Mathematical Physics at Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech is a noted center of mathematical physics. The home department for most of the mathematical physicists on this campus is the School of Mathematics, but they can also be found in the School of Physics and the College of Computing.

Every branch of physics has raised challenging mathematical questions, and these have had enormous influence on analysis, differential equations, probability, and indeed on most branches of mathematics. Mathematical physics is the attempt to meet these challenges and to use the clarity of rigorous thinking to advance science. Since the different branches of physics require various mathematical tools, a mathematical physicist's research is often organized more by the categories of physics than of mathematics. Most of the mathematical physicists at Georgia Tech are interested in dynamics, quantum mechanics, or condensed matter physics, and in the analytical tools needed to understand these subjects.

What makes Tech's mathematical physics group unique? They prove rigorous theorems at the same time as they discover new physics. They collaborate with faculty in physics and engineering, and they sometimes publish in physics journals. Some of them hold doctoral degrees from physics departments. At Georgia Tech mathematical physics is the union of the two fields.

Faculty in Mathematical Physics

Due to Georgia Tech's interdisciplinary traditions and the nature of mathematical physics, it is impossible to separate the mathematical physicists from the other mathematicians at Georgia Tech. Most of the faculty listed below are members of other research groups at the same time, while some people not listed below are also involved in research related to physics. Information about them is to be found on the web pages for related areas such as

Jean Bellissard, Professor
jeanbel@math.gatech.edu
(404)-385-2179, Skiles 132
Université de Provence, Marseille, Ph.D., 1974
Noncommutative geometry
Operator algebras
Solid State Physics

Federico Bonetto, Assistant Professor
bonetto@math.gatech.edu
(404)-894-6547, Skiles 224
Università di Roma, Ph.D., 1996
Chaotic dynamics
KAM Theory
Non equilibrium statistical mechanics

Leonid A. Bunimovich, Regents' Professor, Director of SAAC
bunimovh@math.gatech.edu
(404)-894-4748, Skiles 118C
Moscow Univ., PhD 1974, Acad. of Sci. USSR, Dr. Sci., 1986
Chaotic dynamics
Ergodic Theory
Dynamical Systems

Eric A. Carlen, Professor
carlen@math.gatech.edu
(404)-894-8380, Skiles 211B
Princeton University, Ph.D., 1984
Approach to equilibrium
Boltzmann equations

Stavros Garoufalidis, Associate Professor
stavros@math.gatech.edu
(404)-894-6614, Skiles 165
University of Chicago, Ph.D., 1992
Knot theory
3-manifolds

Evans M. Harrell, Professor, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies and Research
harrell@math.gatech.edu
(404)-894-9203, Skiles 218D
Princeton University, Ph.D., 1976
Nanophysics
Quantum mechanics
Spectral Theory

Plamen Iliev Assistant Professor
iliev@math.gatech.edu
(404)-894-6555, Skiles 227
Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, 1999
Integrable PDEs (KdV, Toda lattice, etc.) and their relations with algebraic geometry and special functions.

Michael Loss, Professor
loss@math.gatech.edu
(404)-894-2717, Skiles 214B
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Ph.D., 1982
Stability of Matter
Nonlinear Analysis

Ronghua Pan, Assistant Professor
panrh@math.gatech.edu
(404)-894-8947, Skiles 123
Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1998
Hyperbolic Conservation laws
Nonlinear waves
Fluid Dynamics
General Relativity

Dana Randall, Associate Professor [Adjunct]
randall@math.gatech.edu
(404)-894-1833, Skiles 258 & CoC/894-3156
University of California-Berkeley, Ph.D., 1994
Computational Statistical Physics 

    THIS PAGE IS NOT A PUBLICATION OF THE GEORGIA
    INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE GEORGIA INSTITUTE
    OF TECHNOLOGY HAS NOT EDITED OR EXAMINED
    THE CONTENT. IT HAS NOT EVEN BEEN REVIEWED
    BY THE FACULTY MENTIONED ABOVE, AND THEY ARE
    NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS.  THE
    AUTHOR(S) OF THE PAGE ARE SOLELY
    RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT.