Strongly correlated quantum fluids: ultracold quantum gases, quantum chromodynamic plasmas and holographic duality

Abstract

Strongly correlated quantum fluids are phases of matter that are intrinsically quantum mechanical and that do not have a simple description in terms of weakly interacting quasiparticles. Two systems that have recently attracted a great deal of interest are the quark–gluon plasma, a plasma of strongly interacting quarks and gluons produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions, and ultracold atomic Fermi gases, very dilute clouds of atomic gases confined in optical or magnetic traps. These systems differ by 19 orders of magnitude in temperature, but were shown to exhibit very similar hydrodynamic flows. In particular, both fluids exhibit a robustly low shear viscosity to entropy density ratio, which is characteristic of quantum fluids described by holographic duality, a mapping from strongly correlated quantum field theories to weakly curved higher dimensional classical gravity. This review explores the connection between these fields, and also serves as an introduction to the focus issue of New Journal of Physics on 'Strongly Correlated Quantum Fluids: From Ultracold Quantum Gases to Quantum Chromodynamic Plasmas'. The presentation is accessible to the general physics reader and includes discussions of the latest research developments in all three areas.