Conférence du vendredi - Maia Vergniory (UdeS)

TOPOLOGY IS EVERYWHERE

Topology is a branch of mathematics that studies properties preserved under continuous deformations, and it turns out to be fundamental in nature. Recent findings show that nearly all materials possess topological states—upending the long-held view that these properties are rare. Why is this important? Topological materials have robust electronic properties, with surfaces and edges that remain stable despite local disturbances. While topological phases in 3D materials were first identified 15 years ago and only a few examples were known, high-throughput analysis of about 38,000 unique materials now indicates that over 50% of them are topological. Even more remarkable, nearly 90% exhibit topological states away from the Fermi level, and about 2% are "supertopological," meaning every electronic band above the core electrons shows topological characteristics. Moreover, topological properties are found in other systems beyond electronic materials. In essence, topology is a ubiquitous yet previously overlooked property of matter. In this talk, I will provide an overview of the current state of the field and discuss future directions.

Biographie : La professeure Maia Vergniory est titulaire d'une chaire d'excellence en recherche du Canada (CERC) sur la « matière quantique topologique ». Experte en physique computationnelle, elle est reconnue pour sa contribution à l'étude des matériaux topologiques. Ses travaux utilisent des méthodes computationnelles pour simuler des matériaux réels et déterminer leurs propriétés topologiques. Une de ses contributions majeures est la classification des matériaux inorganiques selon leurs phases topologiques. Ses recherches ont permis d'approfondir la compréhension des isolants topologiques d'ordre supérieur et d'étudier le potentiel des matériaux organiques. Membre de l'American Physical Society, elle a reçu en 2017 le prix L'Oréal-UNESCO Pour les femmes et la science.

Google scholar: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=OQJohgsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao