Relativistic Fermions in Flatland: theory and application
Planar fermions occur frequently in layered systems and are extensively studied in condensed matter physics; for instance, electronic properties of graphene have long been understood in terms of relativistic fermions centered on Dirac points in momentum space, but the influence of interactions between charge-carrying degrees of freedom is less wellunderstood and remains an active field of study. Other examples are furnished by cuprate superconductors and materials with symmetry-protected topological phases. Quantum fermions in 2+1d also present many theoretical challenges, and there is a parallel renaissance of interest involving among others workers in large loop-order perturbation theory, functional renormalisation group, conformal bootstrap, and lattice simulation, tools mainly developed for particle theory, for whose practitioners such systems encapsulate essential challenges for their respective agendas.
A week-long workshop is a perfect opportunity to assemble attendees spanning this diverse community, stimulate knowledge exchange, and spawn fresh research directions.
