Dam Thanh Son, Professor of Physics, University of Chicago
The fractional quantum Hall fluid is a paradigmatic topological state of matter. A wide array of phenomena occuring in this fluid can be explained by postulating a new quasiparticle - the composite fermion. I will describe a new theory, known under the name of the "Dirac composite fermion," that has completely changed the way we think about the composite fermion, and which has tied quantum Hall physics with the physics of topological insulators and formal developments in quantum field theory. The new theory provides a surprisingly simple solution to the puzzle of particle-hole symmetry has been vexing theorists for two decades, and leads to distinctive physical consequences.