Daniel Stein, NYU
When
Where
Title: The Thermodynamic Structure of Short-Range Spin Glasses
Abstract: The thermodynamics of spin glasses, and more generally the statistical mechanics of quenched disorder, is a problem of general interest to physicists and mathematicians from multiple disciplines and backgrounds. Its importance was recognized in 2021 with the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physics to Giorgio Parisi for his replica symmetry breaking solution of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model (a mean-field model of spin glasses) and its application to other problems in complex systems.
I will begin with a brief survey of spin glasses from both experimental and theoretical perspectives, followed by a description of some of the main thermodynamic features of Parisi's replica symmetry breaking solution of the mean-field spin glass. I will then turn to the problem of understanding the nature of the spin glass phase in nearest-neighbor spin glass models in finite dimensions. The central question to be addressed is the nature of broken symmetry in these systems. This is still a subject of controversy, and although the issues surrounding it have become more sharply defined in recent years, it remains an open question. I will explore this problem and present a unified picture of our current understanding of the structure of the spin glass phase in finite dimensions.
Bio: Daniel L. Stein is Professor of Physics and Mathematics at New York University and an External Faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute. From 2006-2012 he served as NYU Dean of Science. Prior to coming to NYU, he served on the faculties at Princeton University and at the University of Arizona, where he was Head of the Department of Physics for a decade. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University in 1979.
His research is in the fields of theoretical condensed matter physics and statistical mechanics, with applications to problems in social science and biological physics. It focuses primarily on randomness and disorder in condensed matter systems, with an emphasis on magnetic materials and on stochastic processes leading to rare nucleation events. In addition, he has worked on topics as diverse as protein biophysics, biological evolution, amorphous semiconductors, superconductors and superfluids, liquid crystals, neutron stars, and the interface between particle physics and cosmology.
His awards include a Princeton University C.E. Proctor Fellowship, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, University of Arizona College of Science Distinguished Teaching Award, Commission on the Status of Women Vision 2000 Award, election as a Fellow of the American Physical Society, election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the U.S. Air Force Exemplary Civilian Service Medal, and a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.
3:00 PM in PAS 201 / YouTube
Refreshments in PAS 236, 2:30PM