Many-body quantum kinetics: the role of light-matter interactions

Abstract: Classical kinetic theory is a very successful tool to understand the dynamics of many-body systems that display low degeneracy and low-to-moderate correlation degree. In particular, the behavior of high-temperature plasmas is very well captured using classical kinetic theory, for which the latter assumptions are particularly valid.

However, as the microscopic details of the interactions become more and more important, as well as quantum degeneracy and/or correlations start to play a role, the resulting equations loose their validity, and ab initio quantum approaches are required.


In this talk, I will discuss recent results of the application of quantum kinetic theory to study the interactions between matter and radiation in terms of Wigner functions. I will start by introducing the main features of kinetic theories (both classical and quantum), and analyze their validity.

The case of a quantum plasma will be examined in detail. Then, as an application, I will discuss photon condensation in plasmas and photon turbulence in cold atoms.