Abstract:

The physics of many-body systems strongly depends on their

dimensionality. With the realization of quantum wells for example, it

has been possible to produce two-dimensional gases of electrons, which

exhibit properties that dramatically differ from the standard

three-dimensional case, some of them still lacking a full understanding.

During the last decade, a novel environment has been developed for the

study of low-dimensional phenomena. It consists of cold atomic gases

that are confined in tailor-made electromagnetic traps. The talk will

discuss some experimental aspects of this research, including dynamical

features like the emergence of coherence in the gas when it is rapidly

cooled across the superfluid transition.