Second Annual Greater Boston Area Statistical Mechanics Meeting
Saturday, October 14, 2000
Brandeis University

Schedule   Registration form   Contributed talks     PDF file for posting   Directions   Announcements   Organizing committee   Advisory committee

About 85 people attended the second annual Greater Boston Area Statistical Mechanics meeting at Brandeis University on October 14, 2000.

Please join us on Saturday, October 14, 2000 at Brandeis University to talk and listen to your colleagues in the Greater Boston area working in statistical mechanics. The main goal of these meetings is to offer an informal, friendly, and supportive environment where people from a variety of departments and institutions can meet and exchange ideas and where old and new friends can meet. Over 90 people have registered for the meeting!

There will be coffee and bagels from 9:00 am to 9:30 am and four sessions. Each session features a 30 minute invited talk, and the first three sessions also include three minute contributed talks in the spirit of the Rutgers statistical mechanics meetings. Viewgraphs can be used to show graphs and other visualizations of results, but the use of viewgraphs to present equations is discouraged. Contributors also are encouraged to post their viewgraphs during the coffee breaks to facilitate discussions. Coffee will be available at all times.

The cost of the meeting will be subsidized by the New England Section of the American Physical Society, and hence there is no registration fee. However, it is necessary to register in advance so that sufficient food and refreshments will be available. The deadline for registration is Monday, October 9. If you miss the deadline, you are still welcome to attend the meeting, but lunch cannot be guaranteed. Information about joining the New England Section if you are not already a member will be available at the meeting.

Talks are in room Gerstenzang 123, adjacent to the Science Library. Take the same entrance as you would for the Physics Department. Signs will be posted.

Schedule
9:00 am - 9:30 am Bagels, coffee, and tea  
9:30 am - 11:00 amMorning Session IJané Kondev, Brandeis UniversityChair
9:30 am - 10:05 amDavid Weitz Harvard University "Real space imaging of colloidal crystals, glasses and gels"
10:05 am - 11:00 amContributed talks  
11:00 am - 11:30 amCoffee and informal discussions  
11:30 am - 12:30 pmMorning Session IISean (X. S.) Ling, Brown UniversityChair
11:30 am - 12:05 pmAlain Karma Northeastern University "Progress from four decades of modeling of heart fibrillation"
12:05 pm - 12:30 pmContributed talks  
12:30 pm - 1:30 pmLunch  
1:30 pm - 2:50 pmAfternoon Session IArshad Kudrolli, Clark UniversityChair
1:30 pm - 2:15 pmContributed talks  
2:15 pm - 2:50 pmNikolai Prokof'evUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst "Quantum Monte Carlo in continuous models and the worm algorithm"
2:50 pm - 3:05 pmCoffee and informal discussions  
3:05 pm - 3:40 pmAfternoon Session IIFrancois Amar, University of MaineChair
3:05 pm - 3:40 pmSid YipMIT "Multiscale materials modeling: Understanding strength, deformation, and toughness"

Registration form

Name: E-mail:
Institution: Position:
Would you like to be on the e-mail list for announcements of future meetings?
A "make it yourself" sandwich buffet will be available at no charge. Please let us know if you are vegetarian.
Would you like to give a 3-5 minute contributed talk?
If so, please give the title of your talk:

Contributed Talks

Morning Session I

  1. Martin Z. Bazant, MIT, "Renormalization of the largest cluster distribution in percolation."
  2. Bruce Boghosian, Tufts University, "Entropic Lattice Boltzmann Models."
  3. Peter Mucha, MIT, "Fluctuations and structures in dilute sedimentation."
  4. Shang-You Tee, Harvard University, "Persistent decay of the sedimentation velocity fluctuations of particles settling in large containers."
  5. Daniel Blair, Clark University, "Velocity statistics in dense granular media: correlations and structure."
  6. Rouyer Florence, UMass Amherst, "Mechanical and Thermal Equilibrium in granular fluid."
  7. Wonmuk Hwang, Boston University, "Keeping out the dirt: the kinetics of infiltration."
  8. Greg Huber, University of Massachusettes, Boston, "Q theory: From the integers to turbulence."
  9. Fred Ellis, Wesleyan University, "Simple simulation of vortex annealing in a He4 film."
  10. Sean Ling, Brown University, "Direct evidence of a first-order phase transition at the peak effect in vortex matter from neutron diffraction experiments."
  11. Jon Machta, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, "New algorithm and results for the random field Ising model."
  12. Carmen Gagne, Dartmouth College, "Approach to equilibrium of systems producing topological defects."
  13. Robert J. Astalos, Virginia Tech, "Power law behavior in a Penna competition model with mutations."
  14. Yue Hu, Wellesley College, "The critical role of flow-modified permittivity in electrorheology: model and computer simulation."
  15. Prabhakar Pradhan, Northeastern University, "Correlations due to localization in quantum eigenfunctions of disordered microwave cavities."

Morning Session II

  1. Beate Schmittmann, Virginia Tech, "Ordering and front motion in a simple non-equilibrium system."
  2. Dibyendu Das, Brandeis University, "Fluctuation dominated phase ordering in a nonequilibrium system."
  3. Norbert Schorghofer, MIT, "Basins of attraction on random topography."
  4. Janamejaya Chowdhary, Boston University, "Can INM's predict Inherent Structure Dynamics?"
  5. Uwe C. Tauber, Virginia Tech, "Critical dynamics of binary liquids: Influence of non-equilibrium perturbations."
  6. Gyorgy Korniss, RPI, "Dynamic Phase Transition in Spatially Extended Bistable Systems."
  7. Jané Kondev, Brandeis University, "Scaling in 2D scalar turbulence."

Afternoon Session I

  1. John Straub, Boston University, "Simulation of quantum systems using path integrals in a generalized ensemble."
  2. Nathan Israeloff, Northeastern University, "Observation of nanoscale molecular cooperativity at the glass transition."
  3. Greg Johnson, Clark University, "Clusters near the glass transition in 3D fragile glass formers."
  4. Ben Fabry, Harvard School of Public Health, "The cytoskeleton of adherent cells: a soft glassy material close to a glass transition."
  5. Alois Popp, Harvard University, "On the microscopic origin of light scattering in tissue."
  6. Hui Yin, Brandeis University, "The study of aging in a frustrated spin system."
  7. Nicolae-Viorel Buchete, Boston University, "The Active-Helix Ising Model: Timescales for Coil-to-Helix Transitions in Peptides."
  8. Horacio E. Castillo, Boston University, "Freezing of dynamical exponents in low dimensional random media."
  9. Dongyi Liao, MIT, "Molecular Dynamics Simulation of quartz alpha to beta transition."
  10. Danial Rudhardt, Harvard University, "Periodic arrays of core-shell particles."
  11. Oliver Ruebenacker, University of Mass, Amherst, "Hole dynamics in a two-dimensional quantum antiferromagnet - exact treatment by continuous time worldline Monte Carlo."
  12. Alexandros Pertsinidis, Brown University, "Surface melting of colloidal crystals."
  13. W. H. Jinasena, University of Maine, "Landau free energy calculations of heterogeneous clusters using molecular dynamics."

Directions to Brandeis. After you enter the campus, you will need to take an alternate route due to construction. As you enter Brandeis through the main entrance on South Street, drive toward the police booth and then take the right fork. Go up the hill and then make the first left. Drive further up the hill and around the biology building until you reach the end of the road. You will now be at the K parking lot adjacent to the Physics building. You can park there or in any free spot along the way. The Physics building is on your left as you enter the parking lot. The building has an observatory on the rooftop and can be seen from reasonably far away. No parking permits are needed.

The first meeting took place on Saturday, October 16, 1999 at Brandeis. We also honored the memory and work of Eugene Gross, a founding member of the physics faculty at Brandeis University and researcher in statistical mechanics.

Announcements

PDF file

A pdf file suitable for printing and posting is available. Please post it where others can see it.

Organizing committee

Advisory committee

Please send questions, comments, and corrections to Harvey Gould, hgould@clarku.edu.

Updated 13 June 2001.