tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7971129765203231703Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:45:42 +0000http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/noreply@blogger.com (D)Blogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7971129765203231703.post-2687991288971641124Wed, 21 May 2008 11:21:00 +00002008-05-21T06:29:49.958-07:00I'll be writing my thesis in Amherst, MA for most of the summer of 2008.http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/2008/05/upcoming.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (D)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7971129765203231703.post-911074995488497911Mon, 19 May 2008 20:42:00 +00002008-05-20T18:53:59.003-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/uploaded_images/perc1-783904.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/uploaded_images/perc1-783899.gif" alt="" border="0" width="100" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Diameter of Random Clusters</span> with Jon Machta (UMass). I have been studying the critical behavior of the diameter of Potts Model clusters via numerical simulations. Here the diameter corresponds to the "graph theoretic" definition of diameter -- the longest of all the shortest paths in the cluster.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/uploaded_images/melt3-733087.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/uploaded_images/melt3-733067.png" width="100" border="0" alt="" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Melting Dynamics in Colloidal Crystallites</span> with Alex Levine and Moumita Das (UCLA), Tony Dinsmore, John Savage, and Bob Guyer (all at UMass), and David Lacoste (ESPCI). Using simulation, theory, and experiment, we have been studying the melting and freezing dynamics of crystallites with both short- and long-ranged interparticle potentials.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/uploaded_images/grain1-771667.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/uploaded_images/grain1-771651.png" width="100" border="0" alt="" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Phase Behavior of Granular Nematics</span> with Narayanan Menon (UMass) and Sriram Ramaswamy (IISc). We have been simulating 2D, hard rod systems in order to study phase behavior as a function of aspect ratio and end-shape. We plan to make connections to flocking dynamics in systems of self-propelled particles.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/uploaded_images/unsat1-798322.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/uploaded_images/unsat1-798318.png" width="100" border="0" alt="" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Phase Transitions in Computational Complexity</span> with Jon Machta (UMass). In recent years, the observation of what appear to be phase transitions in the computational complexity of "hard problems" in computer science (e.g. K-SAT) have led to the application of statistical physics techniques to these problems. The percolation model is a simple model with a well-understood phase transition at a critical value of the bond (or spin) occupation probability, p_c. We study the computational complexity of simulating the percolation model, and find that it also exhibits a phase transition at p_c.http://people.umass.edu/dwblair/2008/05/i-am-completing-my-doctorate-in-physics.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (D)