The Fundamentals of Ultra-cold Atoms and Molecules

A school on the quantum physics of ultra-cold atoms and molecules, considered one of the hottest areas of research in condensed matter physics, brought together 145 participants from 45 countries to ICTP in Trieste. The school, which ran from 2 July to 13 July 2012 aimed to delve into the current frontiers of research in the field, and the participants gained insights into the fundamental concepts, together with experimental and theoretical methods. The school attracted young Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows and senior researchers. 

The physics of ultra-cold atoms and molecules has opened up fascinating lines of research in condensed matter physics. Christophe Salomon from Ecole Normale Superieure, France, one of the Directors of the school explains, "This is why people are excited--because we can now test fundamental models which had been proposed for describing solid-state systems, but never checked in detail. Many aspects of these predictions were never tested, and with these cold atoms we can now test many of these predictions and also invent new systems." 

Andrea Perali from Universita' di Camerino, Italy, another Director of the school adds, "This field is very rich. It can give you new knowledge and deepen old one, with possibility of making precise and tunable experiments to verify theoretical predictions or to discover novel quantum phases of the ultra-cold matter. Moreover, it is very flexible, and this is the reason you can have contribution from physicists coming from different fields (solid-state physics, superconductivity, superfluidity, atomic, molecular and optical physics); physicists can come together and generate new ideas leading to new discoveries." 

Included in the school's program were 14 lecture mini-courses that summarised the main challenges and recent results in the field, together with a numerical lab session. Two poster sessions were organised and participants had an opportunity to present their research activities and interact with senior researchers and lecturers, and give short talks to explain their poster. 

Both Salomon and Perali stressed that having ICTP as the venue for the school ensured that the school was truly international, with the guarantee of a very advanced technological support, and allowed participants from different parts of the world to come together and exchange ideas.