Samuel Lederer, Postdoctoral Fellow, MIT, Cambridge, MA, Professor Eun-Ah Kim, host.

Seminar Title: High temperature superconductivity and strange metal behavior near a metallic quantum critical point

Abstract: It has long been conjectured that quantum critical points (QCPs) are at the root of some of the most fascinating phenomena in the solid state, including the high temperature superconductivity and “strange metal” behavior of cuprate superconductors. Though much progress has been made in the theory of QCPs, those which occur in metals (and are likely relevant to the high temperature superconductors) are still poorly understood despite more than four decades of effort. Using Quantum Monte Carlo techniques, my collaborators and I have performed the first numerically exact simulations of a model which realizes a metallic QCP. I will discuss our results, which include numerous phenomena already observed in experiment, and comment on future avenues towards a solution of this difficult and rich problem in quantum statistical mechanics.

Poster available.