The Haldane conjecture is introduced through quantum spin chains and topological phases. A comparison between a mug, a donut, and a sphere illustrates how some structural properties survive continuous changes in shape.
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1:16:05Nobel Prize. 1983 formulation of the Haldane conjecture. Yes, this was theoretical physicist Duncan Haldane. He formulated the Haldane conjecture at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. And it has to do with topological spin states. Topological meaning like stuff that has to do with um a mathematical structure that is invariant to transformation. For example, like if I've got a mug with a hole, that's got a hole. And no matter what I do with the Play-Doh, unless I rip it apart and I squish things together, I'm not going to get rid of that hole. On the other hand, this cup right here doesn't have a hole. So, I can make this look like a sphere, no
1:16:45problem. I could never make >> a mug look like a sphere. I can make it look like a donut because a donut has one hole and the mug has one hole. So, this is the type of mathematical structure that I'm talking about. He discovered that um there's lowdimensional quantum spin chains that have topological phases meaning like different states of being that are restricted by this topological structure. Okay. He was at University of Southern California at the time and then he went to Princeton and he was one of my professors. He actually taught me introm. He won the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics two years after we left. >> That's if only you were there. >> Yeah, that would have been crazy.
1:17:26>> So crazy. uh 1983 commercial launch of