The Electron-Phonon Problem Revisited

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• Prof Steve Kivelson, Stanford University
• Wednesday 31 May 2023, 16:00-17:00
• Small Lecture Theatre, Cavendish Laboratory, J.J. Thomson Avenue.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr Nur Unal.

The electron-phonon problem lies at the core of much of the understanding of “conventional” metals and superconductors. It was also long thought to be a theoretically solved problem. However, contrary to a widely accepted folk theorem, the Migdal approximation, upon which this understanding is based, breaks down when the dimensionless electron-phonon coupling is not small. I will discuss a variety of new features of this old problem that can be established theoretically using controlled quantum Monte-Carlo and strong-coupling expansions, and comment on their relevance to a variety of puzzling observations in otherwise conventional metals, especially the existence of a so-called “Plankian” bound on the T-linear resistivity and a corresponding rough bound on the magnitude of l determined from tunneling data in the superconducting stated. (This latter is particularly striking in light of decades of searches for more strongly coupled metals as part of the search for higher temperature superconductivity.)

This talk is part of the Cavendish Quantum Colloquium series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• All Cavendish Laboratory Seminars
• Cavendish Quantum Colloquium
• Centre for Health Leadership and Enterprise
• Featured lists
• ME Seminar
• Neurons, Fake News, DNA and your iPhone: The Mathematics of Information
• School of Physical Sciences
• Small Lecture Theatre, Cavendish Laboratory, J.J. Thomson Avenue
• Thin Film Magnetic Talks
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