Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Phenomena in Condensed Matter

9314938戈登菲尔德这项建议涉及对非平衡现象的研究，主要是在聚合物体系中。PI在研究相变后的平衡方法、复杂空间模式的增长以及使用重整化群方法来研究远离平衡的系统的长时间行为方面取得了更大的成功。他们还开发了一种细胞自动机类型的数值方案，即“细胞动力学系统”方法，以研究中尺度现象。他们建议研究1)二元合金系统的调幅分解；2)振动粉末系统的描述；3)朗缪尔单分子膜中的手征对称性破缺；4)研究空间扩展的非线性系统的长时间行为的重整化群方法；5)硫化理论；6)非平衡系统的大偏差方法(该方法的基本原理和一些具体应用)。PIs致力于了解非平衡系统的行为，特别是聚合物、橡胶、合金等复杂系统的行为。在这里，他们建议研究合金在淬火时的介观结构发生了什么；如何最好地描述粉末在振动时的状态；了解脱离平衡的系统的随时间变化的行为的数学方法(以及它们如何在系统演化时建立空间模式)，以及最后，一种新的(至少对许多物理学家来说)理论方法，用于描述平衡和非平衡系统的热力学，该方法依赖于支配大数的数学定律。这两位PI受到他们所在社区的最高尊重，他们的工作被评为该领域的最前沿。他们把基础工作和“现实世界”问题很好地结合在一起--例如，他们帮助实验者理解他们的实验。***

9314938 Goldenfeld This proposal concerns the study of non-equilibrium phenomena, primarily in polymeric systems. The PIs have had much prior success in studying the approach to equilibrium following phase transitions; growth of complex spatial patterns; and the use of Renormalization Group methods to access the long time behavior of systems far from equilibrium. They have also developed a cellular- automata-type numerical scheme, the "Cell Dynamical Systems" approach, to study mesoscale phenomena. They propose to study 1) spinodal decomposition in binary alloy systems; 2) descriptions of vibrating powder systems; 3) chiral symmetry breaking in Langmuir monolayers; 4) Renormalization Group methods to study the long-time behavior of spatially extended non-linear systems; 5) theory of vulcanization; 6) Large Deviation approaches to nonequilibrium systems (both the fundamentals of the method and some concrete applications). %%% The PIs work in the area of understanding the behavior of nonequilibrium systems; particularly of complex systems such as polymers, rubbers, alloys etc. Here, they propose to study what happens to mesoscale structures of alloys when they are quenched; how best to descibe the state of a powder when it is vibrated; mathematical methods to understand the time dependent behavior of systems which have been moved out of equilibrium (and how they thence may establish spatial patterns as they evolve) and, lastly, a new (at least to many physicists) theoretical method for describing the thermodynamics of both equilibrium and nonequilibrium systems which relies on the mathematical laws governing large numbers. These two PI's are held in the highest esteem by their community and their work is rated at the very front of this field. They do a nice combination of fundamental work and "real-world" problems - for example they have helped experimentalists with the understanding of their experiments. ***