PHYS brown bag seminar: Topological and composite defects in engineered superfluid phases of helium-3

Presenter: Jere Mäkinen (Department of Applied Physics, ROTA group)

Abstract: Symmetry and its breaking are central to the modern understanding of the physical world. In conjunction with topological reasoning, they have guided us to formulating fundamental laws of physics as well as the theory of possible states of matter and their universal behavior. Topological defects, such as quantized vortices, affect the behavior at macroscopic scales. The symmetries contained by the normal phase of helium-3 are exceptionally rich, and support a variety of symmetry-breaking phase transitions to macroscopically coherent, superfluid, states. I will review the recent experimental results of the ROTA research group on symmetry-breaking phase transitions of superfluid helium-3 in a sample with engineered topology. Particular attention is paid on topological and composite defects, such as half-quantum vortices in the superfluid p+ip phase and "walls bounded by strings" - composite defects predicted in cosmology decades ago.

Join us for science and pizza in the Nanotalo lobby!