C5. Commission on Low Temperature Physics

Report to the IUPAP COUNCIL and COMMISSION CHAIR MEETING
Mexico
September 28-29/2001

COMMISSION ACTIVITIES

1. LT Conference

The main event sponsored by IUPAP through Commission C5 on Low Temperature Physics is the triennial International Conference on Low Temperature Physics. Commission C5 finds the host for this prestigious meeting and supervises the conference arrangements.

LT 23 Hiroshima

Commission C5 held a business meeting during LT22 in Helsinki and decided to accept the proposal from Japan to host the next conference, LT23 in August 20-27, 2002 in Hiroshima. The conference secretary, Kimitoshi Kono, has contacted C5 shortly after the LT22 meeting. IUPAP sponsorship has been examined during the Beijing meeting. Support from Science Council of Japan, which is the host organization of the Liaison Committee, is granted.

The preparations for this conference are in good progress. The estimated total budget is $704,000. A registration fee of $45,000 JPY is foreseen. This may be reduced to 40,000 JPY if the exchange rate with the dollar makes this amount exceed the 325$ limit decided by IUPAP.

Interest is building up at several places to prepare for a bid to host LT24 in 2005. The decision about this conference will be formed by C5 at its coming meeting in Hiroshima in 2002.

2. Quantum Fluids Conference

The International Symposium on Quantum Fluids and Solids 'QFS2001' July 22-27, 2001, was held on campus of the University of Konstanz, Germany. The chair was Professor Paul Liederer. The attendance was above 200 participants.

QFS, Quantum Fluids and Solids, is an international symposium with the traditional central topics of liquid and solid helium four and helium three and their mixtures. Related topics such as liquid and solid hydrogen and, most recently, the Bose-Einstein condensed phases of alkali atoms and spin-aligned atomic hydrogen gases have been included in these meetings. The symposium covered a broad range of topics within the field, including fundamental investigations, applications, and instrumentation. It was the 6th in a series that started at Penn State University (University Park, 1992), followed by meetings at Cornell University (Ithaca, 1995) Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris, 1997), the University of Massachusetts (Amherst, 1998), and the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, 2000). A number of other similar symposia devoted to the same topics that have been held in the previous two decades are antecedents of this series.

The chair of IUPAP C5 is invited to attend the QFS Steering Committee meeting as decided by a vote of this Committee.

3. Physics at low temperature

New superconducting materials have been discovered (like MgB2). Research on iron at elevated pressures, where ferromagnetism disappears, has led to a search for a superconducting transition in this material. Ferromagnetism and superconductivity are exciting topics, investigated for instance in CuGe2. Several new research lines in condensed matter physics, like mesoscopic devices, open the possibility of important applications. In this category we could also include carbon nanotubes and electronic injection devices. In quantum Fluids and Solids, the introduction of disorder has been achieved by using aerogel "impurities", reveling new fundamental properties. Ultracold atoms, finally, show extraordinary quantum properties, like condensate interferences or vortex-like topological defects.
These examples, among others, show that the field is particularly active.

4. Feenberg medal

The Eighth Eugene Feenberg Medal has been awarded to Philippe Nozières in recognition of his many pathbreaking contributions to many-body theory, including seminal works on Quantum Fluids (see the article in the Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 124,411 (2001). The feenberg medal Committee has sought the advice of C5 for this nomination.

Henri Godfrin