THE SUPER WORLD OF SUPER FLUIDS

When cooled to temperatures below approximately 2 K (-271 C) liquid helium starts behaving in very peculiar ways. This behavior has come to be known as superfluidity and is a manifestation of the quantum nature of the system (known as a quantum liquid). Superfluids have been discovered in several other systems as well, some surprising, and have become an important link between many branches of physics. In this talk Michael Ray will give a broad overview of superfluids, mainly in the context of liquid helium. Michael will show how superfluids can be used to study a range of topics in widely varying fields, and finally discuss the possibility of the existence of superfluidity in a solid system.