CONVENER

Igor Yurkevich (Aston University, UK)

MEMBERS

Dimitry Gangardt (University of Birmingham, UK)

Yuval Gefen (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)

Moshe Goldstein (Tel Aviv University, Israel)

Victor Kagalovsky (Shamoon College of Engineering, Israel)

Udit Khanna (Tel Aviv University, Israel)

Ki-Seok Kim (POSTECH, Korea)

Igor Lerner (University og Birmingham, UK)

Yigal Meir (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel)

Jinhong Park (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)

Vladimir Yudson (Nat’l Research Univ. Higher School of Economics, Russia)

OVERVIEW

The Advanced Study Group (ASG) has its focus on two fundamental concepts of solid state physics: topologically non-trivial quantum states and quantum phase transitions. While a substantial body of knowledge exists on each front, relatively little is known about their interplay. The problem of a system undergoing a quantum phase transition coupled to edges of a topological matter will be addressed from two complementary viewpoints: (i) how critical fluctuations affect such edges, how they may be detected via edge-related observables, and how they may undermine topological protection at the edge; (ii) how edge physics affects the dynamics of a quantum critical system.  New insights and research directions applicable to generic topological critical systems are expected. Special emphasis will be given to formulating our findings in terms of predictions, amenable to experimental tests.