The Department of Physics and Astronomy invites you to a colloquium featuring Jeffrey McGuirk, Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University. Dr. McGuirk will present his talk, “Quantum Fluid Dynamics in an Ultracold Gas,” tomorrow at 4:10 p.m. in Webster B17.
Meet for refreshments before the lecture at 3:45 – 4:10 p.m. in the foyer on floor G above the lecture hall.
Abstract: Cooling atomic gases to near absolute zero temperature has revolutionized measurements of atomic properties and behavior. Now ultra-cold gases are being used as analogue systems to study effects that transcend atomic physics. The ease of manipulation and detection of ultracoldatomic gases, combined with their tunability, allows the tailoring of potentials and geometries to simulate effects seen in condensed matter and fluid systems -but with tools and measurements that allow the systems to be explored in different ways.
In this talk, I will describe how we use the flow of atomic spin in an ultracoldgas to study out-of-equilibrium dynamics in a quantum fluid. In particular, we are interested in how the gas transitions from classical to quantum behavior near the critical temperature for superfluidity. I will present results on miscibility and diffusion, spin-wave dynamics, relaxation of domain walls, and instabilities in this quantum regime.
