Systems with Competing Periodicities: Correlation's, Phase Transitions and Anomalous Behavior

George Mason University, Fairfax VA

Investigators

Abstract

0072813 Satija This grant supports the work of a female condensed matter theorist from a non-Ph.D. granting department and is a co-funding decision with the PHY division. The research program concerns the behavior of energy eigenvalues and wavefunctions of a particle moving in a 1-dimensional aperiodic/quasiperiodic potential, especially one where the departure from periodicity arises as a result of more than one competing length scales. The focus is on the change of character of wavefunctions. In a strictly periodic system, the wavefunctions are all extended/delocalized. In a random system, they are localized. There must be a changeover, which can be studied by looking at these a/quasi periodic structures. There are several projects on a variety of lattices, which consider the effects of many competing length scales as well as of quantum interference. Further there are plans to generalize and study these effects in two dimensions. %%% This mid-career female member of the faculty at a non-Ph.D. granting department has been well known for her work on the motion of a particle in 1-dimension in an aperiodic or quasiperiodic potential well. The main objective here is to connect the two extremes: In a periodic system we know that the particle motion is largely periodic and log-range. In a random system, the particle motion is not long range. The objective here is to consider how the changeover occurs. There are also projects to study quantum effects and possible extensions to 2-dimensions, e.g. in thin films. ***