The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016
The Nobel Prize in Physics
2016
The Nobel
Prize in Physics 2016 was divided, one half awarded to David J. Thouless, the
other half jointly to F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz "for
theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases
of matter".
Why Did They Win?
Topology is a branch of mathematics that describes
properties that change only in increments. In the early 1970s, Dr. Kosterlitz
and Dr. Thouless “demonstrated that superconductivity could occur at low
temperatures and also explained the mechanism, phase transition, that makes
superconductivity disappear at higher temperatures,” the academy found.
In the
1980s, Dr. Thouless showed that the integers by which the conductivity of
electricity could be measured were topological in their nature. Around that
time, Dr. Haldane discovered how topological concepts could be used to
understand the properties of chains of small magnets found in some materials.
“We now know of many topological phases, not only in
thin layers and threads, but also in ordinary three-dimensional materials,” the
academy said. “Over the last decade, this area has boosted front-line research
in condensed matter physics, not least because of the hope that topological
materials could be used in new generations of electronics and superconductors,
or in future quantum computers.”
Michael S.
Turner, a physicist at the University of Chicago, said by email that the work
of the three prizewinners was “truly transformational, with long-term
consequences both practical and fundamental.”
“It
illustrates the importance and surprises associated with curiosity-driven
research,” he added.
What Is Topology?
At a news
conference in Stockholm, Thors Hans Hansson, a member of the Nobel physics
committee, used a bagel, a pretzel and a cinnamon bun to explain topology.
While the items vary across many variables, a topologist focuses only on the
holes: The pretzel has two, the bagel has one, and the bun has none.
“Things like
taste or shape or deformation can change continuously, but the number of holes
— something that we call the topological invariant — can only change by
integers, like 1, 2, 3, 0,” he said.
This
topological insight turned out to be useful in understanding the conductance —
the ease with which electric current flows through a substance — in certain
two-dimensional materials at extremely low temperatures and in strong magnetic
fields. While the research was largely theoretical, it could have practical
applications for items like electronics, superconductors and even computers.
Dr.
Thouless,
82, was born in Bearsden, Scotland, was an undergraduate at Cambridge University and received a
Ph.D. in 1958 from Cornell. He taught mathematical physics at the University of Birmingham in England from 1965
to 1978, where he collaborated with Dr. Kosterlitz. He joined the University of
Washington in Seattle in 1980, where he is now an emeritus professor.
Dr.
Haldane, 65, was born in London. He received his Ph.D. from Cambridge,
where he was also an undergraduate, in 1978. He worked at the Institut
Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France, the University of Southern California, Bell
Laboratories and the University
of California, San Diego, before joining Princeton in 1990.
Dr.
Kosterlitz, 73, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and received his doctorate
in high energy physics from Oxford University in 1969. He has worked at the
University of Birmingham; at the Instituto di Fisica Teorica in Turin, Italy;
and Cornell, Princeton, Bell Laboratories and Harvard.
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