Superconductivity is a remarkable phenomena which continues to amaze us despite it being over 100 years since the initial discovery. The idea that while single lone electrons cannot move around very well in a solid while a pair of them can whiz around without any resistance has been seen in a large number of solids - cuprates, nickelates, and graphene based systems. This talk will discuss the theory of superconductivity, how pairs with nonzero momentum can spontaneously form and flow or crystallize or form swirling vortices in simple models, and how these might be relevant to recent ongoing experimental explorations in the field.
Arun Paramekanti received his PhD in 2002 from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (India). After spending some years as postdoctoral fellow at UC Santa Barbara and Berkeley, he joined the faculty at the University of Toronto in 2005 where he is currently a Professor of Physics. He is a recipient of honours such as the Alfred Sloan Fellowship and Fellowship of the American Physical Society, and has previously served as Chair of the Division of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics for the Canadian Association of Physicists.