Driving quantum many-body systems with an external source has been explored as a route to control the collective properties of quantum matter. Recently, studies of cavity–matter hybrids have suggested that dynamical control need not be coherent: quantum or thermal noise from light inside an optical cavity can be used to passively control phases of matter. In this workshop, we aim to merge these two communities that sit at different limits along the spectrum of dynamical control.

The central question we seek to address is: how can nonequilibrium and engineered environments, ranging from laser driving to cavity-mediated noise, be leveraged to enhance coherence in many-body quantum systems? In particular, we are interested in exploring the boundaries of how fragile but useful phases of matter, such as superconductivity, magnetism, and topological order, can emerge at high temperatures beyond their natural equilibrium limits.

The goal of the workshop is to bring together leading experimentalists and theorists working at the interface of ultrafast pump–probe experiments, nonequilibrium quantum many-body physics, Floquet engineering, quantum electrodynamics, and ultracold-atom physics. By fostering dialogue across these fields, the workshop aims to advance the state of the art in engineering coherence at high temperatures and to develop protocols to understand and characterize the observed phenomena and the notion of enhanced coherence itself.

This Course is hosted at the

ETTORE MAJORANA FOUNDATION AND CENTRE FOR SCIENTIFIC CULTURE

Director: A. Zichichi

as the 21^st Course of the

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF NONEQUILIBRIUM PHENOMENA

Directors of the School: A. Lanzara, G. M. Palma, B. Spagnolo

Emergence of Coherence in Nonequilibrium and Structured Environments (eco-noise2026)

Directors of the Course: Eugene Demler, Andrea Cavalleri, Angel Rubio, Marios H. Michael, Duilio De Santis, Hope Bretscher

Organizing Committee: Eugene Demler (ETH), Andrea Cavalleri (MPSD), Angel Rubio (MPSD), Marios H. Michael (MPI-PKS), Duilio De Santis (ETH), Hope Bretscher (MPSD), Jonathan Curtis (ETH), Sambuddha Chattopadhyay (Harvard/ETH), Alex Gómez Salvador (ETH), Filip Marijanovic (ETH), Radu Andrei (ETH)