"Simulating the Quantum Dynamics
of Cold Fluids"
Tuesday November 03, 2009
4:00pm
PHYS 203
Unless otherwise noted, seminars are held on Tuesdays at 4:00 p.m. Coffee and doughnuts served at 3:45pm.
Prof. Nancy Makri
Gutgsell Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
http://www.chemistry.illinois.edu/faculty/Nancy_Makri.html
Forward-backward semiclassical dynamics (FBSD) is a rigorous and efficient methodology for capturing quantum mechanical effects in the time evolution of condensed phase systems through classical trajectory information. Combined with a discretized path integral representation of the Boltzmann operator, this methodology has enabled the simulation of the dynamics of such cold liquids as para-hydrogen and helium across the normal-to-superfluid transition. The results of these calcula-tions are in very good agreement with experimental results on diffusion coefficients and dynamic structure factors probed by neutron scattering. The FBSD simulations provide novel insights into the separate roles of quantum mechanical and quantum statistical effects on the dynamics of these fluids.