CAREER: Structure and Dynamics of Disordered and Out-of-Equilibrium Systems

这个职业发展项目考虑了凝聚态系统的一个共同而有趣的方面：许多自然产生的或人工构造的材料无法达到热力学平衡。在某些情况下，这是可取的，例如在分子束外延中。但在大宗材料中，了解非平衡行为对于实现系统的完整描述是至关重要的。该项目涉及开发一个综合的教育和研究计划，旨在推动无序和失衡系统的前沿领域发挥主导作用。表征宏观响应的敏感性研究，以及直接探测微观行为的X射线和中子散射，将联合应用于无序系统的建模，如液晶、剪切流体和淬火玻璃成型器。其目的是阐明失衡“状态”的本质特征，并检验新的理论范式。与此同时，约翰霍普金斯大学将开设一门关于复杂流体科学的跨学科课程，并将制定物理和天文学专业的本科论文计划。总的来说，这些努力，以及霍普金斯大学和当地公立学校之间社区外联的协调，将寻求创建一个关于非平衡系统物理学的突出和富有成效的计划，努力将年轻科学家和潜在科学家包括在内。这是凝聚态物理领域的一个职业发展项目。在许多常见的材料中，微观成分受到力的作用，使材料不能以最节能和最简单的状态组织起来。这些力可以是“内在的”，就像分子之间的力一样，导致液体冷却到玻璃中，而不是导致晶体冷却，或者是“外部的”，比如限制在微小的随机连接的孔隙中的液体。再一次，流体通过长程有序被阻止达到固态。在任何一种情况下，由此产生的混乱都会产生独特的材料属性，这对物理学构成了不同寻常的挑战。这个项目将开发一个综合的教育和研究计划，旨在发挥主导作用，推动对这种“无序”材料的物理洞察。研究策略将包括对无序的不同实现进行实验比较，以阐明潜在的普遍特征，这些特征可能构成广泛理论理解的基础。在这项工作的同时，约翰霍普金斯大学将开设一门针对高水平本科生和初级研究生的关于这些材料科学的跨学科课程，并将制定物理和天文学专业的本科生论文计划。总体而言，这些努力，以及霍普金斯大学和当地公立学校之间社区外联的协调，将寻求以一种努力包容年轻科学家和潜在科学家的方式推动混乱科学的发展。

This CAREER development project considers an common and intriguing aspect of condensed matter systems: Many naturally occurring, or artificially structured, materials fail to achieve thermodynamic equilibrium. In some cases this is desirable, as in molecular beam epitaxy. But in bulk materials, understanding out-of-equilibrium behavior is crucial to achieve a complete description of the system. This project involves the development of an integrated education and research program designed to play a leading role in advancing the frontier field of disordered and out-of-equilibrium systems. Susceptibility studies, which characterize macroscopic response, and x-ray and neutron scattering, which directly probe microscopic behavior, will be applied in concert to model disordered systems such as liquid crystals, sheared fluids, and quenched glass formers. The objective is to illuminate essential features of the out-of-equilibrium "state" and to test new theoretical paradigms. In parallel with this, an interdisciplinary course on the science of complex fluids will be initiated at Johns Hopkins and an undergraduate thesis program for Physics and Astronomy majors will be developed. Collectively, these efforts, along with the coordination of community outreach between Hopkins and local public schools, will seek to create a prominent and productive program on the physics of out-of-equilibrium systems that strives to be inclusive of young scientists and potential scientists.This is a CAREER development project in the field of condensed matter physics. In many common materials, the microscopic constituents are subjected to forces that prevent the materials from organizing in their most energy efficient and simplest state. These forces can be "intrinsic" as in the forces between molecules that lead to a liquid cooling into glass, instead of a crystal, or "external", as for a fluid confined within tiny randomly connected pores. Again the fluid is prevented from reaching solid state with long-range order. In either case the resulting disorganization creates unique material properties that pose unusual challenges for physics. This project will develop an integrated education and research program designed to play a leading role in advancing physical insight into such "disordered" materials. The research strategy will involve experimental comparisons of different realizations of disorder in order to elucidate potentially universal features that might form the basis for a broad theoretical understanding. In parallel with this work, an interdisciplinary course on the science of these materials targeted at upper-level undergraduates and beginning graduate students will be initiated at Johns Hopkins and an undergraduate thesis program for Physics and Astronomy majors will be developed. Collectively, these efforts, along with the coordination of community outreach between Hopkins and local public schools, will seek to advance the science of disorder in a manner that strives to be inclusive of young scientists and potential scientists.