Conference: Workshop on Hidden Order and Quantum Entanglement

Non-Technical Abstract: This project partially supports a Workshop on Hidden Order and Quantum Entanglement to be organized by Rice University’s Extreme Quantum Materials Alliance from Oct. 6 to Oct. 8, 2025 on the campus of Rice University. This workshop will survey the recent progress and prospects for research in this emerging cross-cutting field. It will bring together experts and early-career researchers from communities with varied perspectives and involving different physics communities including condensed matter physics and atomic physics. The conference will promote participation of junior scientists and therefore enhance their future career goals. Technical abstract: In quantum materials, quantum fluctuations reduce the tendency towards conventional orders that fall within the classification of spontaneous symmetry breaking. They may instead drive more exotic orders that are beyond the Landau framework, such as quantum spin liquids and quantum Hall states. They can also give rise to the regime of quantum criticality and, in gapless settings, to strange metallicity. There is increasing recognition that such hidden-order systems are highly entangled and, importantly, recent developments have allowed for the detection of quantum entanglement in such many-body settings. The interplay between highly fluctuating quantum materials and quantum information has the potential to bring about new advancements in both fields. This workshop will survey the recent progress and prospects for research in this emerging cross-cutting field. It will bring together experts and early-career researchers from communities with varied perspectives and involving different platforms, which include: Entanglement witnesses; Quantum spin liquids; Strange metals; Quantum Hall systems; Quantum emulators. The workshop, organized by Rice University’s Extreme Quantum Materials Alliance (eQMA) in collaboration with the Smalley-Curl Institute (SCI), will bring together a diverse pool of theoretical and experimental experts on these topics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.