Real-time Dynamics in Strongly Correlated Quantum Matter

Real-time dynamics in Strongly Correlated Quantum Matter (RTDQM20)

Scientific Coordination:
Marcello Dalmonte (International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste)
Markus Heyl (Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden)
Francesco Piazza (Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden)

Organization: Maria Voigt, Katrin Lantsch and Michael Genkin (Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Dresden)

The MPI-PKS workshop Real-time dynamics in Strongly Correlated Quantum Matter took place from 8 - 9 April 2020. Besides the topical focus on exploring new avenues in characterizing and probing the real-time dynamics of quantum matter far from equilibrium, the virtual format of the workshop was designed to provide a platform for reinforcing scientific exchange during the present times characterized by severe travel constraints.

The short workshop was organized in four 2-talks sections in the afternoons, each followed by a longer virtual discussion session. The 30 minutes-long discussion slots were organized so as to provide two types of virtual rooms. A PhD-only room where students could discuss with the speakers and in parallel 20 further rooms for free, self-organized discussions. Among those, 2 were featuring 1 or 2 chairmans guiding and triggering the discussions.

The senior speakers have been among the leading scientists performing cutting-edge research in the scope of the workshop. Also a large number of senior and prominent persons joined as participants from all over the world. We had 260 signed-up participants with an actual attendance fluctuating around 230 the first day and 200 the second day. Half of the speakers were young researchers who gave sharp talks despite the novel format and very large audience.

During the discussions with the speakers in PhD-only rooms, students were very active, which resulted in very lively discussions. During this pioneering effort several formats and solutions had to be put to the test. A positive note is surely the large resonance in terms of participant number. A crucial but challenging aspect with virtual workshops is to trigger interactive discussions. We have introduced a format for interactive virtual discussions in the present workshop with several features which proved to work, like PhD-speaker and chaired-self-organized rooms. An online survey with many participants has been completed. The overall feedback was extremely positive and several interesting suggestions fir the future have been gathered.