopicoftunnelinghasprovenitsrelevanceinmanyotherfieldsofphysics,such<br />
asmesoscopicscienceandsuperconductivity,waveopticsinmicrocavities,aswellasultracoldquantum<br />
gases.Openissuesariseherefromthemathematicalandconceptualpointofview,especiallyconcerning<br />
thesemiclassicaldescriptionoftunnelingintermsofcomplextrajectories.Theyare,moreover,introduced<br />
bynovelmany-bodyexperimentsusingBose-Einsteincondensatesthatconsistofultracoldatoms.<br />
Inviewofthediversityofcommunitiesthatareinvolvedinthistopic,theorganizersconsideredituseful<br />
tobeginthisconferencewithaone-weeksummerschooldevotedtothemostrelevantaspectsofthis<br />
topic. WewerehappythatwecouldgainStephenCreagh(Nottingham)andAkiraShudo(Tokyo)<br />
aslecturersforthatschool, whogaveexcellentintroductionsintothemysteriesandpitfallsofthe<br />
complexifiedclassicalphasespace,andwhoshowedhowthoseonescanhelpustoobtainasemiclassical<br />
understandingoftunneling.MartinHolthaus(Oldenburg)andOliverMorsch(Pisa),ontheotherhand,<br />
taughtusthebasicsoftunnelingwithultracoldbosonicquantumgasesbothfromthetheoreticalandfrom<br />
theexperimentalpointofview.UzySmilansky(Rehovot),finally,gaveaneasilyaccessibleintroduction<br />
intoclassicalandquantumscatteringinchaoticsystems.<br />
Thedidacticalpartofthismeetingculminatedonthefirstdayofthemainconferenceinthesecondweek,<br />
whenEricHeller(Harvard)deliveredaninspiringandmotivatingcolloquiumtalkdevotedtodynamical<br />
tunnelingandthebeautyofsemiclassicalphysics. ItwasimpressivetoseehowEricHellercouldrelate<br />
variouskindsofnonclassicalphenomena,includingthosethatonewouldmostnaturallyassociatewith<br />
ordinarydiffraction,withthenotionofdynamicaltunneling.Onthesameday,moreover,StevenTomsovic<br />
(Pullman/WA)gaveaverygoodintroductorytalkonchaos-assistedtunneling.<br />
Apartfromthecolloquiumtalk,wehad,intotal,30oralcontributionsduringthismainconference,among<br />
them,4fromatomicandmolecularphysics,4frommesoscopicscience,7fromultracoldquantumgases,<br />
5fromelectromagneticandopticalsystems,and9fromquantumchaosandsemiclassics. Itwasan<br />
intriguingexperiencethatquiteafewspeakersdidnotonlyfocusontheunderstandingoftunnelingand<br />
scatteringintheirrespectivecontext,butalsopointedoutthepossiblerelevanceandimpactofthese<br />
phenomenafromtheapplication-orientedpointofview.Thisincludestheinfluenceoftunnelingonthe<br />
(uni-)directionalityoflightemittedfromchaoticmicrocavities(e.g.talkbyJanWiersig/Magdeburg),<br />
theusefulnessofthesemiclassicalperspectiveinordertocoherentlycontroltunneling-inducedreactions<br />
inmolecules(talkbySrihariKeshavamurthy/Kanpur),thepossibilitytoreadindividualquantumbits<br />
throughtunnelingacrossJosephsonjunctions(talkbyJoachimAnkerhold/Ulm),aswellastheimpact<br />
oftunneling(orratheritsinhibition)ofK-shellvacanciesonthecreationofBellstateswithdiatomic<br />
molecules(talkbyReinhardDörner/Frankfurt). Duringthelunchbreaksandpostersessions,wecould<br />
observeandparticipateatquiteafewcross-disciplinarydiscussions,someofwhichmightleadtonovel<br />
theoreticalapproachesandexperimentsintheyearstocome.<br />
Themeetingendedwithaninformalworkshopweekwheretheparticipantsoftheconferencehadthe<br />
occasiontocontinuetheirdiscussions. Thisweekbeganwithathree-daysfocusmeetingdevotedto<br />
nonlineardynamicsincomplexscattering.Followingthetraditionoftheannual“billiardworkshops”that<br />
bringtogethertheGermanquantumchaoscommunityin(mostly)MarburgorGöttingenonceperyear<br />
since2001,wereservedanentireafternoonsessionforcontributed30-minutestalksgivenbyyounger<br />
researchers,suchasPhDstudentsandyoungpostdocs.Wehavetoadmitthatthisfocusmeetingturned<br />
outtobeabitlessfocusedthanoriginallyanticipated,assomeoftheinvitedexpertsonscatteringsystems<br />
withintrinsicnonlineardynamics(suchasinnonlinearopticsorBose-Einsteincondensates)decidedto<br />
talkaboutdifferent,morerecentsubjectsoftheirresearch. Thediversityofaspectsdiscussedinthis<br />
focusmeeting,ontheotherhand,impressivelyrevealedtoushowseeminglydifferenttopics,suchas<br />
localization,graphene,andmicrowavesystems,arenowabouttobecomestronglyconnectedtoeach<br />
other.<br />
WorkshopReports 125
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