Quantum many body physics with alkaline-earth(-like) atoms
Dr. Simon Fölling (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität)

Modern experiments with ultracold atoms demonstrate an ever increasing control over the dynamics and interactions between particles, allowing for a very close modeling of quantum many body systems of interacting particles which are often motivated by condensed matter physics.
With better experimental techniques and novel approaches it is becoming more feasible to also investigate strongly correlated systems with internal degrees of freedom - usually a hyperfine state in the case of an atom, and usually corresponding to the spin in the case of electrons. Interactions between particles carrying different spins can then for example lead to magnetic states, with complex spin correlations depending on the nature of the underlying interactions. I will discuss current work on how to create and detect "magnetic" states using ultracold atoms in optical lattice systems, and describe our approach based on alkaline-earth atoms rather than the more common alkali gases.