Neutrino oscillations were discovered in 1998, providing the first evidence for massive neutrinos. A breakthrough in 2012 with the discovery of 𝝑13 opened up a new field of research to study quantum superposition effects over macroscopic distances (>100 km). In this seminar, this discovery will be presented and a new generation of experiments that study neutrino oscillations at large distances will be introduced.
These experiments -T2K, NoVA, JUNO, DUNE, and HyperKamiokande- have an ambitious goal: to fully determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and mixing parameters, which correspond to the lepton Yukawa sector of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Results from ongoing experiments and expectations for the coming decade will be discussed.
Quantum Mechanics (QM), one of the most counter-intuitive and vanguard descriptions of fundamental phenomena ever conceived, is not only at the heart of our understanding of the Universe, of matter, and of its interactions, but has also gained a primary role in science and technology with a large range of applications to our everyday life going from computing, to information theory, to safe communications. While we currently have no motivation to think that QM would stop to describe phenomena at short distances, at least below the Planck scale, it is interesting to ponder to what extent fundamental quantum effects can be probed beyond the atomic scales (10−10 m). Such a question has recently gained further momentum after the observation of entanglement in the spin of top/anti-top quark pairs at the LHC, the highest energy accelerator experiment on earth, operating at the TeV (10−19 m, 10−28 s) scale. This seminar will review the main ideas and results of applying quantum information concepts and methods to the study of fundamental interactions and illustrate the perspectives.
In this seminar, how coherent electromagnetic radiation at Tera-Hertz and mid-infrared frequencies can be used to drive complex solids, in an attempt to enhance their coherence, is discussed.
As collective excitations are driven nonlinearly, leading to coupling amongst otherwise virtually non-interacting normal modes of the material. Driving gives rise to non-thermal states with unconventional properties, and sometimes with emergent order. Interesting examples involve the nonlinear control of the crystal lattice, used to induce magnetic order, ferroelectricity and non-equilibrium superconductivity at high temperatures.
