Quantum Activity in Argentina

Practicing its mandate to advance scientific expertise in the developing world, ICTP recently held a two-week 'Autumn College on Non-Equilibrium Quantum Systems' in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The College, which ran from 2 to 13 May 2011, attracted 98 participants from Latin America, along with an international group of leading scientists as lecturers and speakers. Its goal was to bring together active researchers working in the field of quantum non-equilibrium phenomena to deliver educational lectures on non-equilibrium physics and give seminars on the topic of their recent research in the field.

The College targeted young researchers (students, PhD students, postdocs) from both developing and developed countries working or planning to study physical phenomena out of equilibrium and its applications in quantum systems.

"The idea for an Argentinean activity arose after an earlier, successful ICTP college on this topic held in 2009 in Trieste, which attracted great attention from young prominent researchers," said College Director Mikhail Kiselev, a researcher with ICTP's Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics section. He explained that the format of this earlier activity--where all participating scientists could talk and discuss their ideas with leading experts in quantum non-equilibrium physics and learn about the most recent developments in the field 'first hand'--proved to be popular to all participants, and was recreated at the Argentinean College.

The College was co-sponsored by the University of Buenos Aires, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and ICAM-I2CAM.

For more details, visit the College website.