2001 Aspen Winter Conference on Condensed Matter Physics, "High-Temperature Superconductivity," Aspen, CO, January 21 - 27, 2001

Aspen Center For Physics, Aspen CO

Investigators

Abstract

This award is to provide support for the Aspen Center for Physics' Winter 2001 Condensed Matter Physics Workshop. The workshop will be devoted to the topic of high-temperature superconductivity. More than a decade after its discovery, high-temperature superconductivity is an exciting and challenging field with remarkable developments on the experimental front. This Aspen Winter Conference will have an unusual format: formal presentations will be on experimental results only. A small number of rapporteur talks will analyze the issues raised in the context of four major basic still-unanswered questions: 1) What is the global phase diagram? 2) Is non-Fermi liquid behavior fundamental? Does spin-charge separation and/or topological order play any role? 4) what are the systematics of Tc? The latest experimental results pertinent to these issues will be presented and discussed at the conference. The answers to these questions will involve great conceptual advances in the condensed matter field and are likely to lead us to contemplate a shift in paradigm. The support provided will enable young physicists to attend and participate in the workshop. They will benefit from the opportunity to interact in a small setting with world experts in the field. This award is to provide support for the Aspen Center for Physics' Winter 2001 Condensed Matter Physics Workshop. The workshop will be devoted to the topic of high-temperature superconductivity. High-temperature superconductivity occurs in a number of metallic materials all of whose properties are so unlike those of ordinary metals that a theoretical understanding of them does not yet exist. This Aspen Winter Conference will bring together leading workers in the field to discuss how the very latest experimental results impact the theoretical framework which must be developed. The answers to the basic questions around which the conference is organized will involve great conceptual advances in the field of condensed matter physics and are likely to lead us to contemplate a shift in paradigm. While the meeting will be relatively small, the attendees will include both senior scientists and junior ones just starting in the field. It is important for the future of physics that young physicists participate in a major way in small conferences of this kind. In addition these young scientists will benefit from the opportunity to interact in a small setting with international experts in the field.