Before considering the merits of the various proposed solutions to the Fermi paradox, this chapter presents some of the background. I first give a short biography of Enrico Fermi himself, focusing on just a few of his many and varied scientific accomplishments. I mention only those contributions to science that I refer to in later sections of the book. I ignore, for example, his contribution to...

Evalyn Gates, Marc Kamionkowski, and Michael S. Turner 1NASA/Fermilab Theoretical Astrophysics Center, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60615-0500 Department of Astronomy & Astrophyisics, Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637-1433 3Department of Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637-1433 4Department of Physics, Col...

The kinetic theory of Fermi liquid is applied to finite nuclei. The nuclear collective dynamics is treated in terms of the observable variables: particle density, current density, pressure etc. The relaxation processes and the development of instabilities in nuclear Fermi-liquid drop are strongly influenced by the Fermi-surface distortion effects. PACS numbers: 21.60.-n,21.60.Ev,24.30Cz Typeset...

We report a finding of a pressure-induced quantum critical transition in K0.8Fe(x)Se2 (x = 1.7 and 1.78) superconductors through in situ high-pressure electrical transport and x-ray diffraction measurements in diamond anvil cells. Transitions from metallic Fermi liquid behavior to non-Fermi liquid behavior and from antiferromagnetism to paramagnetism are found in the pressure range of 9.2-10.3 ...

Using inhomogeneous dynamical mean-field theory, we show that the normal-metal proximity effect could force any finite number of Mott-insulating "barrier" planes sandwiched between semi-infinite metallic leads to become "fragile" Fermi liquids. They are fully Fermi-liquid-like at T=0, leading to a restoration of lattice periodicity at zero frequency, with a well-defined Fermi surface, and perfe...

We study the Aharonov–Bohm conductance oscillations of a constriction with an antidot in the fractional quantum Hall regime using a recently proposed composite-fermion Fermi liquid theory, and also using Wen’s chiral Luttinger liquid theory extended to include mesoscopic effects. The predictions of the composite-fermion Fermi liquid theory are very similar to standard Fermi liquid theory and ar...

Magnetic ordering of the first row transition metal intercalates of NbS2 due to coupling between the conduction electrons and the intercalated ions has been explained in terms of Fermi surface nesting. We use angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy to investigate the Fermi surface topology and the valence band structure of the quasi-two-dimensional layer compounds Mn1/3NbS2 and Ni1/3NbS2. Cha...

We study theoretically the coherent nonlinear optical response of doped quantum wells with several subbands. When the Fermi energy approaches the exciton level of an upper subband, the absorption spectrum acquires a characteristic double-peak shape originating from the interference between the Fermi-edge singularity and the exciton resonance. We demonstrate that, for off-resonant pump excitatio...