Dr. Gil Young Cho (KIAS, Korea)
"Geometry in topological quantum matter and nematic quantum Hall states"
In the past few years we have witnessed a flurry of activity in the field of topological phases of matter. On the other hand, understanding broken spatial symmetries in strongly-correlated electronic systems has been a central problem in condensed matter physics. Recently, the two pivotal themes merge and generate a new outstanding research theme, the interplay of spatial symmetry, geometry and topology. In this talk, I will present the theoretical descriptions of the fascinating phenomena emergent from intertwined geometry and topology in condensed matter systems, which are vividly realized in the recent experiments of anisotropic quantum Hall states at the filling 7/3. In these systems, the topological quantum Hall fluids unexpectedly couple to the broken rotational symmetry and exhibit guniversalh responses to the geometry resulting from the broken symmetry. I will show how to theoretically describe all these universal geometric responses and make a few striking predictions on the experimental systems including a novel fractional excitation.