Adam Rançon

I am a researcher in condensed matter theory, focusing mostly on the physics of cold atoms. I am particularly interested in quantum critical phenomena, strongly correlated systems and disordered systems. However, I have always been interested in high-energy physics and quantum field theory, especially concerning the non-perturbative aspects of the renormalization group.

I am fascinated by the universal properties that emerge at the macroscopic scale in quantum and classical systems. However, a more quantitative characterisation of real systems demands a detailed description of the physics at the microscopic scale. Capturing the behavior at both the small and large scales is a challenge I have been working on since I started doing research.

Since I arrived in Lille, I have been working on a driven quantum system, the Quantum Kicked Rotor (QKR), that has been studied experimentally here for years. This model has a surprising connection with disordered systems, and the interplay between driving, interactions and disorder makes for the perfect storm for a theoretical physicist! This has relaunched my interests in disordered systems, both with and without interactions, which I am currently studying.

In past years, I have also worked on a variety of subjects such as out-of-equilibrium dynamics of quantum systems (quantum quenches in bosonic and fermionic superfluids), dissipation and equilibration of quantum systems, the Casimir effect, high-Tc superconductors, and the problem of inference in statistics.