Artificial materials made up of atoms, molecules, and light have opened up exciting opportunities to explore quantum physics in exotic regimes. Through their manipulation with laser light and other fields, ultracold gases of atoms and molecules can be used to study phenomena related to condensed matter, high energy, and nuclear physics, and can furthermore play host to entirely unique kinds of many-body effects. In this talk, I'll describe how recent approaches based on the use of ``synthetic dimensions,'' where dynamics occur in a space relating to internal or other auxiliary degrees of freedom, have opened up new capabilities for the study of topology and localization physics. As one example, I'll describe how the addition of disorder to a synthetic atomic wire leads to the surprising appearance of nontrivial topological properties. Looking ahead, I'll discuss out how extensions to the synthetic dimensions approach with atoms, molecules, and other platforms promise to introduce new kinds of exotic many-body states and phenomena in the years to come.
Location: PSC 2136 and Zoom