Condensed Matter Theory Journal Club Condensed Matter Theory Journal Club| Date | Discussion Leader | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 25th | Creighton Thomas | |||
| Paper to be discussed : "Exact entropy of dimer coverings for a class of lattices in three or more dimensions" by D. Dhar and S. Chandra ; Phys. Rev. Lett. Vol 100, 120602 (2008) | ||||
| October 2nd | Luca Giomi | |||
| Paper to be discussed: "Cross-Linking Molecules Modify Composite Actin Networks Independently " by K. M. Schmoller, O. Lieleg, and A. R. Bausch Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol 101, 118102 (2008) | ||||
| October 9th | Aparna Baskaran | |||
| Paper to be discussed: "Instabilities and waves in thin films of living fluids " by S. Sankararaman and S. Ramaswamy arXiv:0809.4918v2 | ||||
| October 23th | Mark Bowick | |||
| Discussion of ongoing research entitled "Designing Superatoms" | ||||
| October 30th | David Quint | |||
| Paper to be discussed: "Mechanism of shape determination in motile cells", by K. Keren et al, Nature vol 453, 475 (2008) | ||||
| November 6th | William Irvine, NYU | |||
| Blackboard talk entitled "Linked and knotted beams of light" | ||||
| November 13th | Zhenwei Yao | |||
| Paper to be discussed: "The pair potential of colloidal stars", by F. Huang et. al., arXiv:0810.1349 | ||||
| November 21th Friday |
Shradha Mishra | |||
| Research discussion entitled "Coarsening and steady state in active nematics " | ||||
| November 27th | Thanksgiving | |||
| December 4th | Marc Howard, Center for Health and Behavior, Syracuse University | |||
| Research Discussion entitled "Toward a physical model of episodic memory". | ||||
| Abstract: The microscopic properties of the medial temporal lobe of the mammalian brain have been extensively studied. There is tremendous variability in the properties of neurons and their connections, both across subregions as well as across individuals and species. I argue that the proper level of description to understand the function of the brain relevant for cognition is at the ensemble level in which the collective activity of large regions of the brain can be described as a vector in a high-dimensional space. I sketch a working hypothesis of the mathematics underlying episodic memory and how this could be implemented in the medial temporal lobe of the brain. | ||||