CAREER: Theory of the Conducting--Insulating Transition Region

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This CAREER grant supports the integration of research and education in the career plan of this young theoretical physicist and faculty member at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The research plan includes four problems. The first deals with a description of a metal-insulator transition in a 2-dimensional electron gas in terms of a dual Ginzburg-Landau theory. The second concerns the properties of recently discovered itinerant ferromagnetism in lightly doped hexaborides. A third concerns a study of possibly inhomogeneous states preceding the transition, and finally a fourth project deals with the properties of linear and nonlinear transport in a one-dimensional object, such as a carbon nanotube. For education, the PI plans to supervise students, teach courses and be a mentor. In addition, he is planning a special seminar series on quantum condensed matter physics, involving the department of physics (where the students are) and the Institute for Theoretical Physics, with its relatively large membership of postdoctoral fellows. Finally he plans to conduct another seminar about career options for undergraduate and graduate students.%%%This CAREER award supports the research and education plans of this young, theorist member of the physics department at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The research interest consists of four projects, all related to the properties of electrons in insulators which are on the threshold of becoming metallic conductors. The first project is the most general one and involves a search for a theoretical, unified description of a metal-insulator phase transition. The second project concerns the properties of the remarkable ferromagnetic phase when calcium hexaboride, an insulator, is very lightly doped with lanthanum to make it slightly conducting. The third project studies possible pathways to the change between an insulator and a conductor and how each is reflected in the linear and nonlinear transport properties. Finally the fourth project is an extensive study of the remarkable conducting properties of nanowires, for example the carbon nanotubes. In education, there are plans to teach courses, supervise graduate students and mentor postdoctoral fellows. In addition there are plans to conduct seminars on career options for undergraduates; an exploration of alternative applications of physics education.***