Nonlinear Chemical Dynamics

布兰代斯大学的欧文爱泼斯坦是由化学结构，动力学和机制计划的实验和理论研究非线性化学动力学，旨在创造和理解新的系统和结构，并探索新的机制，涉及图案形成反应扩散系统的支持。 要研究的一个系统是振荡Belousov-Zhabotinsky（BZ）的反应在乳液组成的含水液滴包含BZ反应物包围的表面活性剂的单层和悬浮在油中。 实验将使用尺寸从10纳米到300微米的液滴进行。 通过研究一维、二维和三维空间的模式，爱泼斯坦和他的学生以及博士后合作者试图开发新的设备，如“化学细胞自动机”和能够“学习”频率的配置。 对这些系统的实验将与具有现实但相对简单的数学模型的数值模拟相联系。 这些现象在医学、催化、材料科学和信息处理等领域具有潜在的应用价值。 振荡反应和模式形成具有美学吸引力，使其成为吸引学生进入化学的讲座演示和演示的理想选择。 参与这项研究的本科生，研究生和博士后研究员有机会在匈牙利和波兰的合作实验室工作。 爱泼斯坦教授一直积极提出非线性化学动力学，以广泛的科学和外行观众，并在分享他的科学专业知识与不同的群体，如小学生，法官，国会议员和大学董事会。 他目前正在指导一个名为“科学波塞”的项目，这是一种新的方法，旨在增加在科学领域中代表性不足的少数民族和经济上处于不利地位的学生的招聘和保留。

Irving Epstein of Brandeis University is supported by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms Program for experimental and theoretical investigations in nonlinear chemical dynamics aimed at creating and understanding new systems and structures and exploring new mechanisms involving pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems. One system to be studied is the oscillatory Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction in emulsions consisting of aqueous droplets containing the BZ reactants surrounded by a monolayer of surfactant and suspended in oil. Experiments will be performed with droplets ranging in size from 10 nanometers to 300 micrometers. By studying patterns in one, two and three spatial dimensions, Epstein and his student and postdoctoral collaborators seek to develop novel devices such as a "chemical cellular automaton" and a configuration capable of "learning" frequencies. Experiments on these systems will be linked to numerical simulations with realistic but relatively simple mathematical models. The phenomena to be investigated here have potential applications to medicine, catalysis, materials science and information processing. Oscillating reactions and patterns formation have an aesthetic appeal that makes them ideal for lecture demonstrations and presentations that attract students into chemistry. Undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows participating in this research have the opportunity to work in collaborating laboratories in Hungary and Poland. Professor Epstein has been active in presenting nonlinear chemical dynamics to a wide range of scientific and lay audiences and in sharing his scientific expertise with groups as diverse as elementary school students, judges, members of Congress, and university boards of trustees. He is currently directing a project, the "Science Posse", a new approach to increasing the recruitment and retention of under-represented minorities and economically disadvantaged students in the sciences.