Title: Pinning and De-Pinning Phenomena in Materials Phase Boundary
Motions

Date, time place: 25 April 2006, 2pm POT 845

Speaker: Aaron Yip, Purdue University

Abstract:
The talk will discuss some mathematical questions motivated by the
motion of materials phase boundaries under the combined effects
of heterogeneous environment and an external driving force, F.
The phenomenology is the existence of pinning states for small values
of F and the appearance of genuine motion when F is above some
critical threshold value. The emphasis is the understanding of the
effective speed of phase boundary motion near this transition regime.
(This is a joint work with N. Dirr.)


Yip's visit is funded, in part, by the College Enrichment
Fund of the College of Arts and Sciences.