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I will give an overview of recent work on the physics of lattice models of close-packed loops. The models have two phases -- one in which all loops are finite, and another in which some loops are extended -- and the interest is in universal features of these phases and the transitions between them. The models describe a number of problems in classical statistical physics -- where, for example, the loops may be vortex lines in a three-dimensional random field -- and also many-body quantum systems -- where the loops are world-lines of particles.

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John Chalker, Oxford University
TP Seminarraum
Contact: Alexander Altland