Note: Due to the limited seating in the KITP conference room and the high level of interest in this topic, we have had to limit attendance. You are most welcome to apply. We will do our best to accept as many applications as space constraint will allow. Invitations will be issued over time, with final invitations to be issued shortly after the deadline. Please feel free to contact us at any time if you require more information.

A few experimental breakthroughs in atomic physics, quantum optics and nanoscience have recently made it possible to fabricate systems (e.g. optical lattices, quantum dots) having a few common features: the simultaneous presence of strong interactions and phase coherence, and the possibility to take the system at hand out of equilibrium in a controllable way. The stimulus provided by non-equilibrium experiments done with systems as diverse as spins in quantum dots, atoms in optical lattices, and photons has recently spurred a great deal of theoretical investigations of non-equilibrium physics in closed, thermally isolated condensed matter systems. This activity has in turn found useful parallels in other field of physics where the study of non-equilibrium behavior is crucially important, to high energy physics and the physics of the early universe. This interdisciplinary nature of this area of research as well as the possibility of cross-fertlization between theory and experiments is making of the study of non-equilibrium physics a very exciting (and rapidly developing) field.

The focus of this conference will be on recent experimental and theoretical progress on the dynamics and thermodynamics of thermally isolated quantum systems. Together with a few overview talks, we plan to discuss a variety of topics which emerged at the interface between theory and experiments, such as thermalization and prethermalization in quantum systems and high energy physics, many-body localization, adiabatic and abrupt quantum quenches, dynamics of cold atomic gases, nuclear spins and photonic systems.

List of Speakers:

Altshuler, Boris
Aspect, Alain
Berges, Jürgen
Bloch, Immanuel
Bramati, Alberto
Cardy, John
Caux, Jean-Sébastien
Demler, Eugene
Eisert, Jens
Essler, Fabian
Fazio, Rosario
Galitski, Victor
Imambekov, Adilet
Izrailev, Felix
Jarzinsky, Christopher
Kafri, Yariv
Klich, Israel
Lukin, Mikhail
Oberthaler, Markus
Oganesyan, Vadim
Rigol, Marcos
Smith, David
Ueda, Masahito
Weiss, David
White, Andrew
Wolynes, Peter
Zurek, Wojciech