Dartmouth Events

Abstract: The spontaneous synchronisation of oscillators is a fascinating example of a phase transition which occurs far from equilibrium.  Synchronisation occurs in a wide variety of oscillators across the biological and physical sciences and has been studied in classical systems for many years. Recently theorists have also begun exploring synchronization in oscillators where a quantum mechanical description becomes essential. Several different ways of quantifying the synchronisation of quantum oscillators have been proposed and the connection between synchronisation and entanglement has also been examined. Comparisons of synchronisation in quantum and semiclassical oscillator models have revealed both quantitative and qualitative differences in behaviour. In this talk I will discuss a simplified model of a many-quantum oscillator system which undergoes a synchronization transition focussing in particular on the dynamics of the system close to the transition.