KITP program on many-body physics with photons

The Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics holds program on the subject of Many-Body Physics with Light.

Interacting artificial many-body systems play a fundamental role in the development of quantum simulators. Using engineered photonic systems, it has recently become possible to realize strongly interacting photon gases, which are particularly well suited for probing non-equilibrium many-body physics. The driven-dissipative nature of these systems is a major reason for the interest in them. Radiative losses are crucial to obtain real-time experimental access to the dynamical evolution of the quantum fluid, while new quantum phases of matter are expected to appear in such non-equilibrium many-body scenarios. These developments require novel theoretical tools to describe and understand them.

The research field of photonic quantum simulators is highly interdisciplinary in nature, attracting researchers from diverse fields such as quantum optics, condensed matter physics, statistical mechanics and quantum information science. Experiments cover a wide range of systems, ranging from circuit-QED systems in the microwave domain to optical and exciton-polariton systems. The goal of this program is to help in shaping this community and setting the agenda for future research.

All the talks are available online here.