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物质系统的一个共同和有趣的方面：许多自然发生的或人工结构的材料不能达到热力学平衡。在某些情况下，这是理想的，如分子束外延。但在散装材料中，理解非平衡行为对于实现系统的完整描述至关重要。该项目包括发展一个综合的教育和研究计划，旨在推动无序和非平衡系统的前沿领域发挥主导作用。表征宏观反应的磁化率研究，以及直接探测微观行为的x射线和中子散射，将协同应用于模拟无序系统，如液晶、剪切流体和淬火玻璃形成体。目的是阐明非均衡“状态”的基本特征，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，并为物理学和天文学专业的学生开设一门本科论文课程。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展的协调，将寻求创建一个突出和富有成效的非平衡系统物理学项目，努力包容年轻科学家和潜在科学家。这是一个凝聚态物理领域的职业发展项目。在许多普通材料中，微观成分受到力的影响，使材料无法以最节能和最简单的状态组织起来。这些力可以是“内在的”，如分子之间的力，导致液体冷却成玻璃，而不是晶体；也可以是“外在的”，如被限制在微小的随机连接的孔隙中的流体。再次，流体被阻止达到具有长程有序的固体状态。在任何一种情况下，由此产生的无序都会产生独特的材料特性，给物理学带来不同寻常的挑战。该项目将开发一个综合的教育和研究计划，旨在在推进对这种“无序”材料的物理洞察方面发挥主导作用。研究策略将包括对障碍的不同实现进行实验比较，以阐明可能形成广泛理论理解基础的潜在普遍特征。在这项工作的同时，约翰霍普金斯大学将开设一门针对高年级本科生和研究生的跨学科课程，并为物理学和天文学专业的本科生开设一门论文课程。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展的协调，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进无序科学。

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.