"Packing Problems — A Statistical Physics Approach"
Dr. Eytan Katzav Department
of Mathematics, King's College London
Packing problems play
an important role in many areas of physics and mathematics. One can
classify packing problems according to the dimensionality of the
container and the dimensionality of the packed objects, as well as the
kind of interactions between the objects. Probably the most famous
example, which is still extensively studies is hard spheres, modelling
phases of matter, such as crystals, fluids and glasses. In higher
dimensions optimal packings are related to questions in information
theory. We will show how statistical physics can be helpful to
understand a variety of packing problems by offering a powerful
toolbox of techniques and modelling approaches, ranging from
phenomenological thermodynamic modelling to more formal field
theoretic methods. Certain similarities between the different problems
and thechniques will be highlighted, that may guide future directions
in this field.
Host:
Prof. Ron Lifshitz, x5145
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