Proposed future colliders are mainly conceived to precisely study the Higgs sector and to explore new physics extensively, up to multi-TeV scales. The challenges to design these new accelerators and their experiments drive the technology developments in the field and stimulate further studies to better estimate the final physics reach.
Thermoelectricity is typically associated with the breaking of the electron-hole (EH) symmetry. Here intriguingly we show that a paradigmatic EH symmetric system such as superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junction could generate nonlinear thermoelectricity that
could reach very high values. This is a consequence of the spontaneous breaking of EH symmetry. Further, we will provide sufficient and general conditions for nonlinear thermoelectricity which are valid also well beyond the superconducting paradigm. Finally,
we will present other applications such as thermoelectric switch/memories and thermoelectric relaxation oscillators. In the second part, I will discuss the non-local thermoelectricity in Cooper pair splitters as a consequence of the non-local EH symmetry induced by nonlocal entanglement would.
Non-local thermoelectricity can be used to identify helical edge states for topological materials where the hall bar geometry cannot be designed. Finally, I will discuss how topological hybrid Josephson junction can be used to manipulate the entanglement in Cooper pairs and easily measure it with a standard critical current measurement.
Astroparticle physics experiments searching for rare events, such as neutrinoless double beta decay and dark matter particles interactions, have to be shielded from background radiation that would interact and hide the physics of interest, and have to exhibit a radioactive background as low as possible. Therefore, underground site are preferred. Being protected from cosmic rays, the underground environment provides the conditions necessary for experiments dealing with such rare or exotic interactions. SNOLAB is one such facility, based at a depth of 2km in the Vale Creighton mine near Sudbury, Ontario. The lab hosts a number of neutrino and dark matter experiments as well as new biology and genomic experiments making use of the unique facility.
Dario Ferraro: Quantum resources for energy storage
Recently there has been a great interest in the possibility to exploit quantum-mechanical effects to enhance the performance of energy storage devices. In this framework, we present a model of a Quantum Battery and a Quantum Supercapacitor based on matter-radiation interaction.
Niccolò Traverso Ziani: Interacting topological edge channels
We employ a topological quantum point contact to guide edge channels from opposite sides into a quasi-one-dimensional constriction. Apart from the expected quantization in integer steps of 2e2/h, we find a surprising additional plateau at e2/h. The result may have direct implications in topological quantum computation through Majorana- and para-fermions.
Our friend Carlo M. Becchi has turned 80 on October 20, 2019.
We invite all friends and colleagues to wish Carlo a very happy birthday and at the same time review his seminal contribution to theoretical physics and his role within the national and international community.
A 'light' workshop with both purposes will therefore take place at the Physics Department of the University of Genova on Feb. 4th, 2020