The purpose of the conference is to bring together the leading experts in the field of cold and ultracold molecules to discuss results, applications, and perspectives for the future. The main conference topics include precision spectroscopy, few-body and many-body quantum physics, chemical physics, and quantum chemistry.
Programme
During the last 15 years spectacular advances have been made in controlling quantum systems composed of atomic constituents, revolutionizing the field of traditional atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics and opening up new and spectacular avenues in such diverse areas as precision spectroscopy, quantum information, quantum many-body and condensed matter physics. The challenge is now to reach the same level of control in molecular systems, for which the presence of additional microscopic degrees of freedom promises a new era for quantum physics and chemistry. In this emerging, strongly multi-disciplinary field, challenges range from the production of cold and ultracold molecules to the application of these cold and ultracold molecules to precision spectroscopy, few-body and many-body quantum physics, chemical physics, and quantum chemistry. It is the aim of this conference to bring together scientists from these diverse fields, which are now contributing to an increasing extent to developing new ideas and approaches for the realization of cold and ultracold molecular gases and to identifying new research directions and applications of these novel systems. This conference will be structured to initiate and foster intensive collaborations, in particular between theory and experiment, which will be an essential ingredient for the overall progress of this interdisciplinary field.
The list of the invited speakers includes (alphabetically ordered):
K. Aikawa (Innsbruck), J. Bohn (JILA), A. Browaeys (LCF Palaiseau), H.-P. Büchler (Stuttgart), E. Demler (Harvard), O. Dulieu (LAC Palaiseau), C. Greene (JILA), E. Hinds (Imperial College), J. Hutson (Durham), D. Jin (JILA), S. Jochim (Heidelberg), P. S. Julienne (JQI, Maryland), C. Koch (Univ. Kassel), S. Kotochigova (Temple Univ.), B. Laburthe-Tolra (LPL Paris), B. Lev (Stanford), M. Lewenstein (ICFO, Barcelona), F. Merkt (ETH Zürich), G. Modugno (LENS, Florence), K. Ohmori (IMS, Okazaki), T. Pfau (Stuttgart) (tbc), G. Rempe (MPQ Munich), C. Sa de Melo (Georgia Tech, Atlanta) C. Salomon (ENS Paris), T. Softley (Oxford), T. Takekoshi (Innsbruck), N. Vanhaecke (FHI Berlin), J. Ye (JILA), S. Yelin (Univ. Connecticut), M. Weidemüller (Heidelberg), S. Willitsch (Basel), and M. Zwierlein (MIT, Boston)
The conference is supported by the European Science Foundation, the University of Innsbruck, the Innsbruck-Vienna SFB 'FOQUS', and the European Network AQUTE. We are happy to announce that few grants for young and early stage researchers are available. The conference will take place at the Obergurgl University Centre (UZO), which is located at an altitude of 1940 metres. The venue is in one of the highest villages in Tirol, at the end of the Ötz Valley, and is surrounded by numerous glacier-covered three-thousand metre peaks.
The deadline for application is on the 20th of August 2012.