Over the last decade, ultracold atomic and molecular systems have emerged as frontiers of modern many-body quantum physics, transcending the traditional barriers between fields. On the one hand, they provide a highly controllable environment in which to investigate important unsolved problems relevant to condensed matter, statistical mechanics and high- energy physics, and are an ideal test bed for ideas in quantum information (either as quantum simulators, or as universal quantum processors). On the other hand, the development of new systems, such as ultracold dipolar molecules, spinor condensates, systems involving higher lattice bands, etc., promise to take the field into yet new regimes and truly uncharted territory of many-body quantum physics. It is generally believed that these systems will also find highly nontrivial applications in quantum metrology (e.g., as atomic clocks, or in superfluid circuitry—the atomic gas analog of superconducting circuits like SQUIDs).

The aim of the workshop is to explore how experiments with ultracold gases can address key open problems in many-body quantum physics. Among other things it will focus on the following topics: fundamental limitations and new ideas in quantum simulation of unsolved models such as the Hubbard model; novel cooling schemes based on ideas from quantum information as well as atomic and many-body physics; emergent phenomena in non-equilibrium quantum dynamics; novel quantum magnetism in Bose and Fermi systems; realizing and probing topologically ordered states.  Particular attention will be paid to novel types and applications of non-standard optical lattices (lattices with complex unit cells, Fourier synthesized lattices, radio-frequency dressed lattices, etc.)