ESPCI, PARIS, FRANCE

Le Professeur Martin BAZANT Department of Mathematics, MIT, Cambridge,
USA, visiteur au Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Théorique donnera une
série de cours intitulés :

« Fluctuations in Correlated Systems : Granular Flow and Percolation »

Jeudi, 03 octobre 2002, à 11h00,
« Particle Mixing in Granular Drainage »
Amphi LANGEVIN, escalier N, 2ème étage

Jeudi, 10 octobre 2002, à 11h00,
« Velocity Correlations in Granular Drainage »
Amphi LANGEVIN, escalier N, 2ème étage

Jeudi, 17 octobre 2002, à 11h00,
« Fluctuations and Crossover in Percolation »
Amphi LANGEVIN, escalier N, 2ème étage

Jeudi, 24 octobre 2002, à 11h00, 
« Stochastic Renormalization Group in Percolation » 
Amphi SCHUTZENBERGER, esc. N, 1er étage

Abstract:Statistical physics is typically concerned with averages (or
other low-order moments) of fluctuating quantities in infinite
systems. Of course, complete probability distributions in finite
systems are more desirable, but they are notoriously difficult to
predict in the (common) presence of strong correlations. The reason is
that most results from probability theory, such as the Central Limit
Theorem, do not apply. In these lectures, simple mathematical models
for fluctuations will be developed via two examples, granular flow and
percolation, exhibiting short-range and long-range correlations,
respectively, and various current applications will be discussed, such
as fuel mixing in pebble-bed nuclear reactors and colloidal-cluster
decay in drug delivery devices.