Abstract

Our understanding of the electronic properties of solid state systems heavily relies on Bloch’s theorem and the symmetry of ideal crystals under discrete translations. Disorder inevitably breaks this symmetry in real materials, but this is regarded as a weak perturbation in most cases. Anderson localization teaches us that the absence of translation invariance can have radical physical consequences. Localization can also occur in quasiperiodic systems, as illustrated by the Aubry-André model. The experimental observation of correlated phases in twisted graphene multilayers [1], which are quasiperiodic moiré systems, has lead to a renewed interest in quasiperiodic systems. On the theoretical front, it has been demonstrated that quasiperiodicity can stabilise new correlated phases [2]. At the same time, the development of new numerical methods has enabled the modelling of systems exceeding billions of atoms [3, 4]. 

The goal of this mini-colloquium is to bring together experts working on different aspect of condensed matter systems which lack translational invariance, including: disordered systems, quasiperiodic systems, van der Waals and moiré materials, amorphous matter, and quasicrystals. Contributions covering the following topics are encouraged: 

- Development of real-space computational methods;
- Topological properties and correlations in non-crystalline matter;
- Phenomenology of non-crystalline matter.

REFERENCES

[1] Uri, A. et al., Superconductivity and strong interactions in a tunable moiré quasicrystal. Nature 620, 762–767 (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06294-z
[2] Gonçalves, M. et al., Incommensurability enabled quasi-fractal order in 1D narrow-band moiré systems. Nat. Phys. 20, 1933–1940 (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-024-02662-2
[3] Simão, J., et al., KITE: high-performance accurate modelling of electronic structure and response functions of large molecules, disordered crystals and heterostructures. R. Soc. Open Sci. 7, 191809 (2020). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.191809 
[4] Fumega, A. et al., Correlated states in super-moiré materials with a kernel polynomial quantics tensor cross interpolation algorithm. 2D Mater. 12, 015018 (2025). DOI: 10.1088/2053-1583/ad9d59

Invited speakers

to be announced

Organizers

Name	Affiliation
Aires Ferreira	University of York, Department of Physics and York Centre for Quantum Technologies Y10 5DD, York UK
Bruno Amorim	Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Departamento de Física e Astronomia, CF-UM-UP, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
Jose Lado	Aalto University, Department of Applied Physics, 00076 Aalto, Finland
Pedro Ribeiro	Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, CeFEMA, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal