Return to Colloquia & Seminar listing
Quantum Spin Systems at Positive Temperature
Probability| Speaker: | Shannon Starr, University of California Los Angeles |
| Location: | 0 MSB |
| Start time: | Thu, Apr 20 2006, 3:10PM |
We generally understand classical spin systems much better than quantum spin systems. On the other hand, classical spin systems are a limit of quantum spin systems, when the spin parameter goes to infinity. In this talk we will describe a method for proving phase coexistence in certain special quantum spin systems at positive temperature, if the spin parameter is large enough, using what we know for their classical limits. The method of proof uses a new inequality that is an analogue of the Berezin-Lieb inequality for coherent states, suitably generalized to matrix elements, instead of just traces.