Flatiron Institute Seminar Series: Antoine Georges

Title: Electronic Correlations: Beyond the Standard Model of Solid-State Physics

Abstract:  Materials in which electrons `work as a team’ in a strongly correlated manner display emergent collective behavior at the macroscopic scale, such as superconductivity, magnetism, or metal-insulator transitions. Ever larger and more diverse families of such materials are being discovered at a fast pace. The `standard model’ of solid-state physics, based on electrons occupying bands of individual energy levels, must be seriously revised for strongly correlated materials. Instead, a description accounting for both localized atomic excitations and delocalized wave-like quasiparticles is required. I will review how Dynamical Mean-Field Theory (DMFT) – and more broadly `Quantum Embedding’ methods – fulfills this goal and provides an original physical perspective on strongly correlated electron materials. Thanks to the contributions of a large community over almost three decades, the theory now provides a practical framework to understand and predict the properties of quantum materials starting from their structure and chemical composition. I will finally discuss current limitations and what is being done, particularly at CCQ, to overcome them and extend the scope of quantum embedding approaches.