The quantum theory of fluids

by Ben Gripaios (Cambridge)

Thursday 9 Jul 2015, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Berlin

HS3 (Physikdepartment)

I discuss the quantization of a perfect fluid. This differs from textbook QFT, because of the presence of vortex modes, which map to an infinite collection of quantum mechanical free particles rather than harmonic oscillators. As a result, the theory is plagued by infra-red divergences. I argue that there exists, nevertheless, a consistent effective field theory description, valid at large distances and times.