ERC-Grant for Quantum Physicist Jörg Schmiedmayer

Looking for special quantum states using atom chips: Jörg Schmiedmayer from the Vienna University of Technology receives an ERC Advanced Grant. With his research on quantum states in the realm between order and disorder, Professor Jörg Schmiedmayer's work has raised quite a stir; ultra cold atom clouds with a high degree of order approach a disordered thermal equilibrium. During this transition they spend some time in an astonishingly stable intermediate state. With a new ERC Grant, one of the most prestigious Research Grants in Europe, Schmiedmayer will now dig deeper into the physics of non-equilibrium phenomena in many-particle quantum systems. How do quantum states melt? - Every day we can see transitions into a thermal equilibrium - for instance when an icicle heats up and melts. When this happens, the entropy (a measure for the disorder in a physical system) increases and information about the system is lost. The ultra cold Bose-Einstein condensates created at the Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (VCQ) also approach a thermal equilibrium.