Leigh Page Prize Lectures - Charles Kane, University of Pennsylvania, “Topology of the Fermi Sea”

Event time: 
Thursday, April 25, 2024 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm
Location: 
Sloane Physics Laboratory SPL, Room 59 See map
217 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Speaker/Performer: 
Charles Kane, University of Pennsylvania
Event description: 

The Fermi Sea in a metal is a topological object characterized by an integer topological invariant called the Euler characteristic, x_F. In this talk we will argue that for a 2D fermi gas x_F is reflected in a quantized frequency dependent non-linear 3 terminal conductance that generalizes the Landauer conductance in D=1. We will critically address the roles of electrical contacts and Fermi liquid interactions, and we will propose experiments on 2D Dirac materials, such as graphene, using a triple point contact geometry. We will go on to show that for a D dimensional Fermi gas, x_F is also reflected in the multipartite entanglement characterizing D+1 regions that meet at a point. This generalizes a well-known result that relates the bipartite entanglement entropy of a 1+1D conformal field theory to its central charge c. We will argue that for an interacting 3D Fermi liquid, x_F distinguishes distinct topological Fermi liquid phases.

Host: Meng Cheng (m.cheng@yale.edu)