---

In ultracold atomic gases, the areas of quantum optics and many-body quantum physics increasingly merge together, giving rise to non-equilibrium scenarios where coherent and dissipative dynamics appear on an equal footing. Controlled dissipation allows for counter-intuitive effects such as dissipatively induced long-range phase coherence. We discuss several aspects of new many-body physics in such systems: This includes phases of lattice bosons with competing coherent and tailored dissipative dynamics, and a purely dissipative pairing mechanism for fermions, operative in the absence of attractive conservative forces. We show how this mechanism can be used for cooling into topologically ordered states and point out a possible physical realization. We analyze the nature of topological order and Majorana edge states in such non- equilibrium systems, highlighting properties without immediate counterpart in equilibrium. Finally, we report on first results on non-equilibrium criticality in driven open quantum systems subject to particle loss and pumping. We identify an additional, independent critical exponent witnessing the driven nature of these systems.

---

Prof. Dr. Sebastian Diehl, Universität Innsbruck
Seminarraum Theoretische Physik
Contact: not specified